Life and Death: Affirmation and Meaning
10 Sessions
Given at OLLI at Brandeis
Study Group Leader: Rhoada Wald
Description:
The framework for this study group evolves from the theories, practice, and writings of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross drawing from her basic text, On Death and Dying. This study group will integrate psychology, studies of culture, literature and the arts. In the context of affirming life and the search for identity, we will examine life cycle theories, stages of death and dying and cross-cultural perspectives. Although the ways we individually explain and interpret life cycle issues, including death, are a natural outgrowth of this study, this is not a bereavement group.
Syllabus:
Session 1
Attitudes about Life and Death
Introduction to the concept of Adult Life Stages
Session 2
Denial and Isolation
The Life Cycle—Issues of Identity and self- realization
Session 3
Film: Wild Strawberries
Introduction to Cross-cultural Perspectives
Additional sessions proceeded sequentially through the stages of life and death (Kubler-Ross) and continued study of various cultures and practices. Subsequent sessions also included the Hospice Movement, medical responses, and personal applications.
Bibliography
Albom, Mitch, Tuesdays with Morrie, 1997
Dershowitz, Alan, Shouting Fire: Civil Liberties in a Turbulent Age, 2002
Hendin David, Death as a Fact of Life, 1984
Humphry, David, Final Exit: The Practicalities of Self-Deliverance and Assisted Suicide for the Dying. 1996
Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth Death—The Final Stage of Growth, 1975
__________, Living With Death and Dying, 1981
Monette, Paul, Borrowed Time: An Aids Memoir, 1988
Nuland, Sherwin B., How We Die: Reflections On Life’s Final Chapter, 1994
Olsen Tillie, Tell Me A Riddle, 1960
Parry, Joan K. and Angela Shen Ryan, A Cross-Cultural Look At Death, Dying, and Religio,.1995
Roth, Philip, Patrimony: A True Story, 1991
Audio-tapes:
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross speaks to patients
Films:
Wild Strawberries, Ingmar Bergman
Strong at the Broken Places: Turning Tragedy
into Triumph,
Tuesdays with Morrie