Communicating Last Things

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Communicating Last Things

• Strategies for Teaching about Death and Dying
• Through the Arts
• Gail Henson, Ph. D., Bellarmine University

2
What are the essential questions?

• Since dying and death happen to all humans, the
  questions will vary with
• Age
• Stage of life
• Religion
• Culture
• Reasons for dying

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Questions asked.

• Why is life so fragile?
• Why is everything living transient?
• How do I deal with suffering? How can I deal
  with pain or discomfort as I die?
• Do I fight death or do I embrace it?
• Why am I suffering?
• What is quality of life?
• What is the meaning of my life?

• What is my legacy?
• What is a good death?
• What will the hour of my death be like?
• Can I prepare for death?
• Does anyone care about my death?
• Does my death affect anyone?
• What loose ends need to be tied up before I die?

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More questions

• What will happen to my body after death?
• Will I continue suffering? Will I be reborn into
  a new existence or into a cosmic nothingness?
• How do I go into the next stage? Is it dark or
  light? Is there a life after this?

• What is heaven (or hell) like?
• Will there be angels or demons?
• Will I see God (or a devil)?
• Will there be a judgment?
• Will there be people, places, or animals I know?

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The Eight Dimensions of Death Anxiety as they
relate tothe Deaths of Self and Others

• Self
• Process of dying
• Fear of dependency
• Fear of pain in dying process
• Fear of the indignity in dying process
• Fear of loneliness, rejection isolation
• Fear of leaving loved ones

• Others
• Process of dying
• Fear of financial burdens
• Fear of going through the painful experience of
  others
• Fear of being unable to cope with the physical
  problems of others
• Fear of being unable to cope emotionally wit
  problems of others
• Fear of losing loved ones.

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Anxiety about the State of being dead

• Self
• Afterlife concerns
• Fear of an unknown situation
• Fear of divine judgment
• Fear of the spirit world
• Fear of nothingness

• Others
• Afterlife concerns
• Fear of the judgment of othersWhat are they
  thinking?
• Fear of ghosts, spirits, devils, etc.

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State of being dead

• Fear of the finality of death
• Fear of not being able to achieve ones
  goals
• Fear of the possible end of physical symbolic
  identity
• Fear of the end of all social relationships
• Fear of the fate of the body
• Fear of body decomposition
• Fear of not being buried
• Fear of not being treated with respect

• Fear of never seeing the person again
• Fear of the end of a relationship
• Guilt related to not having done
• Enough for the deceased
• Fear of not seeing the person again
• Fear of losing the social relationship
• Fear of death objects
• Fear of dead bodies
• Fear of being in cemeteries
• Fear of not knowing how to act in
  death-related situations.

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The mere thought of death
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How can the arts help us in our journey toward
understanding death?
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What can the arts do?

• The arts can be a catalyst enough to enable
  grieving, to stimulate the search for meaning,
  and to initiate changeor a least negotiate a
  truce with the status quo.
• With the mediation of the arts, poetry, drawing,
  psychodrama, music and so forth, we and our
  clients become involved...in heightened
  identification, catharsis, and insight.
• The beauty of the process is its openness to
  interpretations, jogging both us and those
  entrusted to our care out of our old ruts of
  perception toward enlarged understandings and
  possibilities.
• Arts can refresh, inspire, remind, and upon
  occasion, to jolt.
• Sandra Bertman, Grief and the Healing Arts, 3.

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The Arts Transform

• The arts are an agent of self-expression and
  therefore are transforming in nature. The artist
  begins with an ephemeral idea, a vision, or
  possibility. Then the artist faces the blank page
  and, in doing so, his or her fears as well. As
  the visions meet concrete reality of materials,
  the artist sheds preconceptions and steps into
  the unknown. The reality of the evolving art
  work is a product of growth and discovery.
• The artist is empowered not only by
  self-expression but by tangible nonverbal
  knowledge. This seed of transformation is
  present in every art-making process and can help
  to prepare patients for their final
  transformation, death.

