Inspired by Death Cafe and Death Blues . . .and life
“What happens when we thoroughly hold and understand that our lives are finite? How does this understanding of our end shape our present? How do we become more ‘present’?”
Recorded 21 May 2019
After Doug explains the logic behind the Death Café, John opens with a clean start and a quantum quote from Kripal’s The Flip orienting the conversation into a double movement, in which the 3rd person (material) is mirrored by 1st person (mental). The trio cycles dual movements of death and life; body and mind; consciousness and unconsciousness; dark and light. They develop a rapport with metaphor, working out of a fear of the unknown/ of change/ of death and into an acceptance/ alertness/ appreciation of life. Dreams and personal experiences are explored.
In attendance:
John Davis
Michael Stumpf
Douglas Duff
(and you are there in spirit)
Reading / Watching / Listening / Questioning
Seed Questions
- What is death?
- What happens at the moment of death?
- How has our response to death evolved over the human timeline?
- How much of art and life is centered around this struggle?
- Does the quest for immortality ever end? Are we killing ourselves to live longer?
- As old (American) dreams die hard, will there be a resurrection on the other side? What does the other side of resurrection feel like?
Context, Backstory, and Related topics
- Oh, I'll Be Free: Bluebird and the Soul in David Bowie's Lazarus
- The Evolution of Death & Burial: Introduction 1/13 by John David Ebert
- Gebser, Chapter 6: “On the History of the Phenomena of Soul and Spirit”
- @KPr2204 summary of Aurobindo’s Rebirth Chapter in Life Divine: Life_Divine_Chapter_22_Summary_Notes.pdf (65.2 KB)
- Links to additional reading, viewing, listening
Jukebox
- Patti Smith - Birdland
- Death Blues - Languaging
- Son Lux - Black Waters . . . [original version from Jean Richie]
- Davie Bowie - Lazarus
- Kansas - Dust in the Wind