When death or dying comes calling at the door, like a bracing wind it clears our being of pettiness. It connects us to others. More alert to life’s fragility, we reawaken to life’s preciousness. To be fully human is to care, and attending to death prompts the most eloquent form of caring imaginable. — Forrest Church

For Next Time

To prepare for the next workshop, read:

• Beliefs about Life and Death in Unitarian Universalism, at UUA.org.
• Rachel Nuwer, "The Seven Ways to Have a Near-Death Experience," BBC News, March 3, 2015.
• An Outline of Different Cultural Beliefs at Time of Death, a booklet published by Loddon Mallee Regional Palliative Care Consortium in Australia.

In your journal, write about any death rituals, religious or secular, that are familiar to you.

Find Out More

Carnegie Mellon University has made Randy Pausch’s last lecture, Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams (1:16:26), available online. It was delivered at the university on September 18, 2007.

Reading Our Lives, a reflection by Marshall Hawkins, UU World, September 2007.