Download or read book Five Meditations on Death written by François Cheng and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-06-16 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Philosophical discussions on the ways that death makes life meaningful and sacred • Reveals how being conscious of death gives our fate its full meaning, inviting the reader to contemplate life in the light of their own death • Examines the author’s experience of ancestor worship in his native China and the beliefs that underlie it • Explains how death is a transition in a longer living process not visible from the modern “black and white” view of life and death • Translated by award-winning translator Jody Gladding Born from intimate discussions with friends, these five meditations on death from poet-philosopher François Cheng examine the multiple ways the prospect of death significantly shapes life and is, in fact, what makes life meaningful and sacred. Written at the age of 84, in the twilight of life, these meditations each approach the human understanding of death from different yet intertwined perspectives, effortlessly returning to certain themes and ideas, questioning them again more deeply with each passing. The author shows that death is a transition in a longer living process not visible from the modern “black and white” view of life and death. He examines his experience of ancestor worship in his native China and the beliefs that underlies it: Our ancestors are alive in another form, that what is living can never die and what is dead has never lived. Cheng looks at the consequences of a world that has abandoned the sacred and avoids the mention of death, a world now blindly staggering through the chaos it has created, yet which can return to balance if we once again embrace the essential sacredness of life as well as death. Throughout these five heart-baring meditations, Cheng invites us to contemplate life in the light of our own death. He reveals that to be conscious of death gives our fate its full meaning. Our death is an integral part of our great adventure in becoming. For if birth is a seed, then death is the fruit--the final sacred product of a life well lived.
Download or read book 33 Meditations on Death written by David Jarrett and published by Random House. This book was released on 2020-04-16 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: AS FEATURED ON BBC RADIO 4 'Start the Week' : 'very moving - brilliant and profound' "Brilliant - a grimly humorous yet humane account of the realities of growing old in the modern age." - Henry Marsh "A remarkably likeable guide to a grisly subject ... daunting, yet ultimately life-affirming" - Independent What is a good death? How would you choose to live your last few months? How do we best care for the rising tide of very elderly? This unusual and important book is a series of reflections on death in all its forms: the science of it, the medicine, the tragedy and the comedy. Dr David Jarrett draws on family stories and case histories from his thirty years of treating the old, demented and frail to try to find his own understanding of the end. Profound, provocative, strangely funny and astonishingly compelling, it is an impassioned plea that we start talking frankly and openly about death. He writes about all the conversations that we, our parents, our children, the medical community, our government and society as a whole should be having. And it is a call to arms for us to make radical changes to our perspective on 'the seventh age of man'. - More praise for 33 Meditations on Death: "This book will stay with you." - Derren Brown "Bursting with empathy, common sense and humour." - Professor Dame Sue Black
Download or read book Life Out of Death written by Hans Urs von Balthasar and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 91 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Death and dying are inseparably linked with life. They are self-evident and at the same time cannot be grasped by reason alone - they are ordinary, and yet so incredible. In these meditations, the acclaimed theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar investigates this great mystery. He asks about the contradiction, inherent in all men, of wishing to achieve something "imperishable in transitoriness" and gives an answer culled from the Scriptures and from the Church Fathers. In looking at this contradiction that appears to be irreconcilable from a purely human perspective, Balthasar tries to find something in the human existence that the Christian solution can take up, for if there was nothing, one would not see how Christianity could connect to our existence at all. This starting-point becomes fully visible and effective only when the Christian interpretation itself becomes evident, otherwise it remains open to dangerous misinterpretations. The emphasis lies in the word "mystery." The reader must meditate on these profound ideas which are demanding both in language and contents - then the reading will inspire him with insights and prospects that will, while not resolving the paradox "that everything earthly is inscribed on the sand of transitoriness," will anchor it in the Christian faith, which claims that man is eternal and that God himself became man in the person of Jesus Christ to help us attain to that eternal life.
Download or read book As I Journey on written by Sharon Dardis and published by Augsburg Books. This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Addresses the unique needs and perspectives of people at the end of life.
Download or read book Mindfully Facing Disease and Death written by Analayo and published by Windhorse Publications. This book was released on 2016-10-03 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Disease and death are undeniably integral parts of human life. Yet when they manifest we are easily caught unprepared. To prepare for these, we need to learn how to skilfully face illness and passing away. A source of practical wisdom can be found in the early discourses that record the teachings given by the Buddha and his disciples. The chief aim of this book is to provide a collection of passages taken from the Buddha's early discourses that provide guidance for facing disease and death.
