In the Midst of Life

IN THE MIDST OF LIFE WE ARE IN DEATH

This book assumes that death is sacred.

It is about the mystery, the beauty, the loneliness and the aspirations of death.

It is about the fear of death, and our inability to handle it.

It is about how we die. Perhaps few people have seen the Angel of Death approach and depart.

It is about the meaning, shape and purpose of life that will some day end.

It is about my own search to understand.

Since girlhood I have pondered these mysteries, reflecting on the deaths I have seen in hospitals and the hopes and fears of people who have come my way.

This book is about the need for peace in the hour of our death.

It suggests that death can sometimes be a friend, and is not always an enemy.

It raises the vexed issue of resuscitation, and the law.

It is about the need to rekindle reverence in the face of death.

It is about the humility of acceptance.

It is about the spiritual nature of death – God if you like, or Allah, or Krishna, or Jehovah, or Brahma, or one of a thousand names given to something we cannot understand.

Or just Evolution, Random Chance, or Biochemistry.

It really does not matter what you think or believe.

Death comes for us all.

How, when and where we die has always been a game of chance.

Our determination to control it has not loaded the dice in our favour.

Did anyone ever imagine that it would?

— Jennifer Worth