The Intimacy of Death and Dying: Simple guidance to help you through

If you have ever witnessed the moment of death, you know that death is ultimately silent, still, and alone. The practices of contemplative spirituality prepare us for this. The contemplative way thrusts us into the beautiful struggle of embracing the unknown and losing the need to control.

So, to know openly that I could share in the final weeks and months of my mother’s life was such a blessing. For me, it was an opportunity to deepen my own experience of the meaning of life itself, and of death not only as a sudden loss but also as an approaching endpoint that heightened and sharpened our experience of being alive.

Ce partage d’expériences peut profiter à tous. Celles et ceux qui accompagnent les personnes en fin de vie disent qu’elles évoquent peu ce qui semble préoccuper la plupart d’entre nous à d’autres âges de la vie. Ainsi ces personnes ne parlent pas d’argent ni de relations de pouvoir. Elles parlent plus d’amour, de valeurs, de relation à l’autre, voi