For the human body, the physiological consequences of death follow a recognized sequence through early changes into bloating, then decay to changes after decay and finally skeletal remains. Soon after death (15–120 minutes depending on various factors), the body begins to cool (algor mortis), becomes pallid (pallor mortis), and internal sphincter muscles relax, leading to the release of urine, feces, and stomach contents if the body is moved. The blood moves to pool in the lowest parts of the body, livor mortis (dependent lividity), ...

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Death, Death - Biological death, Death - Criteria of human death, Death - Defining the moment of human death, Death - The process of dying, Death - Cell death, Death - Physiological changes, Death - Signs of approaching death, Death - Causes of human death in the US, Death - Consciousness after death, Death - Physiological consequences of human death, Death - Settlement of dead human bodies, Death - Personification of death, Death - Unwritten customs and superstitions

Read more here: » Death: Encyclopedia II - Death - Physiological consequences of human death

See also:

Death, Death - Interpretations of death, Death - Criteria of human death: medical religious and legal, Death - When is a person dead?, Death - The process of dying, Death - Cell death, Death - Physiological changes during the process of dying, Death - Signs of approaching death, Death - When death is imminent, Death - When death occurs, Death - Causes of death in the United States, Death - Other notable causes of death in the United States 2002, Death - What happens to humans after death?, Death - Physiological consequences of human death, Death - Settlement of dead human bodies, Death - Personification of death, Death - Unwritten customs and superstitions

Read more here: » Death: Encyclopedia II - Death - What happens to humans after death?

The second question is of what, apart from the cessation of metabolism and the onset of physiological processes of decay, happens, especially to humans, during and after death (or "once dead", thinking of death as a permanent state). In particular, there is the question of what becomes of consciousness or the soul. Such questions are of long standing, and belief in an afterlife (such as an underworld), or in reincarnation, are common and ancient. The belief that any and all consciousness ceases to exist at death, and that death ("after-life" ...

See also:

Death, Death - Interpretations of death, Death - Criteria of human death: medical religious and legal, Death - When is a person dead?, Death - The process of dying, Death - Cell death, Death - Physiological changes during the process of dying, Death - Signs of approaching death, Death - When death is imminent, Death - When death occurs, Death - Most causal causes of death, Death - Other notable causes of death in the United States 2002, Death - What happens to humans after death?, Death - Physiological consequences of human death, Death - Settlement of dead human bodies, Death - Personification of death, Death - Unwritten customs and superstitions

Read more here: » Death: Encyclopedia II - Death - What happens to humans after death?

Death is the cessation of physical life in a living organism, or the state of the organism after that event. Death - Interpretations of death. In almost all societies, death has one or several symbols associated with it. Common symbols of death in Western cultures include the grim reaper and the color black; conversely, in certain Eastern cultures, the color white is considered symbolic of death. The grave is a metonym for death. Biologically, death can occur to wholes, to parts, or to both. For exam ...

Including:

Death - Interpretations of death Death - Criteria of human death: medical religious and legal Death - When is a person dead? Death - The process of dying
Death - Cell death Death - Physiological changes during the process of dying
Death - Signs of approaching death
Death - When death is imminent Death - When death occurs
Death - Causes of death in the United States
Death - Other notable causes of death in the United States 2002
Death - What happens to humans after death?
Death - Physiological consequences of human death Death - Settlement of dead human bodies
Death - Personification of death Death - Unwritten customs and superstitions

Read more here: » Death: Encyclopedia - Death

Death is the cessation of physical life in a living organism, or the state of the organism after that event. Death - Interpretations of death. In almost all societies, death has one or several symbols associated with it. Common symbols of death in Western cultures include the grim reaper and the color black; conversely, in certain Eastern cultures, the color white is considered symbolic of death. The grave is a metonym for death. Biologically, death can occur to wholes, to parts, or to both. For exam ...

