An ideal sense of self: Proposition of holistic self and holistic mindset from the unique anthropological-sociocultural perspective of life and death education

Abstract

<p>"Life and death education," also known as life education and death education, is an important area of research that may help to explain and account for the proactivity of human agency. One significant aspect of life and death education, reflecting the Taiwanese anthropological– sociocultural viewpoint, is associated with a person's introspective reflection and contemplation about his life knowledge, theoretical understanding, and personal experiences of life and/or death-related matters (e.g., the existence of some form of life after death). Our research teaching and research undertakings of the subject matter, individually and collectively, have led us to philosophize a theoretical concept that may help to advance the study of life and death education. Notably, drawing from the literature pertaining to the concept of self, ranging from William James' classical writing to more recent writings, we propose a concept known as "incorporeal self-being," which there are many (i.e., multiple self-beings), depending on the different contexts at hand. A contextual incorporeal self-being for a particular context (e.g., the context of being a secondary school student), in this case, emanates from deep within, reflecting a person's soul, psyche, mindset, consciousness, and subconsciousness. We purport that multiple contextual self-beings (e.g., Contextual Self-Being 1, Contextual Self-Being 2, … Contextual Self-Being_<i>n</i>) combine to form the concept of "holistic self." Moreover, novel in our conceptualization is the proposition that a person's incorporeal self-being is intimately linked to his/her "contextual mindset," which is made up of different types: personal mindset, philosophical mindset, cognitive mindset, and spiritual mindset. There is an underlying process of change, involving dynamic interactions of subprocesses that may account for the formation of a person's holistic self. Importantly, from our philosophization, a person's holistic self, intricately linked to his holistic mindset, may aspire him to strive to achieve a state of nirvana, or self-enlightenment. Nirvana, for us, is simply not an isolated state in itself. Rather, a state of nirvana may yield positive characteristics, such as deep spiritual joy, acceptance, contentment, peace, and purity that enable a person to view life and death with a sense of optimism.</p>