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We’re all going to die. So the Catholic church is right to talk about it A guide to dying could give us a better life
(about 2 hours later)
Only two experiences are truly universal, and no human being has ever been able to give an account of either of them. No one can remember being born, and no one comes back from having died. But being born has already happened: only death is a given, in the future, for every single one of us. In a sense, it makes pioneers of us all.Only two experiences are truly universal, and no human being has ever been able to give an account of either of them. No one can remember being born, and no one comes back from having died. But being born has already happened: only death is a given, in the future, for every single one of us. In a sense, it makes pioneers of us all.
And yet we are remarkably incurious about it. We prefer, on the whole, to deny its inevitability, recasting it as a worst-case possibility rather than as a complete certainty. We use phrases like “if the worst should happen”, when the only thing any of us knows for sure is that the worst will happen.And yet we are remarkably incurious about it. We prefer, on the whole, to deny its inevitability, recasting it as a worst-case possibility rather than as a complete certainty. We use phrases like “if the worst should happen”, when the only thing any of us knows for sure is that the worst will happen.
As a society we vaguely know we ought to be better at facing up to death, to be asking questions about it and thinking ahead about the way we want to die; and now the Catholic church has taken the initiative and updated the Ars Moriendi, or The Art of Dying, a Latin manuscript popular in the 15th century designed to bring Christian comfort and guidance to the dying person and their family. The church has launched a new website, artofdyingwell.org, featuring real-life stories about dying, and interviews with professionals whose work focuses on death, such as palliative care doctors and nurses. And it has interviews with the nearest we get to accounts of what it’s like to die: the voices of those who are terminally ill or who have been close to death, reflecting on what it meant and means.As a society we vaguely know we ought to be better at facing up to death, to be asking questions about it and thinking ahead about the way we want to die; and now the Catholic church has taken the initiative and updated the Ars Moriendi, or The Art of Dying, a Latin manuscript popular in the 15th century designed to bring Christian comfort and guidance to the dying person and their family. The church has launched a new website, artofdyingwell.org, featuring real-life stories about dying, and interviews with professionals whose work focuses on death, such as palliative care doctors and nurses. And it has interviews with the nearest we get to accounts of what it’s like to die: the voices of those who are terminally ill or who have been close to death, reflecting on what it meant and means.
Believers have never shied away from death, because for them it is the transition to a better state of beingBelievers have never shied away from death, because for them it is the transition to a better state of being
At a time when the Catholic church’s profile has been seriously dented by scandals, updating The Art of Dying is a positive contribution to society’s communal wellbeing. Some elements of the new site are heavily religious in tone, but there is plenty to draw in somebody of no faith or another faith.At a time when the Catholic church’s profile has been seriously dented by scandals, updating The Art of Dying is a positive contribution to society’s communal wellbeing. Some elements of the new site are heavily religious in tone, but there is plenty to draw in somebody of no faith or another faith.
One section, for example, looks at how it actually feels to die, and what we can expect to happen to our bodies when we are in the process of dying. Does dying feel like falling asleep; and what causes the famous “death rattle”? Church leaders and believers have never shied away from the reality of death, because for them it is the transition to a better state of being; but belief should not be a prerequisite for asking questions about what it’s like to die, about how to prepare for it, and about how to go on living in the final shadow of death.One section, for example, looks at how it actually feels to die, and what we can expect to happen to our bodies when we are in the process of dying. Does dying feel like falling asleep; and what causes the famous “death rattle”? Church leaders and believers have never shied away from the reality of death, because for them it is the transition to a better state of being; but belief should not be a prerequisite for asking questions about what it’s like to die, about how to prepare for it, and about how to go on living in the final shadow of death.
One particular concept the church has always championed is the idea of the “good death”, and that idea is at the heart of the new website. The process of dying involves responsibilities, especially to the people who are closest to us and whom we love: it is not a passive event in which the central player is powerless. In fact the reverse is true: the person who is dying can be in a unique position of being able to call the shots, to guide the way their death is handled and to set the tone that others live through it by, and go on living by after the person they love has died.One particular concept the church has always championed is the idea of the “good death”, and that idea is at the heart of the new website. The process of dying involves responsibilities, especially to the people who are closest to us and whom we love: it is not a passive event in which the central player is powerless. In fact the reverse is true: the person who is dying can be in a unique position of being able to call the shots, to guide the way their death is handled and to set the tone that others live through it by, and go on living by after the person they love has died.
Many of us no longer believe in God, or at least not in orthodox interpretations of God; but more and more of us are interested in dying. One reason is that more of us than before are surviving serious illnesses and returning to have another chance at life; and when that happens, we get an insight into the emotional reality of facing death and realise – surprise! – that far from reducing the potency of life, being honest about the inevitability of death actually helps us to enjoy it more.Many of us no longer believe in God, or at least not in orthodox interpretations of God; but more and more of us are interested in dying. One reason is that more of us than before are surviving serious illnesses and returning to have another chance at life; and when that happens, we get an insight into the emotional reality of facing death and realise – surprise! – that far from reducing the potency of life, being honest about the inevitability of death actually helps us to enjoy it more.