Including:

Death - Interpretations of death Death - Criteria of human death: medical, religious, and legal Death - When is a person dead? Death - The process of dying
Death - Physiological changes during the process of dying
Death - Signs of approaching death
Death - When death is imminent Death - When death occurs
Death - Causes of death in the United States
Death - Other notable causes of death in the United States 2002
Death - What happens to humans after death?
Death - Physiological consequences of human death Death - Settlement of dead human bodies
Death - Personification of death Death - Unwritten customs and superstitions

Read more here: » Death: Encyclopedia - Death

Sex As applied to the organism as a whole, the differentiation of the reproductive function and the character of being male and female.

Organisms reproduce their kind in various ways: fission, gemmation, parthenogenesis, hermaphrodite reproduction, and sexual reproduction. In the course of evolution, organisms pass from one method to another; the passage from the hermaphrodite method to the one in which the sexes are in separate individuals took place in the animals in the third root-race of this round on this globe, and shortly afterwards in humanity (SD 2:184), the latter then being in the fifth subrace of the third root-race.

The process of separation did not occur suddenly, but slowly. This is often called the Fall, and is so in one sense, since it is a descent from spirit toward matter, and was an initiation of the beasts. "THEY (the animals) BEGAN TO BREED. The TWOFOLD MAN (then) SEPARATED ALSO. HE (man) SAID: "LET US AS THEY: LET US UNITE AND MAKE CREATURES.' THEY DID" (ibid.). But from another viewpoint, it was simply a following of the natural course of unfolding progress in evolution. The separation is symbolized by a circle with a vertical diameter.

The hermaphroditic state is repeated in the developing embryo where the organs of both sexes arise from the same germinal layer of cells, and the differentiation does not occur until near the middle of the viable period of fetal life. Today, the orderly unfolding of embryonic cells into a human form is due to following the invisible model which, in keeping with the imbodying ego's karma, is directed by creative spiritual entities and forces.

"Before man could become male and female physically, his prototype, the creating Elohim, had to arrange his Form on this sexual plane astrally. That is to say, the atoms and the organic forces, descending into the plane of the given differentiation, had to be marshaled in the order intended by Nature, so as to be ever carrying out, in an immaculate way, that law which the Kabala calls the balance, through which everything that exists does so as male and female in its final perfection, in this present stage of materiality. Chochmah, Wisdom, the Male Sephiroth, had to diffuse itself in, and through, Binah, intelligent Nature, or Understanding" (SD 2:84). After the separation, the third eye began to disappear, and death as we now understand it was not known until then.

Thus the primeval polarity of all things differentiated on the material plane -- including sexual humanity -- was of immaculate origin and purpose. This sublime ancient teaching has been degraded generally in theological interpretations of cosmic sex symbols in crude physiological terms, such as the substitution of a Jehovistic god of generation for an ineffable, unknown deity.

The originating causes of sex are not rooted in the higher principles or elements of the human composite constitution. It is the effect of former thought-deposits, of emotional and mental tendencies and biases given way to in preceding lives on earth. "The predominating and it may perhaps truly be said that the main cause of sex-change in incarnation is strong attraction to the opposite sex during the few -- or in rare cases it may be a fairly large number -- preceding lives on earth. This attraction, which is the instrumental cause of the tendencies and biases spoken of, arising out of thought and emotional energy, feminizes the life-atoms, or masculinizes them, as the individual case may be, and the natural consequence is incarnation in a body of the sex to which attraction leads" (ET 666). Thus a reincarnating ego may have several incarnations in bodies of one sex, and then incarnate in bodies of the opposite sex for a number of times in succeeding incarnations. How many times, therefore, a reincarnating ego may imbody in a male or a female body is not subject to any arbitrary rule but depends solely upon the karmic impulse laid aside in the treasury of psychomental experiences.

Though the distinction of sex is biologically regarded as a profound and nearly universal attribute of organized beings, yet knowledge of composite human nature shows that it does not reach into the roots of the human constitution. Its causes go no deeper than the lower part of the human ego or soul, the psychophysiological nature. It is an evolutionary condition or cycle of the reincarnating ego's development in this present stage of materiality. Therefore, it is a transitory event in its bipolar earthly experience. As sex has been nature's plan for the race for some 18 million years, it will continue to be the natural plan for some ages to come. Some ages hence, sex differentiation will have given way to the activities of impersonal, spiritual creative energies.

