What make people die

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   riddle666posted 12 years ago

   for their convictions?
   People have opinions and are willing to die for it? What makes them value their opinion above their life?
   Fort the religious we may say it is their hope of afterlife(like the terrorists of 9/11, but that is not always the case), but what about the scientists and communists who died? What about the freedom fighters?
   Or
   What is the psychology behind the willingness to commit suicide(not the depressed suicide) knowing fully well that this is the only life one can have?
   What makes ones opinion more important that his life?
   [eg: An Indian freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, who was an atheist, died for his country knowing fully well his actions will bring him death and this life is the only one he have]
   So what motivates people to lay their life?

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      riddle666posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      My answer is, evolutionary psychology favors death for groups as it favors group survival, but the answer is not entirely satisfying. So anyone?

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         Emile Rposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Desire to serve the greater good? An over developed sense of empathy? If you truly believe your actions will benefit humanity I would think this would change your basic survival instinct to allow it to encompass all within your group. Your life is a piece of the whole. Its value judged by its service to the group.

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            riddle666posted 12 years agoin reply to this

            I too thought the same, but that won't explain people dying to keep their honor.

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               Emile Rposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Well, that one is easy. Those people care about what others think beyond what would be considered to be reasonable. To back down would negate the value of who they are perceived to be.

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      aravindb1982posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Bear with me for a long answer:
      
      Man is at the pinnacle of the biological evolution. But spiritual evolution is still an ongoing process. My Master has taught me that spiritual evolution is complete when man realizes and lives life knowing that he is a part of the whole - just like a cell is a part of a tissue and an organ a part of the body.
      Just like a leg lends itself to amputation for the sake of the welfare of the body (which is a higher cause), these people who are "suicidal" in the positive sense always do so for a higher cause.
      
      Even when you talk of people dying for honor, this holds good because honor represents something higher. It represents righteousness and a moral ideal.

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         A Troubled Manposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Both of those statements are patently false. There's no such thing as 'spiritual evolution' and man is still evolving.
         
         
         
         What is like to be a slave to a master who teaches false ideals?

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         Rad Manposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         You've got somethings wrong and somethings right.
         
         Everything is always evolving and every species has evolved to do what it needs to do to survive. There is no pinnacle of evolution in other words every other species in not evolving into us.
         
         By spiritual evolution you must mean moral development. We can develop morally and ethically, but that has nothing to do with the evolution of a species.
         
         If one is able to get to the final stage of moral development according to Kohlberg anyway, one would have an understanding of what is right without being told. "A list of rules inscribed in stone is no longer necessary. At this level, God is understood to say what is right because it is right; His sayings are not right, just because it is God who said them. Abstract principles are the basis for moral decision making, not concrete rules. Stage 6 individuals are rare, often value their principles more than their own life, often seen as incarnating the highest human potential. Thus they are often martyred by those of lower stages shamed by seeing realized human potential compared with their own partially realized levels of development."
         
         "What will foster life in its fullest for all living beings? What is justice for all?"

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         riddle666posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         The leg does not "lend", we do not even ask the choice of the leg , nor the leg "think" anything about it.
         
         Yes that represents, but that is only the person's opinion. What make that opinion more valuable than life?

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   Zelkiiroposted 12 years ago

   When the brain realizes it lacks brain cells, it enters a raging suicidal mode in order to free itself from its intellectually-limited hell.
   
   That's my theory, anyway.

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