Decisions

 

This essay incorporates three articles from the April 20, 2025 edition of the New York Times.  The articles are titled: 1.  Religion's Role , Revisited, 2.  The Lesson from a Noble Laureate's Chosen Death. 3.Cross Roads . The themes of morality, religion and decision making are paramount.

Noble Laureate Daniel Kahneman decided ,despite being relatively healthy, at age 90 ,planned his assisted suicide on March 27, 2024 in Switzerland.The Dr. stated that as a teenager he believed that the miseries and indignities of the last years of life are superfluous.  He also said that he's active, enjoying many things in life and will die a happy man .And , his kidneys are on their last legs.and the frequency of mental lapses is increasing so it's time to go.

Dr.Kahneman an Israeli-American psychologist experienced in his early life being in Nazi occupied France around  the age of seven..His father was picked up but was later released.  Daniel's family was on the run for the remainder of the war, but survived, except for his father who died of diabetes in 1944 when he was 10 years of age. He received a BA from the Hebrew University an MA and PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.  His research in cognitive psychology,  prospect theory ,loss aversion , and hedonistic  psychology resulted in  receiving many awards in the fields of psychology and economics. His second wife died in 2018. 

One aspect of this research led to happiness and life satisfaction, and he believed that happiness of the experiencing self was a true measure of well-being.  He also said that in reality, humans pursue life satisfaction, which is connected to a large degree to social yardsticks-as in achieving goals and meeting expectations .Daniel addesds” Nothing in life is as important as what you think it is when you are thinking about it “.

Many countries and some US states allow voluntary assisted dying for those who are terminally ill ;assisted suicide in some jurisdictions are permitted for those who have an uncurable condition that causes them incurable suffering.  Switzerland allows competent adults with the firm wish to die legally and  receive assistance in dying regardless of whether they are residents or not ..

 Daniel downplayed his significance and said that he acknowledges other people's respect for his work, which is for the benefit of humanity.  He also stated I just like to get up in the morning because I like to work.  He believed that he's reasonably happy with what he's accomplished.  But, he said, from an objective point of view,  what I do with my day cannot be relevant in terms of the complexity of the universe. “ If I did not end my life when I was clearly mentally competent, I could lose control over the remainder of it, live and die with needless miseries and indignities.

Whether or not Daniel should have committed assisted suicide can be debated philosophically and religiously.  However, a few relevant questions remain: 1.  Was this brilliant 90-year-old the best judge of ending his life?  2.  What was the status of his  kidney disease?  3.  What was the degree of his cognitive change?  4.  How anxious was  he regarding his decision? 

From a psychosocial  point of view, Erik H.  Erikson In Childhood and Society  described eight ages of man.  In the final stage ,Erikson writes about developing a sense of ego integrity versus despair.  Briefly, according to Erikson, life has triumphs,and  disappointments. If  the individual has  accepted his lifecycle , a sense of integrity is related to when the individual is ready to face death. Daniel  meets Erikson’s characterization of integrity. .

 Erikson wrote about despair as a feeling that life was too short to start another life. Erikson ends with "healthy children will not fear life if their elders have integrity enough not to fear death. Switzerland has a humanistic approach to assisted suicide. I agree that a mature cognitively intact  individual has a right to decide when to end it all

In another article, numerous scholars have written about Jesus Christ .About a 100 years ago, a  German scholar offered a mythological  reading of the Gospels, discounting the hysterical veracity of the miracles attributed to Jesus ; but affirming their status as expressions of moral truth.

Elaine Pagels wrote about the circumstances of  the Jesus ' birth and  the doctrine that says that Jesus was born of a virgin . She stated it was seeking to overcome the inconvenient fact of his presumed illegitimacy.  Some believe that Mary was promiscuous and perhaps this young mother was one of the many victims of Roman soldiers who were ravaging the area in which she was living. Factually, the  Hebrew word in Isaiah 7 :14 :in  the original text was that she was not a  virgin but  literally a young woman(almah).  In other words, later there was an incorrect translation of the Hebrew word almah.

 In essence, there are different translations and different interpretations surrounding Christ.  Pagels suggests that the gospel story in Christian doctrine is contrived, if not , it’s conspiratorial and that Christian orthodoxy is unsupportable.  God has become human from a historical as well as a theological perspective and one tries to understand each in light of the other.

A significant error in  translation regarding Mary, the virgin or Mary the young woman  changes the narrative in this supernatural  story of Jesus Christ. The biblical miracles seem far-fetched.  On the other hand, Jesus teaching and treating others with the Golden Rule is humanistic.  However, loving your enemy is unrealistic.  And ,how does Donald treat his enemies?  What  Christian rationalization is Donald following regarding his treatment of his so-called enemies?

