Death Worship

Death Worship
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What is the political philosophy of "Death Worship" or "Obliteration of the Self" that is practiced in EastAsia in George Orwell's 1984?
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Oceania is famously remembered as representing Anglo-America while Eurasia is Soviet Russia. But EastAsia in 1948 did not refer to any existing state as Japan was still under occupation and China in Civil War. While IngSoc and Neo-Bolshevism are both forms of Western Socialism, Death Worship is not clearly identified with any western ideas.
In the book OLIGARCHICAL COLLECTIVISM by Emmanuel Goldstein he writes:
Socialism, a theory which appeared in the early nineteenth century and was the last link in a chain of thought stretching back to the slave rebellions of antiquity, was still deeply infected by the Utopianism of past ages. But in each variant of Socialism that appeared from about 1900 onwards the aim of establishing liberty and equality was more and more deeply abandoned. The new movements which appeared in the middle years of the century, Ingsoc in Oceania, New-Bolshevism in Eurasia, Death-Worship, as it is commonly called, in Eastasia, had the conscious aim of perpetuating unfreedom and inequality. These new movements, of course, grew out of the old ones and tended to keep their names and pay lip-service to their ideology. But the purpose of all of them was to arrest progress and freeze history at a chosen moment. The familiar pendulum swing was to happen once more, and then stop
Eastasia's political ideology is, according to the novel, "called by a Chinese name usually translated as Death-worship, but perhaps better rendered as 'Obliteration of the Self'".
This seems to be more identifiable with Buddhism and certain other forms of Eastern religion and mysticism. Which Orwell might have been familiar with from his stay in colonial Burma.
Death worship has always intrigued me in that it doesnt fit into the rest of the narrative of 1984 as a modernized totalitarian world. Instead it ushers back to something primitive, ancient and mystical. More akin to archaic Oriental Despotism than modern Stalinism. Almost as if Orwell did not think East Asians were capable of western scientific socialism, which is ironic since only a year later China did indeed embrace socialism of the Neo-Bolshevist model.
Since there is little direct reference to Eastasia in 1984, the precise meaning of Death Worship is open to speculation and interpretation.
Does anyone have any ideas on what exactly Orwell intended the political philosophy of death-worship to be and its parallels with real life western or eastern philosophies?
Perhaps he meant the destruction of ego in order for people to become one whole unit?
A manipulation of buddhism used to create a fascist state perhaps? In the same way IngSoc and Neo-Bolshevism are manipulations of socialism in order to create a fascist police state.
This is merely speculation on my part. I'd be very interested to hear any more.
This is how I always interpreted it.
It's a fascinating, creepy. idea. Somebody should write a spin-off set in Eastasia that explores this!
This doesn't exactly tackle your question directly like the other comment doed, but one thing to keep in mind is that even though the 3 states made it sound like each philosophy was very different, an important point was that they were in truth extemely similar. They all had more or less the same totalitarian system through this idea of perpetual war (non of the sides truly cared about actually winning these as long as the status quo would be upheld). It was mostly the same setup under a different cloak.
Richard Rorty reads 1984 as a demonstration of the relativity of truth. We can only criticize the state's belief system from our limited, Western liberal perspective, not objectively in any sense.
Jim Conant has a response to Rorty in which he reads 1984 as an illustration of the devastating consequences of disposing of the notion of objective truth, and therefore as a case for why truth is a crucial concept when analyzing other belief systems.
That's really only the beginning of an answer, but I can probably track down links if anyone's interested.
Japan was still under occupation and China in Civil War
By the time Orwell wrote and published the novel, the civil war had moved out of its long insurgency stage into an all-out conflict in which Mao's communists had the upper hand. If you insist on assigning each of the super-states a real-life predecessor/counterpart, I don't see any reason that this (at the time) prospective Chinese communist state wouldn't do.
I don't think that "Death Worship" a real concept. As already pointed out, the translation is dubious and inaccurate, and "better rendered as 'Obliteration of the Self'".
The obliteration of the self seems to come straight from Buddhism. Hijacking the Buddhist concept of overcoming one's own desires in order to force the individual into compliance with the state is nothing particularly new in East Asia (i.e., today's oriental nations, not necessarily the fictitious state).
The mis-translation to "death worship" seems consistent with Westerners' disparaging mis-translations of Eastern ideas. The "Boxer Rebellion" is probably most well know condescending mis-translation: to the Chinese it is some more poetic, along the lines of "The War of the Righteous and Harmonious Fists". Nineteenth century translations of Eastern ideas I think are full of such put-downs.
The idea of celebrating death as the ending of the suffering of life is fairly consistent with some lines of Buddhist thought. It seems to follow that this idea can be manipulated through negligent or malicious translation as "Death Worship". Orwell is writing Goldstein's scholarship as if it were derived from condescending Western sources to synthesize a plausible (but fictional) narrative behind the text of Oligarchical Collectivism .
Basically "Death Worship" is a condescending mis-translation, not a genuine Eastern idea.