From C Regina Kelleys essay Transformations
Visual arts and Hospice Care in Bertman,
Creativity and the Healing Arts.
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Transformational power of the arts

• The arts address all of these areas (emotional ,
  physical, and spiritual) functioning as an
  animator, that which endows life or spirit. The
  arts reawaken the senses often ignored during
  long illnesses. They address what is possible
  rather than what is lost. They bring beauty, joy,
  and every form of expression into a time that we
  often assume to be unbearably painful.

Kelley, in Bertman.
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Concepts seen in most arts

• Momento mori
• Arts moriendi
• Dans macrabre

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Exercises

• Exercise 1 My First Experience with Death
• Exercise 2 Death Anxiety Scale (DAS

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Communicating Last things Part II

• The Visual Arts

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Death In the Sickroom Munch
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The Dead Mother Edward Munch
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XLIX. The Allegorical Escutcheon of DeathThe
coat or shield is fractured in several places. On
it is a skull, and at the top the crest as a
helmet surmounted by two arm-bones, the hands of
which are grasping a ragged piece of stone, and
between them is placed an hour-glass. The
supporters are a gentleman and a lady in the
dresses of the times.
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Hans Holbein The Dance of Death, 1520s The
Alphabet of Death
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The orchestra of Death. From Der Doten Dantz,
Printed by Heinrich Knoblochzer, Heidelberg,
1490
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Inferno Canto XVII The Descent of the Abyss
on Geryon's Back
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Inferno Canto III The Doomed Souls Embarking
to Cross the Acheron
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Inferno Canto XXVIII The Severed Head of
Bertrand de Born Speaks
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Inferno Canto XIX Dante Addresses Pope
Nicholas III
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Inferno Canto XIII Harpies in the Forest of
the
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Inferno Canto XXXIV Lucifer, King of Hell
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Bosch Hell
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Brueghel The Triumph of Death
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Brueghel The Fall of Icarus
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(No Transcript)
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William Blake The Ancient of Days
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Guernica Picasso 1937
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The Plague Drawings Clint Brown A response to
AIDS crisis
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Death of SocratesJacques David 1787
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Christ in Paradise sitting in the lap of Abraham
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Blake Apocalyptic view of the end
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Blake Ghost of Samuel appearing to Saul
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Communicating Last things Part II

• Literature

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Literature

• George Herbert
• John Donne
• Robert Frost
• Emily Dickinson
• Wallace Stevens
• Leo Tolstoy

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Herbert Mortification

• How soon doth man decay!
• When clothes are taken from a chest of sweets
• To swaddle infants, whose young breath
• Scarce knows the way
• Those clouts are little winding sheets,
• Which do consign and send them unto death.
• When boyes go first to bed,
• They step into their voluntarie graves,
• Sleep bindes them fast onely their breath
• Makes them not dead
• Successive nights, like rolling waves,
• Convey them quickly, who are bound for death.
• When youth is frank and free,
• Ande calls for musick, while his veins do swell,
• All day exchanging mirth and breath
• In companie
• That musick summons to the knell,
• Which shall befriend him at the hour of death.

• Getting a house and home, where he may move
• Within the circle of his breath,
• Schooling his eyes
• That dumbe inclosure maketh love
• Unto the coffin, that attends his death.
• When age grows low and weak,
• Marking his grave, and thawing evry yeare,
• Till all do melt, and drown his breath
• When he would speak
• A chair or litter shows the biere,
• Which shall convey him to the house of death.
• Man, ere he is aware,
• Hath put together a solemnitie,
• And drest his herse, while he has breath
• As yet to spare
• Yet Lord, instruct us so to die,
• That all these dyings may be life in death.

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John Donne Holy Sonnets

• VI
• Death be not proud, though some have called thee
• Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not soe,
• For those, whom thou thinkst, thou dost
  overthrow
• Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill
  mee
• From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
• Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must
  flow,
• And soonest our best men with thee do goe,
• Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
• Thou aret slave to Fate, chance, kings, and
  desperate men,
• And doest with poison, warre, and sickness dwell,
• And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as
  well,
• And better than thy stroake why swellst thou
  then?
• One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
• And death shall be no more, Death thou shalt die.

