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Permaculture and Death: Part 2

Holistic Practices for Dealing with Death and Dying

If we avoid thinking about death or do not accept death as part of life then we run the risk of not being able to live fully. Much of the environmental destruction and exploitation of humans and other beings present in the world right now could be said to be so prevalent partly because of people acting out of fear of death or from a point of trauma from holding onto this fear (see for example 1, 2). In part 1 of this article series, we looked at the importance of accepting death as an integral part of life if we are to practice living in a holistic and balanced way.

Acceptance of death and dying is dealt with in different ways by different cultures. As I mentioned in part 1, to find balance in a ‘permanent culture’, it seems appropriate that, though we can take ideas from traditional societies, we should develop our own techniques which are fitting for the particular context of the time and places we are living in. This part explores some current evolutions of dealing with death and the dying in a practical way, while subsequent parts will go into more detail about death as related to grief and ways to relate to this; as well as the particular environmental impact of different practices.

 

Bringing Death Into The Light

One way that the idea of death is encouraged to be accepted is with ‘Death Cafes’ (4). These may sound morbid but are in fact informal meetings where “people, often strangers, gather to eat cake, drink tea and discuss death” (4), with no agenda or particular conclusion, but simply offered as a space for the sharing of different opinions and experiences (4). The aim is to “increase awareness of death to help people make the most of their (finite) lives” (4).

Death Cafes were first developed in East London, UK in 2011 by Jon Underwood and his mother Susan Barsky Reid (4), and since Underwood’s death in 2017 have been continued by Reid and Underwood’s sister, Jools Barsky (4). The Death Cafe website has many resources for holding your own Death Cafe event (5), as well as a world map of previous and upcoming Death Cafes, which have so far been held in 66 countries (6).

 

Letting Go Of The Body

Meditation
Photograph by Activedia/Okan Caliskan (Pixabay)

As I mentioned in part 1, many traditional practises include the idea of ‘letting go’ of your physical body, even while you are still in it, so that you can be prepared for the time when you will actually have to let go. Some practical techniques for doing this include any kind of yoga or meditation, particularly meditation which is based on stillness and silence such as the Vipassana tradition (7).

 

Spiritual Danger?

Many readers may already be familiar with such practices. One thing to be aware of when ‘letting go’, however, is that if we ‘let go’ too much we may be in danger of detaching ourselves prematurely from our physical bodies and thus from the natural cycles of ageing and illness which affect them. In this way, the ‘letting go’ would probably have a detrimental effect, in much the same way that by letting go of the idea that we are connected to the natural world, we more readily engage in environmental destruction because we do not feel that we are a part of the ecosystem (2, 8).

Author Ram Dass (whose former name as a Harvard psychiatrist was Dr Richard Alpert) speaks very candidly about finding this balance in his book ‘Still Here: Embracing Ageing, Changing and Dying’ (9).

Dass, who himself passed away just 2 weeks ago (10), was a very outspoken spiritual teacher, who in the past, urged people to ‘Be Here Now’ (also the title of probably his most famous book, published in 1971 (11)). However, it was not until he had a stroke in his 60s that he realised “I distanced myself from my body. I saw my body as merely a vehicle for the soul. I ignored it as much as possible and tried to spiritualise it away” (9).

Coming to terms with the stroke helped him to be more present in his body as well as his soul. The fact that it took such a crisis, however, could be seen as part of our society’s lack of tools for different stages of the ageing process. As Dass said;

“Getting old isn’t easy for a lot of us. Neither is living, neither is dying. We struggle against the inevitable, and we all suffer because of it. We have to find another way to look at the whole process of being born, growing old, changing, and dying, some kind of perspective that might allow us to deal with what we perceive as big obstacles without having to be dragged through the drama”. (9)

Dass was apparently surrounded by friends and family as he found his own way to die peacefully on December 22nd (10). My thoughts are with those he left behind.

