Advance Health-Care Directive

Hunter Garrett
Post #9
The Perception of The Physical Realm

        This health-care directive presented some very intense decisions to make that will be taken into account upon death.  It was almost overwhelming to think about.  Given my current physical state right now at an age of only eighteen, it was very difficult to think about these matters so early.  This is not something that has ever caught my attention or thought.  I find that these moral decisions really come down to one's perception of the physical world and your physical body.  If one sees death as the end of everything, or feels that it will lead to total disappearance, then it is reasonable to see why one would try to postpone death as long as they possibly can.  However, if one sees the spirit as something that lives on eternally in another dimension and feels that death is merely the passage of one realm to the next, then it is understandable to see why they wouldn't resist death when it arrives.  I have read a lot about these spiritual realms, and have seen proof of the existence of spirits.  Therefore, I do not perceive the physical realm as the end of everything following a complete and total erase of your mind into dark nothingness.  Death will be the demise of everyone at one point in their lives and it can happen at any given moment in which we are then forced to accept this reality.  However, the spirit and the body are too separate things, and when the physical body is gone the spirit still lives on.
        This way of thinking aided my decisions in this health-care directive to some extent.  If I were diagnosed as terminally ill with an incurable disease, had a rapidly degrading physical condition, or was completely and permanently disabled; then I would not want to prolong my life in any way.  I refuse to accept unnatural and artificial nutrition and hydration, and would accept treatment to alleviate pain even if it hastens my demise.  If I I was going to die, I would not prolong the inevitable and just accept death as a completely natural occurrence.  I see no point in wasting anybody's time and money just to do the impossible only to live with the burden of failing to overcome my death.  There is no point in prolonging life in an unnatural matter through technological machines if it will only prolong pain and agony.  This will only hurt myself and the others around me.  The way I see it, it is better to die sooner and comfortably than to die later but in severe pain.  Staying alive and truly "living" are two separate things and there is no point in staying in life if one is in a permanent and agonizing vegetative physical state.  If I can't live normally with full functionality as I am supposed to and am terminally disabled, then I see no point in trying to stay alive given that I would be able to do nothing.  I do not want to be a burden on anyone and be completely helpless or useless as then it would make my life feel futile.  Death seems like the more humane choice in these particular situations.  In terms of organ donation, I would donate my organs to whoever needed for them whether it is for research or transplants.  I see the physical body is nothing but a shell that will disappear into nothing once the soul leaves it.  Donating organs to extend their use is better than letting them decay into nothing where nobody would benefit from any of them.
        While it does seem great how you can hire an agent to carry out your pre-selected decisions for you in case you lose the ability to think or communicate, I am a bit skeptical about the idea.  Putting my decisions in the hands of someone else just doesn't feel right, even though they are a hundred percent obligated to carry out and convey all of your decisions with complete and total trust.  Although, it seems better than having nobody to speak for you when your time of demise falls upon you and you are unable to think or speak for yourself.  Death is simply an inevitable occurrence in life that you can only avoid if you are continuously thinking.  It does seem brutally intense given how this health-directive must be filled out early before your time comes and it is too late, but I feel that this is highly beneficial for your future.  It is quite serious; but the simple fact of the matter is that if you want your decisions respected upon dying, then these difficult choices must ultimately be thought about and made.