Why doctors can’t talk about death
“Psychoanalysts believe that emotional trauma in human life is because man is not really a god and is something more than just an animal. He is a demi-god and being a demi-god is hard. He can create and appreciate goodness, enjoy the wonder and awe of each day; teach, learn, and dream, but at the […]
Painted, young and damned and fair
Posted by Vole When I think back to the days after Diana’s death I remember a strange time: hot days and a sense of shared grief lying like a miasma over the whole country. I was working for a council in those days and the queue of people, waiting to sign the book of remembrance […]
Euphemism of the week
Euphemisms for ‘died’ abound. That nasty old tell-it-as-it-is d-word — nah, we can’t be doing with it. In a letter to the Oldie, Chris Butler alerts us to a new one: The department of Energy and Climate Change’s recent ‘Impact Assessment of the Introduction of Air Quality Requirements into the Renewable Heat Incentive’ leads off […]
Good question, Poppy
In 2010/11, 40,000 women attended NCT antenatal classes. This is on top of regular meetings with midwives and GPs. Mumsnet gets 50 million page views per month. We clearly want information badly. So why do we prepare ourselves for birth and death so differently? Read the whole of Poppy Mardall’s article in the Huffington Post […]
RIP Michael Winner
“If you’re dead, you’re dead, so who cares. I tell people illness is a nuisance and extreme illness is a f***ing nuisance, but you have to live with the cards you’ve been dealt. My family were put to death in the camps, so compared to that, what I’m going through is minor. “I’m very happy to […]
An Experiential Enquiry into Death & Dying
Experiential retreat run by The Sammasati Project: An Experiential Enquiry into Death & Dying — 6-10 March 2013 An intense and tender process, this workshop provides an opportunity to gather the experience, knowledge, and skills needed to prepare for our own dying. Not only will this impact how we face our own death but how […]
Approaching death
“You get nearer to the shore and you can actually, for the first time, not just make out this dim, insubstantial cliff, but you can see the little houses and cars moving.” Jonathan Miller
The unintended consequence of promoting longevity
Michael Wolff describes caring for his eldery, dementing mother in New York magazine. It’s a long piece and it will concentrate your mind. You’ll brood on it. Warning: once you start, you won’t be able to put it down. …what I feel most intensely when I sit by my mother’s bed is a crushing sense […]
Death in the community
From KentOnline: Grave concerns have been aired over a coffin maker’s presence at a late night shopping event [in Tenterden, Kent]. Andy Clarke of Wealden Coffins, who makes unique curved and painted eco-friendly coffins, said his business had as much right to be there as anyone else. “It was quite interesting,” he said. “We had […]
Quote of the day
“I suppose it’s a cliché to say you’re glad to be alive, that life is short, but to say you’re glad to be not dead requires a specific intimacy with loss that comes only with age or deep experience. One has to know not simply what dying is like, but to know death itself, in […]