In the third article, Lauren ,reared as a Mormon , wrote about returning to her religion.  According to her, in the  mid 1990s , the country began a mass exodus from Christianity, and now about 30% of the population identifies as having no religion.  Lauren  claimed she left  her religion and attempted to replace it by volunteering, caring for nieces and nephews ,pursuing wellness workout classes, practicing mindfulness ,therapy ,visiting saunas, subscribing to meditation apps, joining book clubs, running clubs and reading  books on moral instruction and so forth.  And she added, it was nothing quite like her early religious experience in Arkansas.Of course not will be addressed later.

Laren criticized securitization as people are not necessarily better off , an epidemic of loneliness;and those without religious affiliation rank lower on metrics of well-being  and feel less connected to others. 

 The spirituality experience is gaining and the country seems to be revisiting the role of religion as people are no longer leaving Christianity and other major religions are growing. 92% of adults believe in some form of spirituality, belief in God ,human souls or spirits  ,an afterlife or something beyond natural means.

Lauren reported that Trump claimed God saved him from bullets so he could make America great again.  The Supreme Court has the most religious justices since the 1950s; nearly half of Americans believe the United States should be a Christian nation. According to the president of Harvard chaplains “ openness to religion and spirituality has never been higher on campus."

Lauren  interviewed hundreds of people , visited dozens of houses of worship, spiritual retreats, wellness centers, as well as hearing from more than 4000 Times readers responding to a survey.  She said that Americans simply haven't found a satisfying alternative to religion

Lauren : 1., Even though people have left religion ,more people still identify with spirituality. 2. According to  sociologists, religion provides beliefs, belonging  behaviors. 3. Religious Americans are healthier ,significantly less likely to be depressed , die by suicide or have  cancer, cardiovascular illness 4. According to a Harvard study, religious individuals have  higher levels of social support, better health behaviors and greater optimism about the future.5.  Political Scientists say that religion flourishes in times of existential insecurity and withers in times of peace and bounty. 6. In a country where most people are pessimistic about the future , people have to belong and believe in something.  7.Religion offers beliefs, belonging and behaviors all in one place. 8. Lauren ends with , I want  a God.  

According to Erich Fromm in The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness, man has existential needs such as an orientation , devotion and rootedness.  An orientation is a reference point ,a picture , a philosophy so to speak within one's psychological world. It’s thinking about and  making sense of who one is within the culture and society. It encompassesones thinking, feeling and behaviors that tells the story.about one’s existence. Within orientation ,there are  aims, goals ,and barriers to overcome . In essence, one's needs could be expressed in a multitude of motivational  behavioral tendencies as in seeking success, prestige, power , status, monotheism , authoritarianism ,domination, exploitation , love , achievement, knowledge  etc..

For Lauren ,it was magical thinking to explain  her world , in order to be  protected, loved, cared for  by  God  who can reward and/or punish . This dynamic gave her answers or a frame of reference and orientation to her psychological world. This religious world  made  sense  despite  all its contradictions, absurdities, supernaturalness and irrationalities. In other words, it became a philosophy, a drive , a devotion and became just one  example of the ease of, the suggestibility  in which people like Lauren fall under the “spell “of  an irrational doctrine,like a religion . 

Lauren’s  ego's need  for fulfillment  and safety results from having to be related  and emotionally connected to others as she was escaping  self-centeredness and isolation through separation .. And ,because of that  isolation anxiety of separation, her devotion became centered in that religious world. She left ,according to her, because of inappropriate actions of church leaders not because of a loss of  faith  or belief in God.,and its teachings  .Her  existential need of devotion required fulfilment irrespective of how it was procured.  

Rootedness is another existential need.  This occurs as a result of the first trauma with the separation from the womb. Psychologically, with affiliation, it’s defined  as  a fulfillment, and escape from the  separation anxiety .In other words, it. lessened her  suffering from isolation in which church membership fulfilled that ego  need of affiliation and connection 

 In summation, Lauren reared in a Mormon family ,with its ties, never separated psychologically -orientation , devotion and rootedness from her religious indoctrination and socialization experience..  She left in protest against sexual inappropriateness and involved herself frantically ( anxiety)in  many activities.  Lauren’s return allowed her to return to security, belongingness,  being taken care of ,  loved ,  fellowship ,connected  and again  with a “father.”.Once more, her beliefs about the  complex world were  again simplified  .Pursuant to Daniel”\’s  judgment about his future - not worth living - was both  logical, rational and emotionally based .It's certainly a relationship between his thinking and the idea that suffering is uselessness .And, as Socrates said, "know thyself .”

PS.”

Mere anxiety according to Heiidegger  is the source of everything. Chestoy "The only true solution is precisely when human judgment sees no solution.  We turned toward God only to obtain the impossible.  Camus "there have always been men to defend the rights of the irrational. And being absurd means it's impossible.  It also means it's contradictory."

Reference 

Camus, Albert.  The Myth of Sisyphus