(See also: Sex, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Astrology Universal analogy provides a key to occult mysteries by studying the nature and motions of the celestial orbs. The heavenly bodies are in essence gods, and the influence they shed is the aura which likewise emanates from all living beings. Ancient astrology taught the absolute solidarity of the universe and of everything within it as an organic entity so that the operations and motions of the celestial bodies and influences flowing forth from them governed or regulated all subordinate beings over which their sway fell.

 The seven sacred planets are correlated with the cosmic and human septenates; learning the natures of these planets provides one key to an understanding of the natures of their correspondences. By their motions they measure cycles and determine epochs. Every being, if we reckon its life cycle, is an event; its nature, its destiny, is shown if we know and can define the epoch of its birth.

Thus the adept, in proportion to his skill, can interpret the past and estimate what is to come; he can define the interrelations of things and arrive at an understanding of the structure of macrocosms and microcosms, which are spread out alike in time and space. "Astrology is a science as infallible as astronomy itself, with the condition, however, that its interpreters must be equally infallible; and it is this condition, sine qua non, so very difficult of realization, that has always proved a stumbling-block to both.

Astrology is to exact astronomy what psychology is to exact physiology. In astrology and psychology one has to step beyond the visible world of matter, and enter into the domain of transcendent spirit" (IU 1:259).

Astrology therefore embraces a science of vast scope, permitting of studies which range from the sublime to the trivial, from the most spacious to the most confined. If astronomy concerns itself with the physical constitution of the celestial bodies, astrology concerns itself especially with what might be called the reasons rather than the mere laws of the universe. Considered in its largest aspect, it includes the entire universe and every being or thing, not only on the physical plane but even more so on the invisible or causal planes -- the physical plane being merely the consequence of the actions and operations of the lives and forces residing in the invisible worlds.

Astrology today is an impaired legacy from Greece and Rome through the medieval art, elaborated by the speculative industry of modern students; and that same medieval astrology was itself no more than a decayed scion of the ancient stock. Modern astrology is too often cultivated in a spirit which binds us to our personality or caters to frivolous curiosity. To the merest tyro, however, it soon becomes evident that the planets cause or indicate character and events; what use the individual makes of this knowledge depends on the motives with which it is sought. Anxiety about personal fate, the desire for influence and notoriety, the need for earning a living, or even knowledge for its own sake -- such motives will qualify his attainments in proportion to the scope of the sphere to which he limits himself. As the old saying attests, the stars impel, they do not compel.

Four branches of astrology are now chiefly studied: 1) mundane, applying to meteorology, seismology, husbandry, etc.; 2) state or civic, regarding the future of nations and rulers; 3) horary, solving doubts arising on any subject; and 4) genethliacal, concerned with the future of individuals from birth to death.

Blavatsky wrote that astrology is the "science which defines the action of celestial bodies upon mundane affairs, and claims to foretell future events from the positions of the stars. Its antiquity is such as to place it among the very earliest records of human learning. It remained for long ages a secret science in the East, and its final expression remains so to this day, its exoteric application only having been brought to any degree of perfection in the West during the lapse of time since Varaha Mihira wrote his book on Astrology, some 1400 years ago. Claudius Ptolemy, the famous geographer and mathematician, founded the system of astronomy known under his name, wrote his Tetrabiblos which is still the basis of modern Astrology in 135 AD . . .

As to the origin of the science, it is known on the one hand that Thebes claimed the honour of the invention of Astrology; whereas, on the other hand, all are agreed that it was the Chaldees who taught that science to the other nations. . . . If later on the name of Astrologer fell into disrepute in Rome and elsewhere, it was owing to the frauds of those who wanted to make money of that which was part and parcel of the Sacred Science of the Mysteries, and who, ignorant of the latter, evolved a system based entirely on mathematics, instead of transcendental metaphysics with the physical celestial bodies as its upadhi or material basis.

