Tenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

In our current culture, we have shifted our interest from the abstract and transcendent values to the world of the Body. My paper, if selected, will argue that Body is limited and limits the complex interactions of a holistic culture of the human person. The elimination of the Sacred from the present ethos as serious implications for the community. Every culture in the world has a place for the Sacred in its system, Yet, modern society has sidelined this important concept. What used to be organized in the past by religious norms or community expectations, Funerals, for the deceased are not mandatory as they were in the past. A ritual makes the past seen and allows the future to be a continuous whole. Rituals are places of intense meaning. My interest in this presentation is the loss of ritual that a funeral provided. The culture we currently live in is a secular society and how has that impacted our understanding and use of rituals surrounding death? The postindustrial society has lost its understanding of the transcendent values of the human being. Ritual is that deep area where emotions may be channeled, a place where we sew together of the past and the future, for a fluid present. How has this evolution come about and what are the human needs for ritual in death and dying reflected in current patients in Hospice care.