Sex vs. Death

I'm not entirely sure where this whole sex versus death discussion is going, as I was sick the day we discussed it in class, but I think I can safely agree AND disagree with points both Glo and Alex made. 

To summarize the exact portion I'm referring to: Someone said something along the lines of "sex is an important physical experience, whereas death is an important spiritual experience," and someone else refuted that statement.

I think you are both correct. I think the reason why sex and death have many parallels is because they are both situations that nearly every human being will experience. But despite their omnipresence, both are sort of taboo topics, often not to be discussed (at least in our society). It would probably be considered rude to ask a couple about the details of their first time together, just as it would probably be rude to ask someone the details of their grandmother's death. If these situations occur in almost every single human being's life, why are we to be so hush hush about them?

As far as sex being physical and death being emotional, I'm not so sure about that. I think a more correct assertion would be that sex and death are both extraordinarily physical AND emotional actions in the grand scheme of things- that's what makes them important. A very stoic individual may view both as purely physical actions, just as all other mammals do: sex is for pleasure and reproduction, whereas death is simply part of our life cycle. Another may view both as purely spiritual actions: sex equates to love, death equates to an after life. Another may think both of these things simultaneously, another may think sex is physical and death is spiritual, another may think they're both only sort of spiritual, etc, etc. It is a spectrum of beliefs and emotions.