Death: A Part of Life?
by Gail, Victoria
Health Promotion Worker, Aged 44
What happens when we die is one of the great mysteries of life. An awareness of death is central to what separates us from other animals and is part of what makes us human.
There is something about this disconnection, more recently brought about by the rise of modernity that makes us more anxious about death.
As we have become more materially focused in our everyday lives, we have forgotten how to feel the world. To listen, and commune with it. My experience is, that when we do this in nature that we feel the connection that is life. As a part of a whole there is little to fear. Death is a part of life.
In a postmodern world we have the power to change this materialist focus, to one which acknowledges a much broader range of our experiences. Until it happens to us we may never 'really' know what death is. However, the stories of other's experiences with death, and reflections of own experiences with the death of loved ones may help us to come to some more helpful understandings. It may also help us to entertain a broader range of possibilities.
Copyright © Australian Museum, 2009