Life, death, and spirituality: A conceptual analysis for educational research development

Life education, also known as life and death education, is an important subject in Taiwan. Life education is more than just the study of a person's development throughout the lifespan (e.g., cognitive development). Within the learning and sociocultural contexts of Taiwan, interestingly, the study of life and death education is concerned with the premise of the promotion and fulfillment of life qualities (e.g., a person's state of contentment), and the meaningful understanding of the nature of death. To facilitate appreciation and deep, meaningful understanding of the subject, and to emphasize its uniqueness, educators have included in their teaching the importance of Eastern-derived philosophical beliefs and religious faiths (e.g., Buddhism). For example, relatively significant in its emphasis, the teaching of this subject involves detailed examination of theoretical accounts of spiritual cultivation and its positive effect on a person's interpretation and enlightenment of life wisdom. The study of life education, or life and death education, we contend, is of significance as it provides life-related insights and theoretical understanding into the intricate nature of life and death. One notable aspect of the subject entails a person's acquired life wisdom, which in turn may shape his/her life practice on a daily basis (e.g., the proactive engagement in Buddhist meditation). Importantly, the study of life education may assist individuals with their coping of grief, and to approach death with a sense of peace, calmness, and dignity. In this analysis, coupled with Buddhist faith (or any other religious faith for that matter) and facilitated by spiritual cultivation (e.g., the belief in the notion of transcendence experience), a person may overcome grief by believing in the possibility that there is some form of post-death experience and the presence of a loved one's spiritual being. Given this emphasis, we consider an important focus for discussion in this article: to explore the significance of life and death education and to determine how its ‘positive nature’ could potentially yield two comparable implications for development: (i) to engage in appropriate pedagogical practices that would encourage and promote the study of life and death education, and (ii) to advance innovative research inquiries, theoretical, methodological, and/or empirical, which could highlight the significance of life education for life purposes (e.g., the significance of Chinese ideograms, such as 孝).