Matters of Life and Death

Covid has brought the reality of death into the centre of our
lives, but what can we learn about death in response? This
episode of the Sheldrake-Vernon Dialogues, with Rupert Sheldrake
and Mark Vernon, is prompted by a sense that part of the anxiety
arising from the pandemic is living in a culture that has
forgotten how to know death in life. Rupert outlines some recent
work on the role of death in plant life, and how that is not only
of biological interest but can be spiritually resourcing. They
discuss how wisdom traditions don’t dissolve death but understand
it as a process that leads to more life, and therefore to be
embraced and undergone. Both reflect on personal experiences of
death and dying as well, in what they hope is a helpful as well
as interesting conversation.