Yet, all persecutions notwithstanding, the number of adherents to Astrology among the most intellectual and scientific minds was always very great. If Cardan and Kepler were among its ardent supporters, then later votaries have nothing to blush for, even in its now imperfect and distorted form" (Key 318-19).

(See also: Astrology, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

There is an asymmetry between life and death. While cells and organisms may die, they have never been observed to arise from non-living material (spontaneous generation), as found by Louis Pasteur in the late 19th century. In human affairs, we are normally concerned with the life and death of a person, not his or her parts. Identifying the exact moment of death is important for a number of reasons. It allows for the correct time on death certificates, and helps ensure that a person's legal Will is executed only after he or she is trul ...

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Death, Death - Biological death, Death - Criteria of human death, Death - Defining the moment of human death, Death - The process of dying, Death - Cell death, Death - Physiological changes, Death - Signs of approaching death, Death - Causes of human death in the US, Death - Consciousness after death, Death - Physiological consequences of human death, Death - Settlement of dead human bodies, Death - Personification of death, Death - Unwritten customs and superstitions

Read more here: » Death: Encyclopedia II - Death - Defining the moment of human death

In almost all societies, death has one or several symbols associated with it. Common symbols of death in Western cultures include the grim reaper and the color black; conversely, in certain Eastern cultures, the color white is considered symbolic of death. The grave is a metonym for death. Biologically, death can occur to wholes, to parts, or to both. For example, it is possible for individual cells and even organs to die, and yet for the organism as a whole to continue to live; many individual cells live for only a short time, and so most of an organism's cells (except for nerve and muscle) are ...

See also:

Death, Death - Interpretations of death, Death - Criteria of human death: medical religious and legal, Death - When is a person dead?, Death - The process of dying, Death - Cell death, Death - Physiological changes during the process of dying, Death - Signs of approaching death, Death - When death is imminent, Death - When death occurs, Death - Causes of death in the United States, Death - Other notable causes of death in the United States 2002, Death - What happens to humans after death?, Death - Physiological consequences of human death, Death - Settlement of dead human bodies, Death - Personification of death, Death - Unwritten customs and superstitions

Read more here: » Death: Encyclopedia II - Death - Interpretations of death

In almost all societies, death has one or several symbols associated with it. Common symbols of death in Western cultures include the grim reaper and the color black; conversely, in certain Eastern cultures, the color white is considered symbolic of death. The grave is a metonym for death. Biologically, death can occur to wholes, to parts, or to both. For example, it is possible for individual cells and even organs to die, and yet for the organism as a whole to continue to live; many individual cells live for only a short time, and so most of an organism's cells (except for nerve and muscle) are ...

See also:

Death, Death - Interpretations of death, Death - Criteria of human death: medical religious and legal, Death - When is a person dead?, Death - The process of dying, Death - Cell death, Death - Physiological changes during the process of dying, Death - Signs of approaching death, Death - When death is imminent, Death - When death occurs, Death - Most causal causes of death, Death - Other notable causes of death in the United States 2002, Death - What happens to humans after death?, Death - Physiological consequences of human death, Death - Settlement of dead human bodies, Death - Personification of death, Death - Unwritten customs and superstitions

Read more here: » Death: Encyclopedia II - Death - Interpretations of death

Human death can be defined by three intrinsically different but overlapping domains: biological, legal, and religious. These different domains and their importance have evolved over time, and opinions vary from person to person. There are various ways of defining biological death. Early in Western culture, death was first associated with cessation of the heart, and then later the lungs. When these stopped working, a person was considered dead. It was only later that attention shifted to the brain. One test for brain activity was to po ...

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Death, Death - Biological death, Death - Criteria of human death, Death - Defining the moment of human death, Death - The process of dying, Death - Cell death, Death - Physiological changes, Death - Signs of approaching death, Death - Causes of human death in the US, Death - Consciousness after death, Death - Physiological consequences of human death, Death - Settlement of dead human bodies, Death - Personification of death, Death - Unwritten customs and superstitions

Read more here: » Death: Encyclopedia II - Death - Criteria of human death

Belief in consciousness after death (e.g. afterlife, underworld, reincarnation, heaven, hell) is common and ancient. This point of view holds conciousness to be more than simply one of the things that brains do. The belief that any and all consciousness ceases to exist at death, and that death itself is ultimately the exact same experience as prior to conception, is also common and ancient. This point of view is that talking of conciousness after death is like talk ...

