Featured Exquisite Mind webpage: death

Buddhists and existential philosophers have long recognized the value of contemplating death in a frank and straightforward manner. Larry Rosenberg wrote a wonderful book entitled Living in the Light of Death, which speaks to how awareness of mortality helps to make us more alive. Of course, we get very little training or preparation in our culture for dealing with death. Most people report feeling unprepared, and many can experience fear and terror. Yet the time of death can be a time of peace, equanimity, and enjoying the significance of life. The author and social activist, Timothy Leary, anticipating his own death arranged to have his head removed at the moment of this death and immediately frozen. To do this, he enlisted the aid of assisted suicide. His death, which was also filmed, was a celebration of life. Leary was accepting death and, at the same time, trying to cheat it. He felt that his frozen brain might, at some future point provided by science and technology, be reactivated! Read more ...