From the basement of his house in Hackney, an artsy borough in London’s East End, Mr. Underwood perpetuated a movement that spread to more than a dozen countries with more than 1,000 gatherings....
These were not grief support groups or end-of-life planning sessions, but rather casual forums for people who wanted to bat around philosophical thoughts. What is death like? Why do we fear it? How do our views of death inform the way we live?...
“Some people have a fear that by talking about death, it will attract death and make it more likely to happen,” he said. “Eating and drinking are conscious acts of nurturing the body. They help mitigate the fear.”
July 12, 2017
The founder of the Death Cafe dies suddenly, at the age of 44, from a brain hemorrhage caused by acute promyelocytic leukemia that had not been diagnosed.
Here is the NYT obituary for Jon Underwood.
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10 comments:
Don't Fear the Reaper.
But also, don't taunt the reaper.
“Some people have a fear that by talking about death, it will attract death and make it more likely to happen,” he said.
Um...
Helps attract death if you live with socialized healthcare too
Irony gets them every time.
I took my students to the coroner's office every year since autopsies are no long done in most medical schools and hospitals.
One case was of undiagnosed acute leukemia.
It was a very interesting autopsy for the students to see. That condition is now so rare in civilized countries that they would never see another case.
The "Death Cafe" connection is amazing.
Well, to be honest he suffered from a preexisting condition that is 100% guaranteed to lead to death. It's called "life."
We all are going to die sometime.
--Vance
I have a great doctor friend who's favorite line to worried patients is, "You have a 100% chance of dying from something."
The "Death Cafe" connection is amazing.
I hope Ann doesn't take over Death Cafes as part of her end of day Cafe posts.
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