Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. Since my husband’s illness, and consequently, his passing, I’ve found it difficult to read books with my lack of concentration as my mind drifts back and forth to grief. So I’ve found that reading books on the topic of grief are somewhat comforting because I can identify well with that topic that I’m living daily. And hey, if there’s something that is going to teach me how to roll with the waves, I’ll take all the help I can get.
This week’s book is, On Life After Death by Dr. Elisabeth Kuber-Ross who is well known for her books on grief, dying and afterlife.
Blurb:
A collection of inspiring essays with frank and compassionate advice for those dealing with terminal illness or the death of a loved one, from the pioneering author of On Death and Dying and On Grief and Grieving
As a pioneer of the hospice movement, Dr. Elizabeth Kübler-Ross was one of the first scholars to frankly discuss our relationship with death. By introducing the concept of the five stages of dying, her work has informed the lives of countless people as they face the grieving process. This classic collection of four essays—based on Dr. Kubler-Ross’s studies of more than twenty thousand people who had near-death experiences—illuminates her sensitive, original, and even controversial findings on death, dying, and the afterlife.
Now with a new foreword from Caroline Myss offering a personal perspective on Dr. Kübler-Ross, On Life After Death presents writings that challenge and encourage us to approach the end of life not with trepidation, but with clear-eyed, compassionate love.
My 5 Star Review:
Four inspirational essays on death and dying by Dr. Ross who was considered a pioneer of the hospice movement. Dr. Ross studied over 20,000 cases of people who faced near-death experiences and came back to tell, participating in as witness, and in these stories she shares her discoveries. She describes the stages of a person’s passing as they walk through the light and the deceased begins to play a whole movie reel of their entire life as they transcend.
Ross says, ‘It’s a blessing to be able to sit at the bedside of a dying person.” Personally, I’m no amateur at this as I’ve been to my share of beloved bedsides, including, recently, my own husband’s. I’m not sure if the blessing is for the one leaving our world because the only blessing I felt was that he was no longer suffering, but the aftermath of me and my loss certainly doesn’t feel like a blessing.
We are told that when the person is passing on their guardian angels, guides and past love ones are greeting them to help with the transition. Dr. Ross said these events have been verified by her as a scientist. “There will always be someone there to guide the leaving soul to transcend.”
One example of watching a near death event, Dr. Ross watched a blind girl slip away. She came back to the land of the living and explained that she watched from above the doctors bringing her back to life. She explained that she saw everything from above, told Dr. Ross of the colors of clothing people were wearing in the room. She was spot on. When she returned to the land of living, so did her blindness.
I think we are all curious to know what really goes on in the other side after life on earth, and we have much to learn from those who’ve been to the precipice between two worlds, yet somehow made it back to the land of the living. This is a short book with stories of people Dr. Ross has witnessed their near death experiences, which she shares openly. There are no big jargony medical words or terms to navigate, merely stories of survivors who came back to tell.
Poignant Quotes:
“Death is simply a shedding of the physical body like the butterfly shedding the cocoon. It is a transition to a higher state of consciousness where you continue to perceive, to understand, to laugh and to grow.”
“Everything can be bearable when there was LOVE.”
“…dying is only a transition to a different form of life.”
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