“Death” Will keep you busy! Check out the MOOCs
Death may seem like a grim topic for a retirement blog. After all, we should be talking about living life to the fullest, right? We shouldn’t constantly be looking over our shoulders for the grim reaper’s approach.
However, if you are a baby boomer like me and 70 is only a couple of clicks away, death has probably crossed your mind from time to time. I think anyone who is mature enough to understand the finality of death, regardless of age, will consider its implications – at least occasionally. After all, it is the ultimate life-altering event, yet the least understood.
I have always been interested in matters of the spirit. I often lie awake at night, wondering what happens to our consciousness when we die. As a child, I was terrified of being turned away from the pearly gates and sent to the flames of eternal damnation. Religion can be scary.
I have also considered other post-human scenarios, such as the wonderful realms described by those who have had near-death experiences. Have they truly witnessed the ultimate reality, or was it just an illusion triggered by a psyche in distress? Regardless, I have spent many hours listening to NDE stories on YouTube, hoping they are real.
The treadmill of infinite reincarnation is another possibility. Who knows for sure? Nobody, but we will all find out. Or will we? Death could be the final curtain with nothing behind it. The afterlife may just be a construct of our collective ego refusing to accept its own mortality. So many questions.
Finding some answers
I went to Yale University.
Well no, I didn’t actually “GO” there. My academic credentials prevented that. But, I did monitor a class at Yale. PHIL-176 is a philosophy course simply titled “Death.” The course is taught by Professor Shelly Kagen. Shelly (that’s what he prefers to be called) is the Clark Professor of Philosophy at Yale. He has written several books on ethics and morality. The course I am discussing here was also turned into a book.
“Death” is a series of twenty-six lectures. In them, Shelly presents arguments for and against the existence of a soul. In turn, the possibility of an afterlife. He also talks about; the fear of death, the implications of suicide, living with the knowledge of death, and more. He examines what it means to die from almost every angle. Although I did not agree with all of Professor Kagen’s conclusions, I found his class fascinating. Like I said earlier nobody has a clear view of what lies beyond, even the Clark professor of Philosophy at Yale. Shelly will be the first to admit that.
Like most families, we had our fair share of losses. My father died when I was 11. Yet, we only spoke about death when we had to. And then, it was only in religious or sentimental terms. That flaw may be in the DNA of the Irish.
“Death” is a MOOC
The course is available on Yale’s University Open Course (https://oyc.yale.edu/) platform. Yale participates in the MOOC (massive open online course) program, where colleges and universities worldwide videotape popular courses and make them available on the Internet. Many of these courses are free (all of the ones on the Yale site are). Yale also offers other courses, such as Financial Markets with Robert Schiller, Introduction to the Old Testament with Christine Hayes, and The Early Middle Ages with Paul Freedman.
There is a whole world of MOOCs beyond Yale, too. You can get a primer in computer programming at MIT or take a deep dive into the Civil War at Columbia. The topics are endless.
There are also a few websites that offer courses from a number of universities-Coursera and EdX are two.
Coursera https://www.coursera.org/
Edx and Coursera both offer paid subscriptions to earn a certificates of completion , but most if not all courses are free to audit.
For retirees, the possibilities are endless. Put together a woodshop, create a blog or spend a few hours a week with a MOOC. Learn something new– do something creative. You’ve already seen all the reruns of Friends and Seinfeld way too many times already.
senior Scoops 
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