Caring For Our Own After Death

Can you imagine that at your death you were surrounded by people who knew your wishes because you had prepared them for your crossing; you had taken the time to share your intentions about the care of your body after your death and your community of friends and family were there to fulfill your desires? You had thought about death before you died. You had brought life into death and death into life.

Can you imagine that your death and the days afterward would become a heart-felt story, shared and retold to transform our culture’s view of death for future generations? Your death, the days after your dying, the community who touched your body with respect and care, the burial or cremation of your physical form – all this would combine to heal our Western culture’s profound ambivalence about honesty and openly meeting the mystery of death.

– Tamara Slayton 1950-2003