Understanding Life’s End: A Journey of Awareness and Research

In this post, we explore the complex relationship between the understanding of mortality, the practice of ethical living, and the critical role of education about death in shaping a conscious approach to life’s inevitable end. By intertwining a personal narrative of terminal illness with a broader discussion on ethical considerations, we highlight the essential nature of death education as a means to inform life decisions that align with deeply held values. We propose the development of tools aimed at fostering ethical living and emphasize the significance of lifelong learning in enhancing decision-making processes related to mortality.

Advancing the discussion, we advocate for recognizing research as a vital life skill, employing a multilogical approach that incorporates authentic inquiry and interpretive research to engage with diverse knowledge systems. This methodology not only stresses the importance of mindfulness but also employs a participatory research model that invites contributions from all life stages, aiming to enrich our collective understanding.

By adopting authentic inquiry, we emphasize holistic engagement and the transformative potential of research, underscoring the interconnectedness of all life. Despite facing the challenges of representing complex social phenomena, we are committed to an expansive approach that seeks to provide multilayered interpretations of lived experiences. Through this lens, we advocate research as fundamental to ethical living and sustainable coexistence, inviting readers on a transformative journey beyond traditional inquiry boundaries.

Personal Encounters with Death

In autumn 2018, a conversation with a Graduate Center doctoral candidate brought to my attention a sociologist writing about his mortality. Diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, despite never having smoked, he was the perfect candidate to invite to our seminar. This would provide doctoral students and scholars a deep dive into the often-neglected realities of dying and death. Concurring that this subject required more attention, I promptly invited Peter to address our seminar. His talk was intended to extend its educational impact beyond the live audience to a wider virtual audience through live video and replay.
Sadly, Peter passed away before he could deliver his presentation. However, we honor his contributions by publishing his blog in the following chapter of this volume, offering global educators and researchers a valuable perspective. We are deeply committed to prioritizing mortality education and to developing methodologies that raise awareness throughout all life stages. Embracing the proverb “birth is the cause of death,” we encourage reflection on our being and the pursuit of a meaningful existence.
We believe education about dying and death should ideally begin within the family, through discussions at home that cultivate empathy for all beings, including those we often overlook. Such dialogues inevitably raise ethical dilemmas regarding our coexistence with other life forms and our dietary choices. These reflections urge us to examine whether our eating habits are justified and whether they align with an ethical stance that respects life.
We prompt a thorough examination of our dietary practices, considering the ethical implications of consuming meat versus a plant-based diet and the practicalities of plant consent. This contemplation is essential for crafting a lifestyle that conscientiously respects our existence.
We emphasize the importance for researchers and educators to create accessible tools that enable ethical living, empowering individuals to make choices they believe in. Through research and teaching innovation, we can discover effective ways to impart these values in any setting. We assert that life is a learning process, with education being a constant guide. Our goal is to supply resources that encourage contemplative involvement, boosting awareness and driving a shift toward healthier living practices.
While we acknowledge the constraints of human knowledge, especially regarding the subjects covered in this post, this recognition does not detract from the pursuit of learning. We advocate for heightened awareness, gradual learning, and embracing lifelong education, particularly in light of living well with the awareness of mortality. A more profound understanding, we maintain, will better inform decision-making as life draws to a close, ensuring decisions reflect an individual’s lifelong values.
Our research reveals a crucial link between living, learning, and teaching, and we strive to equip educators and learners with resources that foster thoughtful living. By deepening our understanding of the end of life, we aim to elicit profound reflections and ethical practices for the greater good. Embracing continuous learning, particularly concerning the final stages of life, aims to align our choices with deeply held values, enhancing the decisions we make as we navigate toward life’s inevitable conclusion.

