Description:
Hospice leader N. Michael Murphy explores the spiritual lessons about living that only death can offer. "The wisdom of dying urges that the roles and masks of everyday life be set aside before it is too late since they often obscure the giving and receiving of caring and love," Murphy explains in his introduction. Murphy's visionary approach to dying includes chapters on witnessing and participating in the life stories of the dying. In these precious personal and family stories, the lessons of living can be passed on, he explains. Hospitals would be transformed, he continues, if family members, doctors, and nurses gathered around a dying or deceased person, lit candles, and told stories of how that person affected their lives. In other chapters, he exposes how funeral homes and death rituals are designed to deny death rather than embrace it as a meaningful extension of life. He also discusses the specifics of caring for a dying person--including the stages of dementia and coma. This is an astute and comforting guidebook for living and dying with soul and dignity. As Thomas Moore writes in the preface, "Read it and live. Read it and die." --Gail Hudson
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