Ars Vivendi - Ars Moriendi

This is dedicated to Therese Schroeder-Sheker who is the founder of the Chalice of Repose Project and a great inspiration to me. It is also for Kestal and his parents whose lives are ever filled with music and who have shared that music with me.

Ars Vivendi - Ars Moriendi
In our modern world of seemingly endless technological possibilities it seems that we have pushed the concept of a natural death to the outermost reaches of our consciousness. Many doctors today see death as the ultimate failure of their healing arts, yet for the ancients, death was much closer to life... it was inextricably interwoven with the understanding that the pendant to having a blessed death was the art of living each moment fully, of accepting life's lessons so that we may grow in our humanity with patience and grace and of practicing the most difficult art of letting go which aren in essence, little "deaths" that we all endure.

I have had the privilege of walking with many on their last journey into death, the final Transitus. The first of these was my own brother who died from an AIDS related disease. Through him and others with whom I have shared this path, I have learned a lot about life and about letting go. It is a rare blessing to be among people on a daily basis who are looking with deep courage towards their end. There is with them an honesty and intensity unparalleled in other relationships. It is among those for whom all masks have fallen away that I was awakened to the quest of seeking to live an authentic life, that I learned to love with my whole being and to laugh... to feel with the intensity of the dying so that I could be open to the gifts that life would give.

Many of you know that I am in the process of a great transition which is somewhat like death to me. It is a time of letting go and being open to that which is to come. I have played the Celtic harp for many years and it is now my hope to return to this work in palliative care, of walking with the dying, within the context of the Chalice of Repose Project.

All of the information and excerpts of interviews come from the book and dvd of Transitus which I highly recommend that anyone interested in hospice or palliative care should purchase. There is no intended copyright infringement. It is my hope that the work of this Project continues to bear fruit and that its fruits become well known so that others may profit from its spirit.

http://chaliceofrepose.org/index.htm
Transitus: A Blessed Death in the Modern World
A music-thanatology monograph by Therese Schroeder-Sheker,
St. Dunstan's Press, 2001.
Therese Schroeder-Sheker: The Chalice of Repose Project: A Contemplative Musician's Approach to Death and Dying. DVD Multi-standard format.
http://chaliceofrepose.org/giftshop.htm

Music: Alan Stivell: YS from Renaissance De La Harpe Celtique and from the Chalice of Repose Project

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Nonprofits & Activism

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• Ars
• Vivendi
• Moriendi