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Emily Dickinson 712

• Because I could not stop for Death
• He kindly stopped for me
• The Carriage held but just Ourselves
• And Immortality.
• We slowly droveHe knew no haste
• And I had put away
• My labor and my leisure too,
• For his Civility
• We passed the School where Children strove
• At Recessin the Ring
• We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain
• We passed the Setting Sun
• Or ratherHe passed Us

• The Dews drew quivering and chill
• For only Gossamer, my Gown
• My Tippetonly Tulle
• We paused before a House that seemed
• A swelling of the Ground
• The Roof was scarcely visible
• The Cornicein the Ground
• Since thentis Centuriesand yet
• Feels shorter than the Day
• I first surmised the Horses Heads
• Were toward Eternity

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Goodnight, Willie Lee, Ill see youin the
morning Alice Walker

• Looking down into my fathers
• dead face
• for the last time
• my mother said without
• tears, without smiles
• without regrets
• but with civility
• Goodnight, Willie Lee, Ill see you
• in the morning.
• And it was then I knew that the healing of all
  our wounds
• is forgiveness
• that permits a promise
• of our return
• at the end.

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Milton Methought I saw my late espoused saint

• Methought I saw my late espoused saint
• Brought to me like Alcestis from the grace,
• Whom Joves great son to her glad husband gave,
• Rescued from death by force, though pale and
  faint.
• Mine, as whom washed from spot of child-bed taint
• Purification in the Old Law did save,
• And as such yet once more I trust to have
• Full sight of her in heaven without restraint,
• Came vested all in white, pure as her mind.
• Her face was veiled, yet to my fancied sight
• Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shined
• So clear as in no face with more delight.
• But O as to embrace me she inclined,
• I waked, she fled, and day brought back my
  night.
• John Milton 1608-1674

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Dylan Thomas Do not go gentle into that good
night

• Do not go gentle into that good night,
• Old age should burn and rave at close of day
• Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
• Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
• Because their words had forked no lightening they
• Do not go gentle into that good night.
• Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
• Their frail deeds might have danced in a green
  bay,
• Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
• Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,

• And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
• Do not go gentle into that good night.
• Grave men, near death, who see with blinding
  sight
• Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
• Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
• And you, my father, there on the sad height,
• Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I
  pray.
• Do not go gentle into that good night.
• Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

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Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich

• In addition to the lie, or owing to it, what
  tormented Ivan Ilyich most was that no one gave
  him the kind of compassion he craved. There were
  moments after long suffering when what he wanted
  most of all (shameful as it might be for him to
  admit) was to be pitied like a sick child. He
  wanted to be caressed, kissed, cried over, as
  sick children are caressed and comforted.

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Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich

• Where was death? What death? There was no fear
  because there was no death. Instead of death
  there was light.
• So thats it! he exclaimed. What bliss!
• All this happened in a single moment, but the
  significance of this moment was lasting. For
  those present, his agony continued for another
  two hours. Something rattled in his chest his
  emaciated body twitched. Then the rattling and
  wheezing gradually diminished
• It is all over, said someone standing beside
  him.
• He heard these words and repeated them in his
  soul.
• Death is over, he said to himself. There is
  no more death.
• He drew in a breath, broke off in the middle of
  it, stretched himself out, and died.

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Communicating Last things Part II

• Music

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Music

• For those who are dying, hearing is the last of
  the senses to go.
• Music is a way of telling a story and of inviting
  singers to accept a role in that story.
• Music can articulate the rich subtleties
  experienced in suffering and joy. It releases a
  wider spectrum of emotions than can be released
  by confessional formulas or historical
  reconstructions.
• It evokes the sense of mystery that surrounds
  such homespun words as death and life.
• It uses sounds as a band of communication with
  the encompassing Silence. (Minear 18)

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Forms

• Hymns
• Requiems
• Cantatas
• Masses
• Spirituals
• Gospel music (Christian)
• Chanting
• Program music

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Brahms German Requiem

• All flesh is grasstransitory nature of life but
  there is ultimate hope

I Peter 124, For all flesh is as grass, and all
the glory of man, as the flowers of grass. The
grass is withered, and the flower is fallen
away James 5.7 Be patient, therefore, brethren
unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the
husbandman waited for the precious fruit of the
earth, and hath long patience for it until he
receive the early rain and the later rain.
the word of the Lord endureth forever (I Peter
124-5) the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion everlasting joy shall be upon
their heads they shall obtain joy and gladness
and pain and sighing shall be made to flee
(Isaiah 35.10)
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Brahms German Requiem, III

• Lord, make me know the end of my daysAwareness
  of transitory nature of life.

