Althouse: "The Death Café is a global movement in which strangers gather over tea and cake – or, in this case, tea and couscous

May 21, 2016

"The Death Café is a global movement in which strangers gather over tea and cake – or, in this case, tea and couscous – to discuss death."

"It’s not a support group; the point is simply to encourage more frank conversation."

15 comments:

Charlie Bixby said...: Makes me think of this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZVjKlBCvhg; 5/21/16, 9:45 AM
Quaestor said...: What's to discus about nonexistence?; 5/21/16, 9:52 AM
Saint Croix said...: cheer up and go to church!; 5/21/16, 10:05 AM
Rae said...: I'm picturing a gathering of dour Morrisey fans. I don't want to read the article and spoil it.; 5/21/16, 10:28 AM
William said...: Histories and novels of the nineteenth century are filled with death. The characters in Bronte novels have a higher mortality rate than those in a Peckinpah movie. Death used to be an intimate part of life. Some women dressed in mourning for the balance of their lives. What with antibiotics and vaccines all that has changed. The odd grandparent or reckless friend croaks, but it's usually possible to go years without confronting the reality of death. That changes again if you hang in there until until you turn seventy. The crocuses are in bloom again. So many people start falling away that it's like living in a Bronte novel. The best defense against death is denial but that river in Egypt overflows the ramparts in later years...........Death is such a poetic concept when you're young. Movies like The Seventh Seal are fun to watch because death is such a distant, theoretical event. It is less fun for hospice residents to watch.......I used to think that, as a philosophy, there was nothing much to nihilism, but upon mature reflection I can see that better than nothingness is a pretty high standard. I'm getting comfortable with the idea of endless nothingness..; 5/21/16, 10:32 AM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: Weirdly, we're in a Late-Victorian age again, with all their social conformity, religious fervor, overseas chaos, and bizarre little obsessions.; 5/21/16, 12:11 PM
Oso Negro said...: Goddamnit. You work your hardest to ignore death, and a bunch of do-gooders have to fuck it up.; 5/21/16, 1:35 PM
n.n said...: ... to discuss evolution.; 5/21/16, 1:36 PM
knox said...: You work your hardest to enjoy death, and a bunch of do-gooders have to fuck it up. fixed; 5/21/16, 5:04 PM
Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: This is probably fairly healthy. Buddhists meditate on death because they believe that the fear of death distorts life for many people. I largely agree with them.; 5/21/16, 6:02 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: The arc of the cost curve is long, but it bends toward death; 5/21/16, 7:06 PM
rcocean said...: People always talk about death, but no one does anything about it.; 5/21/16, 8:38 PM
traditionalguy said...: Someone in Authority did do something about the sting of death on the first Easter morning. It is really good news.; 5/21/16, 9:55 PM
tim in vermont said...: Get a life threatening diagnosis some time. It really does clear the cobwebs.; 5/22/16, 5:38 AM
tim in vermont said...: I like the photoshop idea.; 5/22/16, 5:41 AM