scholarly journals Original article Values and sense of symbolic immortality among non-religious adolescents in Poland

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 171-176
Author(s):  
Michał Jaśkiewicz
Keyword(s):  
Symbolic Immortality

Symbolic Immortality: The Tlingit Potlatch of the Nineteenth Century

1994 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 315
Author(s):  
Susan K. Short ◽  
Sergei Kan
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Symbolic Immortality

Reduction of Anxiety about Death: Need for Beliefs about Immortality

1996 ◽  
Vol 79 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1315-1318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Conn ◽  
Michael P. Schrader ◽  
Daniel L. Wann ◽  
Brent Mruz
Keyword(s):  
Symbolic Immortality

It was hypothesized that individuals who are reminded of their own mortality will experience anxiety which is reduced by an increased need for belief in immortality. A questionnaire assessing the need for literal and two forms of symbolic immortality was developed. Analysis showed that awareness of mortality increased scores on the need for literal immortality but not on either form of symbolic immortality.

The Life Tape Project, an existential intervention for cancer patients: A report on perceived benefits and changes in quality of life

2006 ◽  
Vol 24 (18_suppl) ◽  
pp. 8604-8604
Author(s):  
E. H. Rosenbaum ◽  
R. W. Garlan ◽  
A. L. Siegel ◽  
S. Henderson ◽  
N. Hirschberger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Personal Growth ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Care Program ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Repeated Measure ◽  
Perceived Benefits ◽  
Symbolic Immortality

8604 Background: Facing cancer, most patients struggle with mortality and threats to their emotional equilibrium and that of their families. Families may become closer, but often communication difficulties and isolation increase. The Life Tape Project (LTP) is an intervention—involving a two hour video-taped genealogy and life story in the presence of family—designed to help patients and families confront this existential crisis. An important aspect is the cultivation of Symbolic Immortality—that some important part of the person continues to exist symbolically, even after death—helping patients identify with things greater and more enduring than themselves, and providing a sense of what will remain with the family after they are gone. Observation and pilot data suggested patients receive substantial benefits from the LTP. Results from an ongoing study designed to quantify and extend these observations are reported. Method: Adults with any cancer diagnosis are recruited from the general population. Patients complete baseline questionnaires before the LT interview and follow-up packets two and ten weeks after. Measures include the FACT-G for Quality of Life (QOL) and a Perceived Benefits Questionnaire covering eight themes suggested by previous research. A final semi-structured interview probes for unwanted effects. Results: At first follow-up (N = 23 as of 1/8/06) repeated measure t-tests revealed significant increases in FACT-G Functional and QOL (Total) scales; and a majority of patients reported substantial benefits (endorsing “very” or “extremely true for me”) in at least one theme. Final interviews revealed no unwanted effects. Conclusions: The LTP is a powerful, safe, and accessible intervention that can improve family communication and connectedness, promote personal growth, and reduce existential anxiety through the creation of symbolic immortality. Requiring minimal equipment and time, it would make an excellent addition to any supportive care program. [Table: see text] No significant financial relationships to disclose.

The Death of Everyone: Robert Lifton, Christian Theology and Apocalyptic Imagery

Horizons ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 306-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy Bregman
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Nuclear War ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Spiritual Meaning ◽  
Symbolic Immortality ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
Contemporary Life ◽  
The New Testament

AbstractThis paper explores an issue raised by psychologist Robert Lifton in The Broken Connection. Lifton believes the present threat of total extinction through nuclear war has drastically affected humanity's ability to reconnect life and death, and to make individual death meaningful. The death of everyone—as an imaginable possibility—defeats all expressions of “symbolic immortality,” affirmations of continuity and hope.How has Christian theology met this predicament? Twentieth-century history has been so menacing and overwhelming that some theologians have found in apocalyptic-eschatological imagery the most appropriate framework to encounter that history and discern its spiritual meaning. Yet this imagery, even when de-literalized, provides at best ambiguous answers. Early twentieth-century theology—Schweitzer, Case—recognized the importance of apocalyptic thought for the New Testament, but easily repudiated this for contemporary life. In contrast, later thinkers such as Cullman, Brunner, and Moltmann make extensive use of eschatological imagery. However, they face the problem raised by Lifton: how to make “hope” vivid to readers already gripped by a future of possible universal catastrophe.

Existential Meaning and Terror Management

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheldon Solomon ◽  
Jeff Greenberg
Keyword(s):  
Terror Management Theory ◽  
Terror Management ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Psychological Disorders ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Management Theory ◽  
Cultural Worldview ◽  
Symbolic Immortality ◽  
Religious Extremism ◽  
Human Awareness

Terror management theory (TMT) posits that the uniquely human awareness of death engenders potentially debilitating existential terror that is “managed” by subscribing to cultural worldviews providing a sense that life has meaning as well as opportunities to obtain self-esteem, in pursuit of psychological equanimity in the present and literal or symbolic immortality in the future. In empirical support of TMT, research has demonstrated that: self-esteem serves to buffer anxiety in general, and about death in particular; reminders of death increase defense of the cultural worldview and efforts to bolster self-esteem; threats to the cultural worldview or self-esteem increase the accessibility of implicit death thoughts; conscious and non-conscious thoughts of death instigate qualitatively different defensive processes; death reminders increase hostility toward people with different beliefs, affection for charismatic leaders, and support for political and religious extremism; and death reminders magnify symptoms of psychological disorders.

Transcendence, Symbolic Immortality and Evil

Human Studies ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 415-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Hardie-Bick
Keyword(s):  
Symbolic Immortality
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