Ep. 31 Why Death Awareness is Necessary for Spiritual Growth
In this episode I talk about the merging of my end-of-life studies with my spiritual practice and why the two are inextricably linked together. Through the writings of Carl Jung and Ken Wilber it is clear that there is a time in life for many of us when our focus turns inward, toward our spiritual growth rather than toward success in the external world. That shift often occurs suddenly when we become aware of our own mortality or can happen after a consciousness-expanding experience such as taking a psychedelic substance. This episode includes:
- In Tibetan Buddhist culture people contemplate death on a daily basis.
- In Western society more than 2/3 of people say in polls that they are unhappy with life.
- Confronting and accepting mortality helps us stop wasting our time and energy on projects and pursuits that are designed to help us deny the existence of death.
- Why you should start a daily "death awareness" practice in your own life.
- How to use the book The Tao of Death to contemplate death every day.
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"Man ... lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived." - Dalai Lama