Lord, make me to know that there must be An end
of me, and that my life has a term, And that I
must hence. Behold, Thou hast made my days as an
handbreadth and mine age is as nothing before
Thee. Verily, every man at his best state Is
altogether vanity. Psalm 39 The souls of the
righteous are in the Hands of God, and there
shall no Torment touch them. Wisdom of Solomon
31
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Brahms German Requiem, III

• Psalm 84 1, 2, 4
• How lovely are thy dwelling places, Lord of
  Hosts!
• My soul longs and yearns for the forecourts of
  the Lord
• My body and soul delight themselves in the Living
  God.
• Blessed are they who live in your house,
• They praise you ever more.

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Themes in The German Requiem

• Grief/comfort
• Exile/homeland
• Weeping/shouting
• Despair/hope
• Suffering/joy
• Stinging death/stingless death
• Frustration/fulfillment
• Sowing/harvesting
• Labor/rest
• Earthly cities/heavenly city
• Aloneness/fellowship
• Emptiness/blessedness
• Withering/abiding
• Defeat/victory Minear

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Music about Death

• Requiem masses (meaning-- rest eternal) by
  Palestrina (1554) Schutz (1636) Cavalli
  Mozart,Berlioz, Listz, Verdi, Faure, Durufle,
  Stravinsky, Rutter (1986)
• Dies Irae Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique, Liszt
  Totentanz (1859) and Symphonie zu Dantes
  divine commedia (1867) and Rachmaninoffs
  Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini (1935)
  Pendereckis Dies Irae1967Holocaust
  victimsfirst performed at Cracaw
• Berger

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African American spirituals

• Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
• Nobody knows the trouble Ive seen
• In my trials Lord, walk with me.
• There is a balm in Gilead.
• He never said a mumbalin word.
• Where you there when they crucified my lord?
• When the Saints Go Marching In
• Wade in the Water
• Gospel Train A Comin
• Berger

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Program music non-musical images or stories

• Danse macabredance of death, skeletons dancing
  ina graveyard. Listzs totentanz (piano and
  orchestra) Saint-saens Danse macabreOp. 40,
  1874
• Beethoven Pathetique
• Schubert Death and the maiden
• Chopin Marche Funebre
• Berlioz Symphonie Funebre et Triomphale
• Strauss Death and Transfiguration
• Rachmanioff Isle of the Dead
• Shostakovich Symphony 13Nazi massacre of Jews
  in Kiev, 1962
• Barnes Trail of Tears for band 1989Cherokee
• Berger

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Hymns

• 1523 Out of the Depths Aus Tiefer
• 1529 A Mighty Fortress is our God Ein Fest burg
• 1601 O Sacred head, now wounded, 12th century
  Passion chorale
• 1225 All creatures of our God and King tune 1635
• 1636 Now Thank We all our GodNun Danket Alle
  Gott 1636
• 1675 Sing Praise to God who reins above 1566
  Mit freuden zart
• 1774 God moves in a Mysterious way Dundee 1621
• 1779 Amazing Grace New Britain, American Folk
  Tune
• 1831 Come, Ye Disconsolate 1792 Consolator
• 1719 My Shepherd will supply my need 1835
  Resignation
• 1787 How Firm a Foundation
• O Come, O Come Emmanuel (Latin hymn trans 1854)
  based on plainsong phrases

