A century of reflections.
mortality
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The pain and gift of the end of life, and the truths that dying reveals at the heart of being human.
A woman's evolving understanding of mortality, identity, and letting go — through a poem that has accompanied her through life and loss.
Parker takes up Jane Kenyon's gentle challenge: trust in the natural cycles of light and dark, waking and sleep, life and life's end.
Witnessing the faint smile of her dying mother, the daughter of Haitian-Creole parents reflects on why she's been writing about death and grief ever since — and the cathartic edge of the Book of Revelation and C.S. Lewis.
It can feel painful to reflect on our mortality — especially the mortality of our loved ones. But maybe embracing the reality of death can help us to fear it less, and appreciate the wonder of life all the more.
With the wisdom of Jane Kenyon, a contemplation on gratitude and ordinary grace in our own finite lives.
A brush with that fleeting, transcendent gratitude that only comes when we stand on the edge of losing what we treasure most.
An affirmation of presence, a victory of joy, a connection maintained: these are the things a young mother observes in her elderly next door neighbors, as a husband gently tends to his wife in her final days. A beautiful account of what love truly looks like.
To be confronted with a serious illness is to be confronted with a fear of death for most of us. How do we balance hope with realism? And how do we age with grace? Drawing on Atul Gawande's book, Mary Jo Bennett highlights some ways our culture is evolving in its relationship with death.
We are told to embrace the fact that death is part of life. Embracing emotional honesty, Parker Palmer shakes his salty fist at fate's inevitable hand with a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay.
As the chlorophyll fades and the splendor of fall emerges, a meditation on color, mortality, and divine presence — complemented with the poetry of Rumi and Farid un-Din Attar.
As you read this poem, Parker Palmer asks us to ponder a simple question: "How, then, shall I live?"
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