Navigating the Liminal Spaces: A Tapestry of Death, Dying, and Transformation

This post traverses the nuanced landscapes of mortality, ethical living, and the transformative power of education about death. Through a collection of eighteen chapters, it weaves a multifaceted narrative that underscores the importance of embracing mortality to enrich our approach to life. The post delves into personal narratives of terminal illness, integrates discussions on ethical living, and advocates for a conscious acknowledgment of life’s end, all aimed at aligning life decisions with deeply held values.
A key theme is the advocacy for research as an essential life skill. By employing a multilogical approach that includes authentic inquiry and interpretive research, the post engages with a variety of knowledge systems. This methodology emphasizes mindfulness and the importance of a participatory research model, inviting contributions that enrich our collective understanding.
Authentic inquiry is highlighted as a method for holistic engagement and transformative potential, emphasizing the interconnectedness of all life. Despite challenges in representing complex social phenomena, the post commits to an expansive approach, advocating for research as fundamental to ethical living and sustainable coexistence.
One chapter recounts Peter Kaufman’s introspective journey through terminal illness, examining the social dynamics of his diagnosis and treatment. This narrative emphasizes the often-overlooked social aspects of illness and dying, highlighting the importance of interdependence and impermanence.
The narrative also touches on personal experiences with aging, death, and the process of dying, exploring the significance of spiritual practices and palliative care. These reflections offer insights into the myriad ways individuals navigate the end of life, emphasizing the importance of compassion, understanding, and mindful living.
In addressing the educational aspect, the post utilizes the Education for Death and Dying Heuristic, demonstrating how AI tools like ChatGPT can aid in analyzing research data. This approach underscores a shift in societal and educational perspectives on death, advocating for early introduction to concepts of mortality to foster a unified approach to life’s impermanence.
The concluding chapters explore the profound themes of life, death, and the decisions that intertwine, through personal stories and multi-faith explorations. These themes honor the complexity of navigating the end of life, inviting readers to engage with the diverse cultural, spiritual, and personal insights provided. The holistic approach deepens our understanding of dignity in death, the significance of legacy, and the myriad ways beliefs shape our final moments.
This collection acts as a bridge across disciplines, blending personal narratives with academic research to offer a comprehensive view of death education. It aims to stimulate ongoing dialogue on mortality’s personal and collective dimensions, serving as both an educational tool and a springboard for further exploration into the personal journey toward death’s inevitability. Through this exploration, the post presents a bold vision for understanding death and dying, encouraging readers to reflect on their own lives and beliefs in the context of this universal human experience.

Bridging Traditions: The Authors of the Chapters

The authors contributing to this post come from a tapestry of backgrounds, their collective expertise spanning the healing arts, Buddhism, university research and education, K-12 teaching and learning, business, sciences, arts, humanities, and religion. Across eighteen chapters, readers will experience a rich trove of information presented in a manner that prioritizes readability, engaging prose, and fluid expression, all aimed at aiding the reader’s own process of meaning-making on topics central to the human condition.
In curating the content, the chapter authors were not tasked with creating a balanced exposition that encompassed every viewpoint on the critical issues discussed. Rather, they were encouraged to share their personal lived experiences, drawing from their individual interpretative lenses to relay stories that illuminate not just their own paths but also those of the people they have engaged with. Many chapters are thus rooted in theoretical frameworks that represent the multilogical approaches we value.
In the concluding two chapters, we venture into the realm of fiction, presenting narratives informed by empirical research conducted through heuristic methods. We embraced the innovative use of artificial intelligence, specifically an application named ChatGPT, to generate simulations via in-depth dialogues between the authors and the AI, showcasing the potential of this technology in research simulations.
The collection is further enhanced by the deep insights of ordained Buddhist practitioners, whose extensive experience adds a significant layer of spiritual depth to the exploration of healing. Their perspectives, rooted in Mahayana Buddhism, Zen, and Tantra, draw from the traditions of Thailand, Taiwan, India, and Nepal, and offer a diverse mosaic of thoughts on the spiritual dimensions of life.
Highlighting the international scope, authors hailing from Australia, Thailand, Greece, Taiwan, Nepal, India and Russia, many of whom have made their homes in the United States, contribute to a broadened cultural perspective. These journeys reflect not just a geographical span but also a blending of intellectual traditions that inform their approach to health and healing. From academic research to clinical practice, their work presents a comprehensive view of the personal and communal benefits of practices that cross cultural boundaries.
This volume highlights the vital role of diversity in deepening the conversation about health, healing, and spirituality. It synthesizes a range of perspectives, encouraging a comprehensive approach to the connections between body, mind, and spirit. The collected narratives create a harmonious blend that honors the melding of global traditions, providing insights into timeless practices as well as modern innovations.
The chapters collectively share cultural and spiritual insights, highlighting the unity achieved by integrating various traditions of knowledge and practice. The content broadens the discussion on life, the process of dying, and the essence of death, enriched by the authors’ varied experiences and deepened consciousness. Focusing on both communal and personal wellbeing, the authors encourage readers to explore and adapt ancient wisdom for today’s world. This post acts as a bridge across distinct realms, leading readers toward lives defined by an understanding of their mortality and contemplative awareness during the transition to death.