• 1847 Abide with Me 1861Eventide
• 1873 It is well with my soul (Ville du havre
  1876)
• 1868 Theres a land that is fairer than day,
  sweet by and by
• 1740 Jesus Lover of my Soul Aberyswyth 1879
• 1882 O Love that will not let me go .1884 St.
  Margaret
• 1752 Be Still my soul (Finlandia) 1899
• 1864 For all the Saints Sine Nomine 1906
• 1888 O Lord of Life Whereer they be. Gelobt sei
  Gott 1609
• 1923 Great is thy faithfulness 1923 Faithfulness
• 1916 God of our life, through all the circling
  years Alberta 1931
• 1953 Hope of the world Vicar 1963
• 1986 Hymn of Promise

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Death is inevitable, but so is new life through
grace (Christian)
Handels Messiah Since by man came death.. By
man came also the resurrection of the dead. Even
so in Christ, shall all be made alive
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Trust along the journey

• Wade in the water
• We shall walk through the valley
• Psalm 23 (Celtic and contemporary British)

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Wade in the Water

• God works in mysterious ways

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We shall walk thru the valley

• Psalm 23

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Celtic version of The Shepherd Psalm 23

• The King of Love My Shepherd Is

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Rutter Psalm 23

• The Lord is My Shepherd

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The Journey Home

• Steal Away to Jesus
• Glory Train Get on Board!
• Train Bound for Glory

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Steal Away to Jesus

• Comfort in the Lord

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Glory Train Get on Board

• Journey to heaven--

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Train Bound for Glory

• Are you ready for the final trip?

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Assurance and Trust

• Amazing Grace
• I Know That My Redeemer Liveth
• A Mighty Fortress is our God
• Oh God, our Help in Ages Past

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Amazing Grace

• Comfort and hope

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Celtic Amazing Grace

• Haunting, ethereal tones

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Handel I know that my Redeemer Liveth
73
A Mighty Fortress is our God

• God as ultimate refuge

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Hymn Oh God Our Help in Ages Past

• Contemporary version

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Whats your image of heaven?

• Walking in Jerusalem
• Hallelujah Chorus

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Bluegrass Walking in Jerusalem

• Heaven

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Handel Hallelujah Chorus

• Assertion of Gods omnipotencesome feel this is
  how Heaven will sound, full of angels singing.

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Where the soul of man never dies

• Eternal life

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Final sounds of comfort

• The Lords Prayer
• BenedictionThe Lord Bless You and Keep You
• Irish Blessing

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Prayer The Lords Prayer

• Prayer of comfort, consolation, hope

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Rutter The Lord Bless You and Keep you

• Benediction

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Communicating Last Things

• Part III

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Experiential Component

• Creating your own mandala
• Creating a poem
• Creating a musical form

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Part III Creating Your Own Mandala
Written component. Definition of topic Write the
words that come to mind when you hear the word
death. Visualization. Close your eyes and
think about the various occasions in which you
have been affected by death. Remember where you
were, who was with you, words used, and how you
felt. Then open your eyes. Feelings. Which of
the following feelings did you have when you were
affected by death? Shocked Upset
Angry Scared Sad Lonely Hopeful Relieved Other
Color-feeling match. Select a color for each
of the feelings listed above and indicate those
colors by the words. 5. Proportion of the
color-feelings. Color in part of the circle for
each feeling. If the feeling was big, then make
it a big part of the circle. If it was small,
color in a small area proportion. You may use
the same color for more than one feeling as long
as you label it clearly.
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Exercise II Creating Poetry about Last Things

• Haiku
• A haiku is a form of Japanese poetry with three
  lines.
• The first line has five syllables, the second
  seven, and the third five.
• While the subject is usually nature, you can
  adapt it for your own purpose.
• Cinquains are five line poems. They can be
  written as syllable cinquains or word cinquains.
• When writing a syllable cinquain, the order of
  the lines is thus 2, 4, 6, 8, 2 syllables.
• When writing a word cinquain, the order of lines
  is thus 1, 2, 3, 4, 1 word.
• Syllable cinquain
• Line 1 Title (key concept, image) 2 syllables
• Line 2 Description of title/concept/image 4
  syllables
• Line 3 Action associated with it 6 syllables
• Line 4 Feelings associated with it 8 syllables
• Line 5 Synonym for the title 2 syllables
• Word cinquain
• Line 1 Title/concept/image 1 word
• Line 2 Description of title/concept/image 2
  words