tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4363007945636462774.post2120123218706805284..comments2022-11-07T01:28:53.887-08:00Comments on Blog by Joan Gold: About Death in LifeJoan Goldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03150492576818497449noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4363007945636462774.post-52834797959132696502011-11-11T16:39:18.284-08:002011-11-11T16:39:18.284-08:00Thank you for the thoughtful response to my blog e...Thank you for the thoughtful response to my blog essay about death. Your sad experience was very different from mine but I think the effects are similar. You are always aware of the closeness of death. And in the long run, what a blessing to forever be grateful for the life you have.Joan Goldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03150492576818497449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4363007945636462774.post-23324824850584881432011-11-11T06:13:57.818-08:002011-11-11T06:13:57.818-08:00Dear Joan, death and dying is one of the topics th...Dear Joan, death and dying is one of the topics that move me most in my every day life, has done so for many years. I grew up in the midst of it for a long time, all my childhood and young years....rather visually and as a heritage of the past years than physically. I was born a couple of years after the II.WW finished, in Czechoslovakia and although my family didn't loose anyone in the war or concentration camps, the memory of death was everywhere, everyone around had a story to tell about the dead and lost.....then the communists took over and used the war imagery for our "education" showing us endless documentaries about the Nazi camps, but also the Russian soldier-heroes in death combats against the Nazi monsters. Soon after we began to know about the millions of the assassinated by Stalin, the gulags, etc.<br />The post-war death panorama was going on and on....the political trials of the fifties where so many innocent people were executed or died more slowly in jails......and the political, social, existencial forms of death and persecution went on and on into the sixties.....a constant and systematic training to live life with death and the fear of it at your back....<br />Many years later, living in another country I was influenced by Buddhist teachings, especially their dealings with death and dying. Not as a horror story from hell this time but a daily "training" or preparation for dying and afterlife.....it made a complete sense to me....I never had any religion that sustained my faith and hopes but the meditation on one's own dissolution was very meaningful to me....even without the belief in the afterlife.......<br />I wanted to "get ready", not just for my own ending but to help my dear ones at the end of their life journey. Took courses on death and dying. My mother, my mother-in-law, spending their last months/years with them while being their caregivers.....an incredible, tough and a very deep time, I wouldn't want to miss a minute of those experiences.....although I must admit that one can never be "prepared" enough....<br />I live a pretty harmonious life in silence as a painter in our beautiful part of the world (Humboldt), and this is as close to paradise as i can imagine.But "Death" is still my companion, perhaps even more now growing older. I think about it every day, I meditate on it......I read about it, and I talk with my husband about it...if I were to do something else, I might like to work in a hospice.....although who knows, I don't like institutions....but that's another topic.....<br />Thanks Joan, for talking about it......<br /><br />P.S. And what do I think I've learned after all my experiences with death and dying? I feel that it is such an essential part of my life to think, meditate and talk about it that I'd live half a life without it......However, I do miss the cultural and symbolic aspects to support my individual awareness. Living many years in Mexico was so very satisfying in that respect.......LIDA PENKOVAnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4363007945636462774.post-53311150832548235162011-11-04T16:51:18.545-07:002011-11-04T16:51:18.545-07:00Thank you for the note, Jane. How sad to lose a si...Thank you for the note, Jane. How sad to lose a sibling. You sound as if you know how to face the loss with equanimity. I wish you and your sister well.Joan Goldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03150492576818497449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4363007945636462774.post-68627748974518713442011-10-22T21:04:21.273-07:002011-10-22T21:04:21.273-07:00Joan, being that I currently have one of my sister...Joan, being that I currently have one of my sisters in hospice, I was glad to see that you are not afraid to bring up the topic of death. It is definitely a powerful thing; as is birth. Maybe the two are not so different. The thought of my sister dying is bringing up, for me, questions about the other side. It may actually be another adventure altogether. Death is a door closing on life as we know it, but is it simultaneously opening a different door?<br />I will be leaving soon for LA to go see my sister; this is not without some dread. To see a body deteriorating is not a pretty sight. But, on the other hand, sometimes a dying person can surprisingly give you something very special and unexpected.<br />Thanks for bringing up the topic of life and death. It is the great equalizer; we all will face this someday. Might as well get used to it and live as freely now as we can.<br />Jane FusekJane Fusekhttp://www.janefusek.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4363007945636462774.post-53291116600043833392011-10-20T08:53:18.292-07:002011-10-20T08:53:18.292-07:00Disturbing, yes. Maybe it's about transitions ...Disturbing, yes. Maybe it's about transitions and change. I'm going to give some thought to that.Joan Goldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03150492576818497449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4363007945636462774.post-43703102617715493922011-10-17T02:21:29.705-07:002011-10-17T02:21:29.705-07:00It is a disturbing thought, isn't it? At the m...It is a disturbing thought, isn't it? At the moment the decorative motif in my studio seems to be Nouveau Apocalyptic. It got a bit out of hand as the frenzy built toward my opening. Now I'm slowly trying to put it all back together. It's not pretty.Paper Chipmunk (aka Ellen)https://www.blogger.com/profile/15014954266777016841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4363007945636462774.post-44438519102217842982011-10-15T10:26:02.017-07:002011-10-15T10:26:02.017-07:00Oh, dear. I'd rather think of "eventual o...Oh, dear. I'd rather think of "eventual oblivion" than the enormous mess I will leave. Unless I do something about it now.Joan Goldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03150492576818497449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4363007945636462774.post-5346650264248991792011-10-15T02:24:55.809-07:002011-10-15T02:24:55.809-07:00This makes me think about the time I was chatting ...This makes me think about the time I was chatting with a friend who was a hospice nurse (now retired). We got to having a fairly interesting chat about her job. After we'd been talking for a while, she stopped and looked at me with no small amount of surprise, "Normally, people just look uncomfortable and change the subject when my job comes up. I don't often get to talk about work. This is unusual!" <br /><br />I think about eventual oblivion fairly often. It's not a pleasant thing to ponder. I'm also starting to feel a bit uncomfortable about the material mess I could inadvertently wind up leaving behind for others to clean up. This happened with someone I knew--the overcrowded studio that got left behind was a <i>nightmare</i> for the survivors. I see that as the legacy I will leave. People will be cursing my memory as they fill dumpsters with embarrassing detritus from my life.Paper Chipmunk (aka Ellen)https://www.blogger.com/profile/15014954266777016841noreply@blogger.com