Download or read book O Death Where Is Thy Sting written by Hoover, Joe and published by Orbis Books. This book was released on 2020-12-16 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A thorough exploration, through personal stories and artistic/academic meditations, of the bleakest and most fearful questions around God's presence in human suffering and death"--
Download or read book Our Greatest Gift written by Henri J. M. Nouwen and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 1995-04-14 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of The Wounded Healer and Letters to Marc About Jesus comes a critically acclaimed and deeply moving look at human mortality that reveals the essential gifts the living and the dying can give to one another.
Download or read book Mindfulness in Positive Psychology written by Itai Ivtzan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-03-17 with total page 419 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mindfulness in Positive Psychology brings together the latest thinking in these two important disciplines. Positive psychology, the science of wellbeing and strengths, is the fastest growing branch of psychology, offering an optimal home for the research and application of mindfulness. As we contemplate mindfulness in the context of positive psychology, meaningful insights are being revealed in relation to our mental and physical health. The book features chapters from leading figures from mindfulness and positive psychology, offering an exciting combination of topics. Mindfulness is explored in relation to flow, meaning, parenthood, performance, sports, obesity, depression, pregnancy, spirituality, happiness, mortality, and many other ground-breaking topics. This is an invitation to rethink about mindfulness in ways that truly expands our understanding of wellbeing. Mindfulness in Positive Psychology will appeal to a readership of students and practitioners, as well as those interested in mindfulness, positive psychology, or other relevant areas such as education, healthcare, clinical psychology, counselling psychology, occupational psychology, and coaching. The book explores cutting edge theories, research, and practical exercises, which will be relevant to all people interested in this area, and particularly those who wish to enhance their wellbeing via mindfulness.
Download or read book Happier Endings written by Erica Brown and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-04-02 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We are all going to die, but some of us will die better. As a spiritual teacher based in the Washington, D.C., area, Erica Brown has attracted a strong following among those looking for practical wisdom based on the world’s most revered and treasured religious texts. Here she shares stories and ref lections on one of life’s most essential topics: how we pack each day with love and meaning precisely because we will not live forever. Erica helps us confront our fears about death—for ourselves and our loved ones—and demonstrates how the last days of life can be among the most inspiring if we learn to leave a legacy of words and values, to forgive and apologize, and to make important decisions about our last hours. Praised by New York Times columnist David Brooks for combining “extreme empathy with extreme tough-mindedness,” Erica Brown is a leading religious scholar with a sense of humor and a gift for storytelling. In Happier Endings, she meets people of all faiths who deal with death in enlightening ways, including a mother who arranged for her children to sprinkle her ashes on a favorite ski slope, an ex-nun who prepares people to die, a group of women who ritually wash the dead, and a family whose grandfather’s Ethical will is read by his survivors each year. Brown leads readers on an emotional journey to prepare for and accept death, drawing on the wisdom found in many spiritual traditions. The crucial step, Brown writes, is becoming comfortable discussing death—and not just in the abstract. This kind of honesty allows for important conversations, from financial wills to last words that reinforce to those you love most what matters most to you. After reading Happier Endings, you will have a greater understanding of what a good death can be and what a life well lived looks like.
Download or read book As I Lay Dying written by Richard Neuhaus and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2003-04-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A profoundly serious rumination on the meaning of life and especially on the meaning of death. Father Neuhaus's book prompts us to think seriously about our own inevitable death, as well as the way we are leading our current lives." --Wall Street Journal.
Download or read book Living in the Light of Death written by Larry Rosenberg and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2001-09-18 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents the Buddhist approach to facing the inevitable facts of growing older, getting sick, and dying. These tough realities are not given much attention by many people until midlife, when they become harder to avoid. Using a Buddhist text known as the Five Subjects for Frequent Recollection, Larry Rosenberg shows how intimacy with the realities of aging can actually be used as a means to liberation. When we become intimate with these inevitable aspects of life, he writes, we also become intimate with ourselves, with others, with the world—indeed with all things.
