Death/Dying & Living Chapters 1 and 2

Suffering

An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with being alive

Acute pain

Sharp, severe pain with sudden onset and lasts a short amount of time

Chronic pain

Long term pain that many never go away

Physical pain

acute or chronic pain

Psychological pain

mental or emotional

Spiritual pain

uncertainty and doubt

Neurosis

torture by our own desires

Paradise

heaven on earth

Nirvana

blissful state of perfect happiness with no suffering

Utopia

ideal, society

Passion

intense emotion/strong desire for something or someone

Compassion

To suffer with others to try to alleviate that suffering

Faith

A theological virtue that makes us believe

Resilience

ability to handle struggle

Sepulchre

place of burial

Coroner

official who determines the cause of death in cases where death is not from a natural reason

Algor Mortis

The body’s temperature drops depending on the environmental temperature

Autopsy

the examination of a corpse to determine the cause of death (highly invasive)

Rigor mortis

5-10 hours after death, the muscles stiffen before relaxing after 3-4 days

blood clotting

clots shortly after death (sometimes before the blood stops)

liver mortis

Gravity draws unclotted blood downward resulting in discoloration

Cell breakdown

this occurs due to a lack of blood supply

putrefaction

decomposition producing gases, discoloration, and a foul smell

deceased

a person who has died

decedent

a dead person, including a stillborn infant or fetus

Cryonics

freezing a person who has died in hope of ressurection

Gerontology

study of aging

Thanatology

study of death

Necromancy

communication with the dead

Spiritualism

Attempts to communicate with spirits and departed souls which violates religion by giving spirits godlike powers

Heaven

State of being and a mode of existence in which one is in complete and total union with God.

Purgatory

State of being and a mode of existence in which one prepares for complete and total union with God

Hell

State of being and a mode of existence in which one is completely and totally separated from God

Communion of saints

the union of all faithful people, living and dead, who belong to the family of God

Death

permanent cessation of all vital bodily function