MORTALLY WOUNDED: Stories of Soul Pain, Death, and Healing

by Michael Kearney

What makes for a good death? In Mortally Wounded - a best-seller in Ireland - Dr. Michael Kearney explores the nature of soul pain and healing in those close to death. He explains how it is possible to learn to die well, overcoming our fears and accepting death as an integral part of the journey of life.
Drawing on his extensive experience of caring for people who are terminally ill, Dr. Kearney reflects on and shares his own case studies. Believing that the root of the pain we face when dying is often a personal and cultural disconnection from all that is considered soul, Kearney advocates a personal quest inward - or downward - to the deepest part of our very being. Psychological techniques such as dream analysis and visualization exercises are often combined with mythological insight to help patients explore the darkest parts of their souls. Dr. Kearney sees the myth of Chiron, the wounded centaur, as a metaphor for the mortally wounded in us all. It is only after descending to the underworld for nine days and nights that Chiron finds relief for his pain and suffering - as well as discovering a path that reaches to the heavens.
Careful attention to spiritual health, asserts Kearney, is an essential complement to the physical or outer care of the patient.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

As you can see from my original review below, I read excerpts of this text a couple years ago... but yesterday I read the book in its entirety. It was excellent. First of all, I feel I have a better understanding of depth psychology than anything I gleaned from the other texts I read in my first two semesters in Mythological Studies. What I feel Kearney ultimately argues through this text is that there is a strong, healing power in our own inner depths. While he relates this specifically to the power individuals can find in this as they approach death, you can really apply it to any time (of crisis) in your life. And, of the most interest to me, he continuously relates everything back to the Chiron myth, concluding the text with a rich analysis of the myth that can only be fully appreciated after reading the entire text. This book offered me everything I was looking for, and also has me very excited about returning to graduate school!!

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My first review from February 2009:
I only read excerpts, so this is not a full review....
Last quarter, I learned about Chiron, the wounded healer of Greek Mythology. Because of my chronic pain injury, I was immediately drawn to this archetype. An instructor recommended this book to me when I asked where I could read about the Chiron myth.
I read a few excerpts throughout and the entire last section of the book on the Chiron myth. Someday I will read the book in its entirety, but right now, the bulk of it doesn't deal with what I am looking for - ways of coping with pain. This book deals with the bigger pain- death. It is filled with stories of mortally wounded patients. To be perfectly honest, that sounds rather depressing right about now. I think it will be helpful to read at another time when I know someone who is dying... or when I am dying... So, for now, I decided not to read those sections (my reading time is rather limited, after all).
The sections I read were very interesting, and Kearney offers good retellings of the Chiron myth with a good analysis of what it is to embrace both pain and death. Chiron struggles with an injury; he is both mortal and immortal. He is torn between these worlds. In some respect, we all are. We are both mortal and immortal, as our bodies will die but our souls will live on. The Chiron myth points towards reconciling that fact.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deeply moving and useful to me at this current stage of life, back with my aging parents.