Humor and Spirituality Near the End of Life

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Humor and Spirituality Near the End of Life
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Humor and Spirituality Near the End of Life
Objectives Attendees will be able to 1.
Understand why spirituality and humor are bound
to any processing of end-of-life issues
2. Begin or revisit exploring personal concepts
of End- of Life issues. 3. Appreciate
faith-based contributions to end-of-life
care, illustrated by Japanese and Jewish
precepts. 4. Recognize applicability to
Palliative Medical Care.
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Aspects of Mortality Death is Universal
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Aspects of MortalityKnowledge of Mortality
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Immortality is not an option.
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Knowledge of Mortality Fear and Uncertainty
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Knowledge of Mortality Fear and Uncertainty
Tell me, Father, is there a
'Next-To-The-Last' rites?"
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Knowledge of Mortality What Comes Next? No Proof
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Fear from uncertainty leads to the hope of
something more to come, an afterlife.
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Coping with Dying and the Fear of Dying
Denial Humor Faith Acceptance and Embrace
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Denial
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Humor and Faith
Humor eases fear and anxiety Humor makes angst
manageable Humor provides a communication
interface.   Uncertainly breeds hope of an
afterlife   Faith diminishes anxiety Faith - The
promise of an afterlife becomes an assurance of
an afterlife.  
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Faith and Mortality - The Japanese
Japan Until the 5th century, Shinto Belief
Systems. Death from smallpox, scarlet fever,
measles, typhoon, flood,drought, famine,
blindness, war. Living past one year a milestone.
Talismanic prayer - lucky gods, symbols of long
life , immortality. Gosho Ningyo - fat chubby
child- figurines given as gifts- happy, fat
healthy.
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Faith and Mortality - The Japanese
Adoption of Buddhism as a promise of a next life
being better - Zen, fatalism, and acceptance of
death as a blessing, a bridge, a "that's
it." Death poems.
Although the consciousness of death is in most
cultures very much a part of life, this is
perhaps nowhere more true than in Japan, where
the approach of death has given rise to a
centuries-old tradition of writing jisei, or the
'death poem.'  Such a poem is often written in
the very last moments of the poet's life."

Crossing The Rubicon
http//northernva.typepad.com/crossing_the_rubico
n/2006/01/japanese_death_.html
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Faith and Mortality - The Japanese
A bright and pleasantautumn day to makedeath's
journey. Fukyu Age 79
Farewell...                                I pass
as all things do do         dew on the
grass.      Banzan
The owner of the cherry blossomsturns to
compostfor the trees. Utsu Age 50
This final
scene I'll not see  
to the end...
my dream is fraying. Choko
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Faith and Mortality- Judaism and the Afterlife
The Jewish religion, a monotheistic religion
based on the laws and teachings of the Holy
Scripture and the Talmud.
(Webster's New World
Dictionary) Holy Scripture - the Torah (Five
books handed down to Moses at Sinai) Talmud -
The compilation of discourse, dialogue,
rabbinical teaching, with major emphasis on being
measured by ethical living, deed-doing,
preserving tradition and study of Torah. 1st- 6th
centuries CE.
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Torah Handed Down To Moses At Sinai
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Faith and Mortality- Judaism and the Afterlife
The Biblical Era - Death comes to all, with
little hinting at afterlife. The Rabbinic Era
- Punishment, even of the pious, and the reason
for "discovering" resurrection in the teachings.
(Destruction of the Temple 70 CE)
.Sadducees .Pharisees .Essenes
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Faith and Mortality- Judaism and the Afterlife
(After Josephus Greco-Roman Historian 38-100
CE )
Sadducees Rigorous fundamentalists. Re
afterlife - "the souls die with the bodies." We
come we live, we go. That's it!
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Faith and Mortality- Judaism and the
Afterlife(After Josephus Greco-Roman Historian
38-100 CE )
Pharisees - tradition is molded by contributions
from a "continuous succession of fathers.
Souls have a deathless vigor.beneath the earth
there are rewards (virtue) and punishments
(vice). For the latter, everlasting
imprisonmentthe former shall have the power to
revive and live again (..on account of which,
they are able to persuade greatly the body of the
people).
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Faith and Mortality- Judaism and the Afterlife
Pharisees One sub sect - We are resurrected
body And soul. Another - We are clothed at The
resurrection..
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Faith and Mortality- Judaism and the Afterlife
(After Josephus Greco-Roman Historian 38-100
CE )
  Essenes- a Platonic belief that the souls,
freed from the body, "rejoice and mount
upward."
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Faith and Mortality- Judaism and the Afterlife
Kabbalah - Mystic Judaism - Kabbalah became a
reference to doctrines of esoteric knowledge
concerning God, God's creation of the universe
and the laws of nature, and the path by which
adult religious Jews can learn these secrets.
Hasidism - Jewish religious movement founded in
Poland in the 18th cent. by Baal-Shem-Tov. Its
name derives from Hasidim (The Pious), which
stressed the mercy of God and encouraged joyous
religious expression through music and dance. No
fear of death - Embraced the joy of passing on, a
triumph of faith over fear.
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A Hasid Looks at Mortality.
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Humor and Faith Promise of Resurrection
Acceptance and Embrace
Humor eases death fear and anxiety. Humor makes
death angst manageable . Humor provides a
communication interface.   Uncertainly breeds
hope of an afterlife.   Faith diminishes and
conquers death anxiety. Faith - The promise of
an afterlife becomes an assurance of
an afterlife.
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Spiritual Dimension of Mortality
Death is simply a shedding of the physical body
like the butterfly shedding its cocoon.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross visited the Maidenek
concentration camp in 1946. When she got to the
children's barracks, it was particularly
sorrowful, with toys and shoes strewn about, but
there was something else, too. The walls were
covered with hundreds of butterflies, scratched
and etched with fingernails and pebbles
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Spiritual Dimension of Hospice
It was the inability of the medical model to deal
with the reality of patients who die that
motivated Dame Cicely Saunders and the
interdisciplinary team she gathered in London in
the 1960s at St. Christopher's Hospice.
Accepting that death is a normal part of human
life, Dame Saunders and her team established a
system of comprehensive care that embraces the
physical, emotional, spiritual, existential, and
relational dimensions of dying.
Park Ridge Center for
Health,Faith and Ethics
http//www.parkridgecenter.org/Page
515.html
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Humor and Faith at the Clinical Bedside
Humor and Faith, both tangible aspects of the
human spirit, are allies in the clinical
management of those souls and their loved ones
who are dealing with life-limiting illness.
Longer a part of the healer's tools than the
modern sophisticated interventions, they have
demonstrated potency, and stand as cornerstones
of palliative care.
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Resources

• Japanese Death Poems
• Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the
  Verge of Death. Yoel
  Hoffman
• The Death of Death Resurrection and Immortality
  in Jewish Thought. Neil Gillman
• Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia
• Google Search - Wikipedia Press Search