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Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
You turn us back to dust, and say, “Turn back, you mortals.”
For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it has past, or like a watching in the night.
So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.
That we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Relent, Lord! How long will it be?
Have compassion on your servants.
Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love
That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
And a season for every activity under the heavens.
A time to be born and a time to die,
A time to plant and a time to uproot,
A time to tear down and a time to build,
A time to mourn and a time to dance,
A time to keep and a time to through away,
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
Spirit of wisdom, please help us to know when.
Leader: Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who though He was in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,
People: But emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.
Leader: And being found in human form, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death-even death on the cross.
People: Therefore God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name,
Leader: So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth; and under the earth,
People: And every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Leader: So let us join in singing our praise.
Leader:           Look! God’s dwelling is here with humankind. God dwells with us, and we are God’s people.
People:          God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. Death will be no more.
                       There will be no more mourning, crying, or pain anymore.
Leader            The One on the throne proclaims, “Look, I’m making all things new!”
People:          Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
All:                 Let us worship God!
Adapted from Genesis 3:19, Matthew 24:36
Nor the Son, but only the Father.
Lord of all, we submit ourselves to your merciful care this day.
The choice is before us: life or death.
Let us choose life so that we may live.
To Jesus we cry: Cleanse us, oh Lord!
By the mercy of Christ we are made clean.
This is the hope that we proclaim:
That Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.
Who will save us from the ways of death?
Jesus Christ our Lord; thanks be to God!
God’s grace is sufficient for us;
In Christ, the week are made strong.
Weeping may linger for the night,

Worked at U.S. Air Force ( 1992 – 2000 ) · Author has 6.2K answers and 12M answer views · 4 y ·
Why should one worship a God that dies?
Is there a religion or a cult that worship a corpse or at least revere to the dead and death in general?
Which is the best religion to follow and why?
Is it true that God hates humanity?
Author has 2.8K answers and 19.7M answer views · 4 y ·
Why should one worship a God that dies?
Is there a religion or a cult that worship a corpse or at least revere to the dead and death in general?
Which is the best religion to follow and why?
Is it true that God hates humanity?
How death is considered among various religions?
Why do I feel like God isn't present in my life?
Which religion is the true religion & why?
What are examples of major religions which have died?
I’m 15 and have always been Christian. But knowing most of the world's population will burn forever makes me sad. I want to believe in heaven and God, but burning for ever seems so harsh. I don’t know where I stand spiritually. What do I do?
Which religions believe in life after death?
I don’t know if I believe in Jesus anymore. Am I losing my mind?
Why did God save me from death 2 times?
I've started to lose faith in my religion (I'm Hindu). Am I wrong for feeling this way?
Why should one worship a God that dies?
Is there a religion or a cult that worship a corpse or at least revere to the dead and death in general?
Which is the best religion to follow and why?
Is it true that God hates humanity?
How death is considered among various religions?
Why do I feel like God isn't present in my life?
Which religion is the true religion & why?
What are examples of major religions which have died?
I’m 15 and have always been Christian. But knowing most of the world's population will burn forever makes me sad. I want to believe in heaven and God, but burning for ever seems so harsh. I don’t know where I stand spiritually. What do I do?
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One of the most popular religions in the world worships death - evolutionism . For those who practice evolutionism, death is their hero. Nothing can survive and nothing can live and evolve without death; as death is a requirement for life in their fairtale belief.
A Christian believes man was perfect, but by disobedience to God we brought death into the world.
Evolutionism teaches man was slow and stupid and they're slowly working towards perfection through elimination inferior races and death for the weak.
One of the most popular religions in the world worships death - evolutionism . For those who practice evolutionism, death is their hero. Nothing can survive and nothing can live and evolve without death; as death is a requirement for life in their fairtale belief.
A Christian believes man was perfect, but by disobedience to God we brought death into the world.
Evolutionism teaches man was slow and stupid and they're slowly working towards perfection through elimination inferior races and death for the weak.
Man imperfect and stupid-----> Death -----> Man becomes perfect.
And this is what Charles Darwin their prophet said in their racist bible known as On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.
You catch that? Favoured races ? Yes, evolutionism also embraces the elimination and death of those people that are not of a favoured race.
So evolutionism teaches that pain, disease, suffering, misery and death is a wonderful thing. It is their god and their creator.
As a non Christian I always felt Christianity was a death cult. It symbol, a cross is a tool used to kill people, usually it has a dead guy on it, it is on their holy buildings, ear rings, tattoos, cars. The entire religion is based on human sacrifice. The idea that to rid the world of sin you must kill an innocent seems so odd. Their practices prepare you for after you are dead, or threaten you with torture after you die. The OT is full of death, murder, genocide, death on a scale Hitler could not grasp. Some versions practice cannibalism and teach it is real and should be done every week. Th
As a non Christian I always felt Christianity was a death cult. It symbol, a cross is a tool used to kill people, usually it has a dead guy on it, it is on their holy buildings, ear rings, tattoos, cars. The entire religion is based on human sacrifice. The idea that to rid the world of sin you must kill an innocent seems so odd. Their practices prepare you for after you are dead, or threaten you with torture after you die. The OT is full of death, murder, genocide, death on a scale Hitler could not grasp. Some versions practice cannibalism and teach it is real and should be done every week. The idea that the most important event in the 5,000 years was the torture and murder of an innocent man, for the benefit of people not yet born and will not be born for thousands of years is just to far out there for me to grasp. Praying to dead people for the benefit of dead people. I freely admit I do not get it.

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