Mortality Meditations — Good Death
Does ‘Good Death’ have to be an oxymoron?
It’s a crap shoot at best but at least you get to set your own standards. Which means putting in the time, figuring out what your standards are.
Doing a good job of it for yourself takes exposure and familiarization. Meditating on Mortality can help with that. You could look at it as skill building. There are religious traditions which have developed methods for developing those skills.
What if you are not part of a religious tradition, or if the religion you believe in isn’t helping you with dying?
Edwin Shneidman, the first professor of Thanatology, came up with a way of looking at it that looks pretty good to me. As an Academic, presumably he had a lot of time to think about it, which is the exact opposite of what most people do.
Remarks on Shneidman’s Criteria
- Natural
I am so glad he included this category. I don’t have to agree or disagree with his assertions that a fatal accident, a suicide, or a homicide are not Good Deaths. Professor Shneidman is even better known as a suicidologist. He wanted to…