Download or read book How to Live When a Loved One Dies written by Thich Nhat Hanh and published by Parallax Press. This book was released on 2021-07-27 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this comforting book that will offer relief to anyone moving through intense grief and loss, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh shares accessible, healing words of wisdom to transform our suffering. In the immediate aftermath of a loss, sometimes it is all we can do to keep breathing. With his signature clarity and compassion, Thich Nhat Hanh will guide you through the storm of emotions surrounding the death of a loved one. How To Live When A Loved One Dies offers powerful practices such as mindful breathing that will help you reconcile with death and loss, feel connected to your loved one long after they have gone, and transform your grief into healing and joy.
Download or read book Meditations on Death and Eternity written by Heinrich Zschokke and published by . This book was released on 1863 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Everyone You Love Will Die written by Daniel Crosby and published by Harriman House Limited. This book was released on 2021-02-02 with total page 37 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everyone You Love Will Die is a poetic reflection on the fact that life’s brevity is also what gives it such urgency. Originally written to allow the author to speak to his own children about death, the book was created to broach the reality of death in a light-hearted, non-macabre way. If there’s a moral to the story, it’s that the best way to process the sadness of knowing our loved ones may not always be with us, is to share as much joy and love with them while they are.
Download or read book Meditations on Death written by Thomas À Kempis and published by . This book was released on 2024-01-16 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Remembering our own mortality is an invaluable practice that produces great spiritual reward. Such meditation prepares us for the ultimate event: our entrance into eternity. "Remember, O mortal, that you are dust, and to dust, you shall return." Throughout history, many souls, upon meditating on their mortality, have forsaken the temporary pleasures of this world. Through contemplating death, numerous individuals have conquered the desires of the flesh. It is through the meditation on death that many have ascended the ladder of holiness. Keeping the reality of death constantly before our eyes is one of the greatest secrets to sanctity, as death is the only certainty in this existence. Those who daily ponder the approaching hour of their death will not be caught off guard when that moment arrives. Instead, they will have spent their entire lives in preparation, ready to meet their Creator. "Meditations on Death" serves as a poignant reminder of the brevity of our earthly journey and the paramount importance of living with an eternal perspective. It invites readers to cultivate purity of mind, embrace the cross of Christ, and place their hope and trust in God alone. Through these meditations, Thomas à Kempis illuminates the path to preparing our souls for the eternity that awaits us.
Download or read book Vanitas written by John B. Ravenal and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With references to the Bible and 17th-century Dutch still-life painting, Vanitas links the works of fourteen contemporary artists to the age-old theme of life's transience. At the same time, it presents these artists in their 20th-century context while exploring the related themes of beauty and death, pleasure and fear, love and loss. The book focuses on contemporary sculpture and installation art using non-traditional forms, materials, and processes. The artists included--from Warsaw, Paris, New York, London, Sao Paulo--are Miroslaw Balka, Chris Boltanski, Willie Cole, Leonardo Drew, Tony Feher, Robert Gober, Felix Gonzalez, Mona Hatoum, Jim Hodges, Anish Kapoor, Jac Lairner, Zoe Leonard, Gabriel Orozco, Rachel Whiteread, and Yukinori Yanagi.
Download or read book Death written by Todd May and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-12-05 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fact that we will die, and that our death can come at any time, pervades the entirety of our living. There are many ways to think about and deal with death. Among those ways, however, a good number of them are attempts to escape its grip. In this book, Todd May seeks to confront death in its power. He considers the possibility that our mortal deaths are the end of us, and asks what this might mean for our living. What lessons can we draw from our mortality? And how might we live as creatures who die, and who know we are going to die? In answering these questions, May brings together two divergent perspectives on death. The first holds that death is not an evil, or at least that immortality would be far worse than dying. The second holds that death is indeed an evil, and that there is no escaping that fact. May shows that if we are to live with death, we need to hold these two perspectives together. Their convergence yields both a beauty and a tragedy to our living that are inextricably entwined.Drawing on the thoughts of many philosophers and writers - ancient and modern - as well as his own experience, May puts forward a particular view of how we might think about and, more importantly, live our lives in view of the inescapability of our dying. In the end, he argues, it is precisely the contingency of our lives that must be grasped and which must be folded into the hours or years that remain to each of us, so that we can live each moment as though it were at once a link to an uncertain future and yet perhaps the only link we have left.
