A Tragic Opera - Can it be a Source of inspiration?

1
A Tragic Opera- Can it be a Source of
inspiration?

• Cancer
• and its decisive impact on human existence

2
A Tragic Opera with 6 Acts

1. Suffering losses that bring grief
2. Threatened by isolation from life and
   relationship networks
3. Attacked by the hounds of fear
4. Struggling with questions about guilt
5. Thrown around by emotional struggles
6. Battling with various types of pain

All acts are performed simultaneously!
3
Act 1 Suffering losses that bring grief

1. Wellbeing / mobility / physical self-control
2. Loss of dignity physical / mental / emotional
3. Bodily strength
4. Identity / control / decision making
5. Relationships
6. Work / security / social status / possessions
7. Future
8. Opportunities to make peace with God
9. Ultimately, loss of own body

4
Act 2 Threatened by isolation from life and
relationship networks

1. Dying is an individual process
2. Social factors can contribute
3. Nature of the disease can contribute
4. Can experience isolation even when not so

5
Act 3 Attacked by the hounds of fear

1. The nature and seriousness of the disease
2. The future / re family / re finances
3. Suffering and pain
4. Dependence on others / Helplessness
5. Being a burden
6. Being alone / being abandoned
7. Humiliation
8. Not being able to cope emotionally
9. Separation from loved ones / from God
10. The unknown
11. Punishment / judgment
12. Losing mental capacities

6
Act 4 Struggling with questions about guilt

1. Guilt is the consequence of breaking a law it is
   a judicial state, not a feeling
2. Four types of guilt
3. Personal
4. Social
5. Legal
6. Theological
7. Guilt about
8. Bad things done
9. Good things not done

7
Act 5 Thrown around by emotional struggles

• Denial ??
• Rebellion ??
• Negotiation ??
• Restlessness ??
• Anger ??
• Distrust ??
• Despair ??
• Disappointment ??
• Doubt ??
• Criticism ??
• Depression ??
• Bitterness ??

• Insight
• Surrender
• Acceptance
• Peace, clear conscience
• Meekness
• Trust in relationships
• Courage, hope
• Satisfaction
• Certainty, security
• Appreciation, gratitude
• Comforted, joy
• Reconciliation, forgiveness

8
6. Battling with various types of pain
9
The main aria - the song of the cancer sufferer

1. Please draw a cancer history timeline from five
   years before you first noticed something was
   wrong right up to today
2. Either from the patient perspective
3. Or from the relative / friend perspective
4. In this timeline show highs and lows where the
   cancer sufferer was facing various aspects of the
   six acts losses, isolation, fear, guilt,
   emotional struggles and pain
5. Share this with one another in the discussion
   time asking What can we learn from this history?

10
Example Cancer History Timeline
1994
2000
1989
11
Possible extra activities

• You might want to expand a section of the
  timeline on another sheet of paper to show more
  details
• Write a poem about your time line
• Make a drawing / painting about your time line
• Write an essay about your time line
• What about a daily journal where you examine all
  six acts of the opera?

12
Discussion Time

1. Share your Cancer History Timeline in the group
2. Group members are not allowed to give comments or
   advice, only to ask clarifying questions.
3. You might want to add some extra elements to your
   timeline
4. Questions remind you of something
5. Other stories remind you of something
6. When the person has finished their own story,
   discuss What can we learn from this history?

13
Facing Death in the Tragic Opera

• Spiritual needs of those with cancer
• What about life after death?
• The second aria the experience of the survivors
• Group Discussions
• Plenary Feedback what we have learnt from one
  anothers experiences

14
7 basic spiritual needs of those with cancer

1. Good relationship with God
2. Good relationships with relatives
3. Hope
4. Meaning
5. Purpose
6. Life concluded with no loose ends
7. Prepared for the transition

15
What about life after death?a Christian
perspective
Conception
Second coming of Christ
Birth
Death
Paradise
New heaven and new earth
Hades
Gehenna / Hell
16
How can we make sure our life after death is good?

• From a model developed by
• Dr Walt Larimore

17
The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is
eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6
23)
Lord
Jesus Christ
wages
gift
sin
God
death
eternal life
but
18
The second aria - the song of the relative

1. Please draw a close relative/friend history
   timeline from five years before you first noticed
   something was wrong up to today
2. Either from the patient perspective
3. Or from the relative / friend perspective
4. In this timeline show highs and lows where the
   relative / friend of the cancer sufferer was
   facing various aspects of the six scenes losses,
   isolation, fear, guilt, emotional struggles and
   pain

19
Discussion Time

1. Share your Cancer History Timeline in the group
2. Group members are not allowed to give comments or
   advice, only to ask clarifying questions.
3. When the person has finished his / her own story,
   discuss What can we learn from this history? How
   can we sing better?

20
Plenary Feedback What have we learnt?

• Not allow work to ruin your life
• Doctors should learn to share the news about
  cancer in a better way
• Relatives are very important to cancer patients
• Give special attention to how the children
  experience the cancer of relatives
• Power of the Word of God if used in a good way
• People also go through the six acts in other
  traumatic situations divorce, sudden death of a
  loved one
• Sometimes cancer patients experience other
  situations (divorce / sudden death of a loved
  one) as more traumatic than their cancer
• Even if we do not have cancer, we need to prepare
  ourselves for death
• Live life to the full in any case
• All of us are going to die at some stage as we
  realize this it gives such a different
  perspective to life

21
Sing your aria to inspire othersin the tragic
opera of cancer
22
Make a whole person diagnosis

• Make a strengths / weaknesses evaluation of all
  relationships in the diagram

23
Work towards whole person wholeness

• Relating rightly to
• inner human,
• outer human,
• relationship network,
• environment
• transcendent
• Biblical concept that covers all these aspects
  Shalom

24
Paint a life of SHALOM

• Shalom touches all areas of life
• What it is
• The presence, blessing and peace of God
• Jesus Christ Himself
• Shalom continues all the way right through death,
  so it can always be our goal

25
What needs to be done about my spiritual needs?

1. Good relationship with God
2. Good relationships with relatives
3. Hope
4. Meaning
5. Purpose
6. Life concluded with no loose ends
7. Prepared for the transition