By Tony Wolf Beginning about thirty years ago, increasingly since my father died in mid-2016 and with great intensity since the start of this year, I’ve been developing an embodied philosophical/artistic approach to – and “poetic faith” in -the reality of death and its implications for living meaningful lives. It draws inspiration from aspects of … Read moreMy Way of Life and Death
This evening I returned the last of the leaves from my Autumnal altar, plus the surplus flower stems from my wife’s birthday bouquet, to nature. They will nourish the growth of the tree outside our apartment. A simple and sincere memento mori ergo carpe diem ritual gesture sealed the deal. The flowers themselves, having lost … Read moreReturning
This recent episode of The Wonder presents an Atheopagan perspective on mortality: THE WONDER explores perspectives, rituals, and observances of modern, naturalistic, Earth-revering Neopagan religious paths. Naturalistic Pagans embrace the world as understood by science (that is, without gods, magic, or the supernatural), and enhance our lives with myth, ritual and activism. Click here to … Read more“The Wonder” Atheopagan Podcast Considers Death
Sometimes I think that death is like when a leaf falls from a tree. I look up and hear and see a rustling, colorful mass. But then one breaks free and for a glorious moment (who can say how long it may seem?) that leaf swirls catching light and casting shadows like it never has … Read more“Like when a leaf falls from a tree”
A panel discussion between writer Will Self, philosopher Stephen Cave and Dr Joanna Cook, lecturer in Medical Anthropology, hosted by the Royal Society of Arts in 2014. Much attention is given to the practice of secular/non-theistic mortality and memorial ritual.
At midnight on November the first, 2020 – the first of the Days of the Dead in Mexican tradition, the night after Halloween when, according to custom and poetic sentiment, the veils between the worlds are thinnest and magic is possible, I consecrated my newly-assembled totenpass amulet. As I write these words, I can still … Read moreTotenpass
A sobering New York Times essay by Roy Scranton: The human psyche naturally rebels against the idea of its end. Likewise, civilizations have throughout history marched blindly toward disaster, because humans are wired to believe that tomorrow will be much like today — it is unnatural for us to think that this way of life, … Read moreLearning How to Die in the Anthropocene (2013)
The Death Hangout is a podcast and life/business coaching company facilitated by Olivier Larvor and Keith Clarke: The Death Hangout is a very special and humanistic place (non-religious and non-political). We are a community of very like-minded people who believe death has a very useful function in our lives. And no, not just to wipe … Read moreThe Death Hangout
Memento mori/carpe diem perspective from Four Thousand Mondays.