 

Easing The Passage

Tibetan Singing Bowl
Photograph by Heike Schauberger (pixabay)

One way that we can encourage a new perspective on death is assistance with the passage from life to death. We have midwives who assist with the passage from the womb into this life; so it follows that it might be helpful to have assistance on the way out as well. This is put into practice in many traditional societies such as with the Tibetan ritual of guiding a dying person’s consciousness through the ‘bardo’ or “intermediary world” (12, 13). A modern English interpretation of this and manual for putting the ritual into practice was written by the then Dr Richard Alpert and his colleagues, Timothy Leary and Ralph Metzner (14).

Another way that guidance at the time of death is being encouraged is with the rise in popularity of Soul Midwives, who are “non-medical, holistic companions who guide and support the dying in order to facilitate a gentle and tranquil death.” (15). There is a Soul Midwives School in Dorset, UK, run by Felicity Warner (16).

 

Death In Your Life

This article offers just a few ideas to help with the acceptance of death as part of your own life. How you put this into practice of course depends on you. The next part will look at ways we can honour those dead and dying beings in our lives, including parts of ourselves. We will also look at the connections between death and grief.

 

References

1. Jung, C. G., & Franz, M.-L. V, 1964. Man and His Symbols. Doubleday: Garden City, N.Y, USA.

2. Firman, J; Gila, A, 2002. Psychosynthesis: A Psychology of the Spirit. SUNY Press: New York City, USA.

3. Ashwanden, C, 2019. ‘Permaculture and Death part 1: A Reflection on Natural Cycles’. Permaculture News, 4/11/19. https://www.permaculturenews.org/2019/11/04/permaculture-and-death-part-1-halloween-and-permaculture/ – retrieved 9/11/19

4. Death Cafe, 2019. ‘What is Death Cafe?’ https://deathcafe.com/what – retrieved 9/11/19

5. Death Cafe, 2019. ‘Holding Your Own Death Cafe’. https://deathcafe.com/how/ – retrieved 9/11/19

6. Death Cafe, 2019. ‘Map’. https://deathcafe.com/map/ – retrieved 9/11/19

7. Dhamm.org, 2019. ‘Vipassana Meditation’. https://www.dhamma.org/en/index – retrieved 9/11/19

8. Abram, D, 1997. The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-than-Human World. Vintage: New York City, USA.

9. Dass, R, 2001. Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing and Dying. Riverhead Books: New York City, USA.

10. Andrew, S, 2019. ‘Baba Ram Dass is Dead at 88’. CNN, 22/12/19. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/23/us/baba-ram-dass-death-trnd/index.html – retrieved 31/12/19

11. Dass, R, 1971. Be Here Now. Random House: New York City, USA.

12. Campbell, J, 1949. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Griffin: New York City, USA.

13. Coleman, G; Dorje, G, 2006. The Tibetan Book of the Dead. Viking Press: New York City, USA.

14. Leary, L; Alpert, R; Metzner, R, 1964. The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Citadel: New York City.

15. Soul Midwives, 2019. ‘About Soul Midwifery’. https://soulmidwives.co.uk/what-is-soul-midwifery – retrieved 9/11/19

16. Soul Midwives, 2019. ‘Soul Midwives School’. https://soulmidwives.co.uk/soul-midwives-school – retrieved 9/11/19

Charlotte Ashwanden

Charlotte Ashwanden (nee Haworth). Born in London, I am very interested in peace and community and have a degree in Peace Studies. I got my Permaculture Design Certificate in 2011, from Treeyo at Permaship in Bulgaria, and my Permaculture Teaching Certificate in 2018 at Aranya in India. For me, permaculture is about so much more than garden design; I am mainly interested in applying ‘human permaculture’ as a complement to peace practices. In particular, I like to look at how human permaculture can be applied through psychology, communication and education techniques. In 2015 I got married in a pagan ceremony in a field to David Ashwanden and changed my surname to Ashwanden. With my husband, I’ve travelled a lot in Europe and Asia and encountered many permaculture and community projects. I have lived in various situations, from squatted land to intentional communities, as well as more ‘normal’ places, in the UK, Spain, Italy, Thailand and Vietnam. A professional dancer, I do fire and hula dance and sometimes run dance meditation workshops. Currently, I live in the Andalucian mountains.

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