'It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live' (Marcus Aurelius)
What does death mean to us? What do we feel about it? What are the ideas and images fed back to us from both our personal histories, and collective culture, about the experience of death and dying? And can we even have fun whilst talking about them?
Coming to terms with the inevitability of our own deaths, and of those around us, is often associated with a greater ability to live life itself more fully.
Accepting the fragility and transience of life can be uniquely liberating, helping to put into perspective our everyday worries and preoccupations, and – ultimately – may enable us to live more freely and bravely.
The eventual fact of our death is after all, the one great certainty we all share, and yet often most avoid talking about in any depth.
These three days aim to tackle that taboo. We will spend time together discovering what philosophers, theologians and artists have had to say about death, and explore some of our own respective fears, fantasies, beliefs and desires about this final and profound ‘awfully big adventure.’
A long weekend of discussions, film, contemplation, art-making, a bonfire and our own Othona ‘Death Café’ to explore together what death means to each of us with the aim of living just a little more freely and fully afterwards.
Kym Winter is a psychotherapist with over 25 years of experience. She has had a long interest in the areas of death and dying, and has come to believe that it is ultimately our awareness and acceptance of our mortality that enables us to live freely.
She first came to Othona 17 years ago with her young family shortly after her first husband was diagnosed as having months to live. She works in private practice, and for a charity for those with a potentially life limiting condition.
She has had a long involvement with hospices, and has spent much time being with those in the final months and moments of their lives.
Peter Berry has been a psychotherapist, art therapist and artist for 35 years. He has practiced mindfulness meditation for much of that time, and has 'Buddhist leanings' following a period of atheism after a northern, working-class Catholic upbringing.
He is now semi-retired, and in the process of returning to his original identity as an artist. Peter has had a close brush with death himself and both he and Kym know what it is to accompany much younger family members facing life-threatening conditions.
Informed by his long experience as a therapist, he is interested in working creatively with others this weekend to challenge the taboos (personal and collective) around thinking and talking about death and dying. And also to have some fun while doing this!