Facing Mortality

Coming to a less fearful relationship with our death can have a profound effect on our ability to heal in the face of a cancer diagnosis.

Facing our mortality helps us ask the vital question at the heart of healing—what matters to us now? If we are not sure how much time we have, it gives more meaning to spending that time as wisely and beautifully as we can. Some of the most profound healings can take place as people explore what it means to live closer to the edge of life than they were living before.

Healing into life and awareness of our mortality are not opposites. They are two sides of the same coin. Not everyone is drawn to confront our mortality. But for those of us who are willing to risk it, it can deepen our sense of the meaning and beauty of our lives perhaps more than anything else. That is why virtually all the great religious, spiritual and philosophical teachers have made meditation on our deaths so central to their teachings.

We invite you to explore our writings and recommended resources on this vast subject. May they bring healing. 

Death and life’s great questions blog series

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