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Death, Death - Biological death, Death - Criteria of human death, Death - Defining the moment of human death, Death - The process of dying, Death - Cell death, Death - Physiological changes, Death - Signs of approaching death, Death - Causes of human death in the US, Death - Consciousness after death, Death - Physiological consequences of human death, Death - Settlement of dead human bodies, Death - Personification of death, Death - Unwritten customs and superstitions

Read more here: » Death: Encyclopedia II - Death - Consciousness after death

In 2002, in the United States, the top causes of death were: Heart disease: 696,947 Cancer: 557,271 Stroke: 162,672 Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 124,816 Accidents (unintentional injuries): 106,742 Diabetes: 73,249 Influenza/pneumonia: 65,681 Alzheimer's disease: 58,866 Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 40,974 Septicemia: 33,865 Suicide: 30,622 Murder: 16,110 Execution: 71 Statistical data from U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Death Penal ...

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Death, Death - Biological death, Death - Criteria of human death, Death - Defining the moment of human death, Death - The process of dying, Death - Cell death, Death - Physiological changes, Death - Signs of approaching death, Death - Causes of human death in the US, Death - Consciousness after death, Death - Physiological consequences of human death, Death - Settlement of dead human bodies, Death - Personification of death, Death - Unwritten customs and superstitions

Read more here: » Death: Encyclopedia II - Death - Causes of human death in the US

Death is the irreversable ending of life. Biologically, death can occur to wholes, to parts, or to both. For example, it is possible for individual cells and even organs to die, and yet for the organism as a whole to continue to live; many individual cells live for only a short time, and so most of an organism's cells are continually dying and being replaced by new ones. When organisms die most of their cells live for some time afterward. ...

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Death, Death - Biological death, Death - Criteria of human death, Death - Defining the moment of human death, Death - The process of dying, Death - Cell death, Death - Physiological changes, Death - Signs of approaching death, Death - Causes of human death in the US, Death - Consciousness after death, Death - Physiological consequences of human death, Death - Settlement of dead human bodies, Death - Personification of death, Death - Unwritten customs and superstitions

Read more here: » Death: Encyclopedia II - Death - Biological death

Death - Cell death. A. Normal cellular function 1. Production of free energy required for vital cellular metabolism 2. Production of enzymatic and structural protein 3. Maintenance of chemical and osmotic homeostasis of cell 4. Cell reproduction B. Needs of cell 1. Oxygen, phosphate, calcium… (C, H, N, O, P, S; pronounced "schnapps") 2. Nutritional substrates 3. ATP – required as a source of free energy 4. Intact cell membranes 5. Steady-state acti ...

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Death, Death - Biological death, Death - Criteria of human death, Death - Defining the moment of human death, Death - The process of dying, Death - Cell death, Death - Physiological changes, Death - Signs of approaching death, Death - Causes of human death in the US, Death - Consciousness after death, Death - Physiological consequences of human death, Death - Settlement of dead human bodies, Death - Personification of death, Death - Unwritten customs and superstitions

Read more here: » Death: Encyclopedia II - Death - The process of dying

In 2002, there were 1,293,000 intentional abortions in the United States. Some would count these in death statistics. In 2002, in the United States, the top causes of death were: Heart disease: 696,947 Cancer: 557,271 Stroke: 162,672 Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 124,816 Accidents (unintentional injuries): 106,742 Diabetes: 73,249 Influenza/pneumonia: 65,681 Alzheimer's disease: 58,866 Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 40,974 Septicemia: 33,865 Suicide: 30, ...

