WHAT TO READ: Chapter 15
- In this week’s reading, what captured your attention or provoked a reaction (positive or negative)?
- Where did this lead you?
- What would you like to hear about from others this week?
Please see CONCLUSION & WRAP UP for your final thoughts on the book.
G said
ReplyDeleteNothing new here for me. Same reactions to the generalizations about people, the West, patriarchy etc. this time in relation to death and dying. Made me want to argue back or seriously supplement what was there.
The thing about generalizations that O'Murchu doesn't seem to get is that yes, they do apply - except for all those situations where they don't!
bjp said
ReplyDeleteI am disappointed that O'M did not follow his own recognition on the place of paradox in human existence. He might have included the role that the great advances in medical knowledge and technology have played in contemporary views on death and dying: that, paradoxically, our advances in curing many ailments and the technology that can prolong the lives of those dying, have lead to an expectation that (all) illnesses are curable, and that we should do everything (technically) possible to postpone death, however inevitable (and whatever the cost?).
EWL comments
ReplyDeleteIn todays media an obituary very often describes someone’s death as being sudden, unexpected, peaceful, but never graceful. So in this concluding chapter O’Murchu seems to be pushing the envelope when he talks about a graceful death as a hallmark of adult faith. He even seems to challenge core beliefs when he says on page 182 “To become compost for new life just is not good enough for ruling superior beings, so they postulate the possibility of living forever.” I agree with his thought as he continues on to say “the massive denial that accompanies death, in turn, impacts our engagement with life.” So often today not even a secular ritual of remembrance takes place when someone dies.
On page 193 O’Murchu carries on to say “how meaningless we make death by so much fear and denial.” This seems to point to the existence of a meaning or level of understanding in death. This takes me back to the title of the book, “Adult Faith – Growing in Wisdom and Understanding.” I feel this level of faith ties into O’Murchu’s comments on page 192. “Do I trust … the wisdom of a universe that far outstretches human understanding? … The cloud of unknowing where all is known?” I see the life and death of Jesus as transversing the veil between the known and the unknow. His last words express his trust in the wisdom of the universe.
And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” Luke 23:45-46