LEARNING TO DIE (I) : STEPHEN JENKINSON or THE DEATH-PHOBIC CULTURE

ENJOY PHILOSOPHY MEETS WEEKLY EVERY SUNDAY BETWEEN 11.30 AND 14.30 AT EDUARDO VII PARK, HERE: https://goo.gl/maps/5e3jKFEweXkNvDdK6

ITS THE GARDEN BETWEEN THE “CARLOS LOPES PAVILLION” AND THE “PRAIA NO PARQUE” RESTAURANT AT EDUARDO VII PARK.

THIS IS A GROUP FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN ENJOYING PHILOSOPHY.

NO PRIOR KNOWLEDGE IS REQUIRED.

ONLY ETERNAL CURIOSITY AND THE PLEASURE OF KNOWLEDGE.

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We will learn, debate, enjoy and investigate philosophers and diverse themes from the philosophical perspective. Each reunion is structured as a conversation among all attendees about that day s philosopher softly moderated by the organizer. The conversation will kick-off from the very brief suggested reading providing easy access to all attendees both to the philosopher and the conversation.

Let´s be greek and dive today on…

Stephen Jenkinson (1954), Canadian writer and grief literacy advocate.
Do you know you’ll die someday? Many researchers, psychologists, and philosophers think you don’t know, not really. That’s ridiculous, everyone knows they´ll die. Unless of course the certainty and inevitability of our death isn’t really a known thing.

It’s possible not to die - Jenkinson writes in his book Die Wise (2015). Well of course we all die… how is it possible to die while never actually dying? If we treat death as a strictly metabolic event, and we synonymize life with lifespan, then sure death is inevitable. But what of dying? What of knowing you’re dying, planning for your dying, accepting you’re dying, living your dying? Well, that’s completely voluntary.

Jenkinson describes that we live our lives by the canon of try, overcome, achieve, succeed. From this lens, death is a failure and dying a terrifying thing in its ability to strip every able-ness valued by our culture. Jenkinson doesn’t think dying is traumatic, he thinks dying in a death-phobic culture is traumatic

If you view dying as a metabolic, biological event, dying is something that happens to you. But – dying can be something you do. “To die” is not a passive verb, it’s not something that can happen to you (not even grammatically). And if dying is something you do, it’s something you can elect not to do. Either because you’re afraid, you refuse, or you don’t know how. And so, while it’s true that our bodies die, we, the conscious project of us, spend most of our time refusing to know we’re dying. Refusing to accept we’ll die, refusing to stop treatment for the hope of more time, not dying (while actually dying), refusing death or its inevitability in general.

Let s think with Stephen...