REGARDING OUR APPROACH TO THE END OF LIFE Death is a universal human experience. The knowledge
of our own mortality connects us - beyond all boundaries of space time and social conventions.
Even while we're still alive the great unknown presents us with a multitude of questions
affecting us in different ways: Is there life after death? What is a 'good death'? How do we
find comfort? What remains of me? This book discusses possible answers from an individual point
of view as well as from a cultural and social perspective. It forges a bridge between the
nature of our fleeting existence and a culture of death that can be shaped between the
certainty of our own passing and the awareness of the impending loss of all our livelihood
through the extinction of species. -Reflecting on the great unknown: What does death mean
today? -Conceptions of the afterlife funerary rites and commemoration of the dead all around
the world -Experts from the fields of journalism philosophy medicine forensics art ecology
archaeology psychotherapy palliative care zoology and sociology illuminate the topic in all
its facets -On dignity mourning and living with the dead -Essays interviews personal
accounts and photo spreads AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE MANY DIFFERENT NOTIONS OF DEATH In a
wide-ranging compilation of essays interviews and personal accounts in_finite. Living with
Death offers a multi-layered look at beliefs about the afterlife funerary rites the treatment
of the dying and coping with grief. Here the perspective extends far beyond the European
cultural sphere. Alongside experts from various fields of science representatives of religious
communities such as Judaism Christianity Islam Hinduism and the Yoruba religions also
share their views and provide nuanced accounts of diverse including non-Western perspectives
on the end of life. This book offers an approach that contributes to a holistic understanding
of death and makes it possible to ask questions that remain hidden in everyday life. ABOUT THE
FINAL CHAPTER OF OUR BEING For all the broadness of its thematic scope the book is clearly
structured around key topics. The individual contributions range from reflections on
immortality by the philosopher and journalist Stephen Cave to factual descriptions of the
process of dying by Dr Jens Dreier of the Berlin Charité hospital and touching reports from the
everyday lives of end-of-life caregivers from all over the world. The publication accompanying
the exhibition un_endlich. Leben mit dem Tod is published by the Humboldt Forum Foundation in
the Berliner Schloss. With contributions by Stephen Cave Robin Wall Kimmerer Matthias
Glaubrecht Cristina Cattaneo Hartmut Dorgerloh Jens Dreier and others.
