With the End in Mind: Dying, Death, and Wisdom in an Age of Denial

by Kathryn Mannix

Bereaved people, even those who have witnessed the apparently peaceful death of a loved one, often need to tell their story repeatedly, and that is an important part of transferring the experience they endured into a memory, instead of reliving it like a parallel reality every time they think about it.

‘She isn’t moving; not even breathing. She doesn’t feel anything, hear anything, know anything. She isn’t sad or afraid. She has no pain. She doesn’t even know she’s dead.’