What is death? How can we cope better with the death of those close to us? Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross talks about this in her great book “Death is of Vital Importance: On Life, Death and Life After Death”. The book is the summary of many presentations done by Dr. Kubler-Ross, who was both a psychiatrist and a spiritual guide.
My most important take on this book: death is part of life. We need to accept that others will die, and that is OK. We should not “keep someone alive” because we are not ready for them to die – as shown in examples of parents that could not say goodbye to their kids, who had terminal cancer and were suffering every day. The problem is – what is the fine line between “giving up” and “letting go”?
As usual, I picked up some nuggets from the book. I read the book in Hebrew (got it as a present) so I’m translating them at my own liberty. I’m sure they are far from the original quote :-):
“The hard days are those that turned you into what you are today… It’s like putting a stone in a mixer. You have the option to end up crusher or polished”.
“If you grow up naturally, not normally, because normal is not very natural… you will be able to understand symbolic language”.
“If you want a kid to tell you the truth, all you have to do is guess incorrectly. Sooner or later he will get tired of you dumb questions and will tell you the truth”
Life is a journey from which you will not get out alive. But at least we should enjoy the journey, right? Excellent book, really enjoyable and also many things to learn from it. You can buy it from Amazon, or wherever you like to buy books.
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