See also:

Death, Death - Biological death, Death - Criteria of human death, Death - Defining the moment of human death, Death - The process of dying, Death - Cell death, Death - Physiological changes, Death - Signs of approaching death, Death - Causes of human death in the US, Death - Consciousness after death, Death - Physiological consequences of human death, Death - Settlement of dead human bodies, Death - Personification of death, Death - Unwritten customs and superstitions

Read more here: » Death: Encyclopedia II - Death - Causes of human death in the US

Since writing someone's name with a range of years, such as John Doe (1950 - 2000), implies that the subject has died, it would be a faux pas to do this on someone's birthday cake or card. This is unlike an anniversary of something. In China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, thus possibly all Oriental countries, the number 4 is often associated to death due to the sound of the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean words for four and death being similar. For this reason, hospitals and hotels often omit the 4th, 14th, etc. floors. However, ISO 3166-2 codes for Japan does have JP-04 for Miyagi Pref ...

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Death, Death - Biological death, Death - Criteria of human death, Death - Defining the moment of human death, Death - The process of dying, Death - Cell death, Death - Physiological changes, Death - Signs of approaching death, Death - Causes of human death in the US, Death - Consciousness after death, Death - Physiological consequences of human death, Death - Settlement of dead human bodies, Death - Personification of death, Death - Unwritten customs and superstitions

Read more here: » Death: Encyclopedia II - Death - Unwritten customs and superstitions

Since writing someone's name with a range of years, such as John Doe (1950 - 2000), implies that the subject has died, it would be a faux pas to do this on someone's birthday cake or card. This is unlike an anniversary of something. In China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan the number 4 is often associated to death due to the sound of the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean words for four and death being similar. For this reason, hospitals and hotels often omit the 4th, 14th, etc. floors. However, ISO 3166-2 codes for Japan does have JP-04 for Miyagi Pref ...

See also:

Death, Death - Biological death, Death - Criteria of human death, Death - Defining the moment of human death, Death - The process of dying, Death - Cell death, Death - Physiological changes, Death - Signs of approaching death, Death - Causes of human death in the US, Death - Consciousness after death, Death - Physiological consequences of human death, Death - Settlement of dead human bodies, Death - Personification of death, Death - Unwritten customs and superstitions

Read more here: » Death: Encyclopedia II - Death - Unwritten customs and superstitions

In most cultures, before the onset of significant decay, the body undergoes some type of ritual disposal, usually either cremation or deposition in a tomb that is often a hole in the ground called a grave, but may also be a sarcophagus, crypt, sepulchre, or ossuary, a mound or barrow, or a monumental surface structure such as a mausoleum (exemplified by the Taj Mahal). In Tibet, one method of corpse disposal is sky burial, which involves placing the body of the deceased on high ground (a mountain) and leaving it for birds of prey to d ...

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Death, Death - Biological death, Death - Criteria of human death, Death - Defining the moment of human death, Death - The process of dying, Death - Cell death, Death - Physiological changes, Death - Signs of approaching death, Death - Causes of human death in the US, Death - Consciousness after death, Death - Physiological consequences of human death, Death - Settlement of dead human bodies, Death - Personification of death, Death - Unwritten customs and superstitions

Read more here: » Death: Encyclopedia II - Death - Settlement of dead human bodies

Human death can be defined by three intrinsically different but overlapping domains: medical, religious, and legal. These different domains and their importance have evolved over time, and opinions vary from person to person. So when talking about death, it is important to specify which domain we are referring to, and to have a general understanding of how each defines death. There are various ways of defining medical death. Early in Western culture, death was first associated with cessation of the heart, and then later the lungs. Whe ...

See also:

Death, Death - Interpretations of death, Death - Criteria of human death: medical religious and legal, Death - When is a person dead?, Death - The process of dying, Death - Cell death, Death - Physiological changes during the process of dying, Death - Signs of approaching death, Death - When death is imminent, Death - When death occurs, Death - Causes of death in the United States, Death - Other notable causes of death in the United States 2002, Death - What happens to humans after death?, Death - Physiological consequences of human death, Death - Settlement of dead human bodies, Death - Personification of death, Death - Unwritten customs and superstitions

Read more here: » Death: Encyclopedia II - Death - Criteria of human death: medical religious and legal