Randy Pausch and the last taboo

Society is rapidly depleting its store of taboos. We can laugh at sex, religion and even death. Isn't there anything left? 

The saga of dying computer science Randy Pausch has held the interest of an attention-deficit disordered world for over a year. The story began in the summer of 2007 when physicians brought grim news to the Carnegie-Mellon professor. His treatment had failed. The pancreatic tumor was invading and destroying his liver. Doctors announced to the middle-aged husband and father of three young children that he had the proverbial six months to live.

The university asked Professor Pausch to give one last lecture before leaving. Pausch delivered his Last Lecture at Carnegie-Mellon University September 18 last year. He illustrated his condition with slides of his abdominal CT scan. Anyone could see the multiple deadly lumps in his liver. He recalled how fulfilling his life had been and gave some parting wisdom. His academic curtain call became an overnight internet hit, gathering 10 million downloads over the following year.

Since the Last Lecture, Pausch has had a few encores. Friends convinced him to put The Last Lecture on paper. The book has been on the bestseller lists for six months. Of course, in America, fame is spelled: O-P-R-A-H. Pausch made the pilgrimage to Chicago on the queen’s stage. He also gave the commencement address at Carnegie-Mellon last May. Outlived by his new popularity, Professor Pausch’s date with fate arrived on July 25, 2008.

The Last Lecture is a typical motivational talk for young people with a life full of endless possibilities. Listening with my eyes closed, I can almost hear the rattling of ice and the clang of forks. In the old days, progressive pedants would say Carpe Diem! In our world of Hollywood and Disney, Pausch’s “follow your dreams” message is as conventional as Buzz Lightyear’s, “To Infinity and Beyond.”

Why did millions plug into a dying man’s concluding bromides? Those tuning in due to morbid curiosity would have been disappointed. Pausch avoided talking about the abyss that he was facing. The professor recalled fulfilling his dream which included high academic achievement, consulting with Disney and being on the cutting edge of virtual reality and the entertainment industry. No wonder that upper, middle-class professionals around the world would imbibe his message as easily as drinking great wine.

I can’t criticize Pausch for not exposing his wounds or allowing us to watch him peering into that abyss. Pausch has said that the lecture was for his children. As any good parent, he wants to both teach and protect them. Others might say that Pausch’s avoiding unpleasant conversation is evidence for our reluctance to mention the great mystery.

Our hang-ups over death may be the last neurosis to conquer. Let’s see. Sex, we’re saturated with pornography. Religion, cynics have free reign to mock the Deity. Yep, death may be the last taboo.

University of Southern California psychologist Herman Feifel began a crusade against our fears of death 50 years ago. The USC psychologist is credited for beginning the death awareness movement. In 1959, Feifel gathered 21 experts in religion, art and science. The result was a book of essays, The Meaning of Death, which Feifel edited.

Over the last four decades, professionals have transformed Feifel’s death awareness into death education. The Association for Death Education (ADEC) was formed in 1978 and recently held its 30th annual conference in Montreal last May. On the website, ADEC describes itself as “The Thanatology Association.” The word, “thanatology” is a 19th century neologism meaning the study of death. Thanatology covers interests ranging from headstone hunting to hospice care and grief counseling. ADEC has narrowed the field to death education and grief counseling.

The original goal of death awareness was to destigmatise death and suffering. Explaining Feifel’s argument that we have a taboo on death, in the Encyclopedia of Death and Dying, David Moller notes four major social trends responsible for the taboo: individualism, secularism, materialism and technology. According to Moller and Feifel, death has become frightening and meaningless. Moller even asserts that there is a “widespread pretense that suffering, dying, death and grief do not exist”. Those who are grieving, dying and suffering are the lepers of our age. Moreover, Feifel argues that modern man needs to be delivered from his denial of death in order to have a meaningful life.

Feifel’s claim of a taboo against death talk lacks empirical evidence. Feifel and others note that the loss of faith is a significant contributor to the taboo on death. Religion still has a hold on our imagination. But was Feifel right about a completely secularized future? Maybe. Remember the ghoulish, Jack Kevorkian and his anguished victims who killed themselves in his old Chevy Van.

Feifel was naive to believe that secularism could cure itself. Pausch’s monologue may represent the most that secularism can offer when faced with death and suffering. In one important aspect, Pausch did prove that Feifel and Moller may be right. Pausch was dutifully, even compulsively, cheerful. These days, melancholy is not tolerated even among the sick and dying. Those suffering from cancer and other maladies are routinely referred to as “survivors”. Despair at the end of life is considered a medical disorder rather than one’s greatest existential crisis. Pausch even did push-ups to convince his audience that he wasn’t suffering physically. Pausch’s cheerfulness reassured them that he wasn’t in emotional pain.

We fear suffering more; and increasingly welcome death to end suffering. Suffering is a scandal to secularist, a disease for materialist and an embarrassment for technocrats. To even suggest that suffering may have meaning would shock many. Suffering, not death, is the taboo for our modern times.

Theron Bowers MD is a Texas psychiatrist.