Modern culture often glosses over aspects of life that are too intense to cope with on a regular basis. It is our goal to bring death back into everyday life, creating a meaningful connection to the truth of mortality and the benefits of understanding death.
They say this time of year is when the veil between the two worlds is thinnest. Mexico’s Día de Los Muertos celebrates this special time by honoring ancestors and lost loved ones. For more on the history and customs of Día de los Muertos watch our latest short documentary. Here are some of the colorful sights from the … Read more
The director of the worlds top #DeathPositive gathering is demanding a death revolution.
Templo Santa Muerte in Los Angeles. Standing inside the Templo Santa Muerte in Los Angeles feels palpably scary and, admittedly, a little unnerving. The imagery strikes a darker chord than the jovial skeletons which ornament this same Hollywood neighborhood around Dia de Los Muertos. In the far corner looms the central figure of a skeleton … Read more
Photographer Urszula Kluz-Knopek transformed the paralyzing fear of her parent’s death into a transcendent photography exhibit starring them. Here’s what Urszula had to say about ‘Twilight’. WYD: Where did the inspiration for Twilight come from? UKK: I am a late child of my parents. My first memories from childhood were about fear of dying of … Read more
Each body has its own way of shutting down due to illness or injury. In a natural death, your breathing will simply slow until it stops. That is out of our control. Eventually all of our bodies will wear down to nothing more than ashes and dust. But American culture struggles with accepting mortality. We don’t like to age; we don’t like ugly. Unfortunately, neither idealizing nor ignoring death will make it go away.
Somewhere along the line, I developed this theory that all jokes are simply little brushes with death. Man walks down the street whistling, slips on a banana peel and falls. He’s strolling along, ‘I wonder where you get a good sandwich around here’ and smack! He finds himself face to face with his mortality; bruising tailbone, and ego, alike.
In the Victorian era, birth and death happened at home, so people knew more or less what to expect. But that’s not true for us! And because we don’t talk much about death and dying we are left with whispered stories, scenes from movies, and random bits that cross social media.
We all wonder what we’ll do, how we’ll react, if (or when) we receive news of our own or a loved one’s terminal diagnosis—and how we’ll go on living when we have that information.
Why do so many doctors feel that giving more treatment is the only way they can express their care and commitment?
Sheila Kitzinger was a “champion of women’s rights in childbirth.” She spent her career pioneering birth plans that secured choice and autonomous control for women giving birth.
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