Research as a Life Skill

Reviewing the chapters included in this volume, we are reminded of the salience of consciousness during everyday life activities. Being aware of what is happening and why it is happening is central to staying in now, in the moment, rather than being stuck in some past story or imagining into the future. For us, that is a familiar refrain, not only because we have published numerous posts and chapters on mindfulness and contemplative inquiry, but also because we have developed a multilogical approach that embraces exploring and embracing disparate knowledge systems that includes using event-oriented inquiry, authentic inquiry, and interpretive research (Tobin & Alexakos, 2021a). To an increasing extent, we have exhorted educational researchers to employ participatory research methods in which there are no boundaries between researcher and researched (Alexakos, 2015). In this chapter we delve into research as a life skill and its potential role in solving the grand challenges that face life on earth. We review our approach to research while we situate the key tenets into a concluding chapter that presents a vision that includes unfolding futures.
We have advocated that research should not be just something for academics to do but that should also include everyone across the life spectrum, from students and teachers in formal and informal educational settings to older citizens, to ways of being and living in the world. Thus, while we have considered the value of learning to do research and doing research throughout schooling, we now have heightened awareness of the value of all citizens learning to do research so that they can expand, nuance, and diversify their understanding their minds and bodies, learn from difference, and acknowledge that social life is polysemic. There always will be many stories associated with coparticipants’ accounts of what is happening, why it is happening, and what would be happening in ideal circumstances. We see value in people viewing their own stories juxtaposed with stories of those with whom they have been interacting. Learning about and from others and respecting differences when they arise, are life skills that can be learned while citizens coparticipate in research that orients toward knowing one’s own self, and developing insights into and appreciation for interdependence as it relates to others, other species, and ecosystems. Importantly, we acknowledge rights of coresearchers to be different, stay different, and experience respect for the value we ascribe to their differences. Although we expect all coparticipants to learn and change during a study, we insist that all coparticipants maintain a right to remain different.
The chapters included in this volume address educating for living and/or dying in myriad contexts and carry implications that span a birth-death continuum. Consistent with a mantra never miss a chance to educate self and others, we challenge readers to take what they learn from each chapter to address the questions: what can I learn from this chapter? and can I transform my life to benefit, and sustain the resources of the universe? Furthermore, how can I reach out to others to teach in ways that learners not only expand what they know, but also value difference as a resource for learning and being in the world? How may disparate knowledge systems contribute to our understanding?

Multilogicality: Learning from Difference

We employ a multilogical approach to research (Kincheloe, 2008) in which we access a number of sociocultural theories and knowledge systems from which we learn and employ in our research. This multilogical bricolage illuminates events on which to focus and expand our reservoir of knowledge to serve as research tools, thereby increasing the number of potential research foci, that are objects for awareness.

Authentic Inquiry

Authentic inquiry, deeply rooted in the foundational work of Egon Guba and Yvonna Lincoln’s Fourth Generation Evaluation (Guba & Lincoln, 1989), has been a cornerstone of our research methodology since the early 1990s. This approach, grounded in four interconnected criteria, ensures that research is both interpretive and transformative for all involved, including non-human entities and ecosystems. By emphasizing a holistic engagement with the world, authentic inquiry aims not just to understand but to contribute positively to our shared existence.
Central to authentic inquiry is a steadfast commitment to learning as a dynamic and evolving process. This principle extends beyond human participants to include other species and ecosystems, highlighting the interconnectedness of all beings. Through active participation and reflection, every entity engaged in the research journey is recognized for its potential to contribute to collective knowledge and growth. This inclusive perspective encourages a deeper understanding of our multifaceted relationships with the world around us.
Educating oneself and others is also a vital component of this journey, requiring active engagement with diverse perspectives, including those of non-human entities. By valuing and respecting these myriad voices, research becomes a powerful tool for fostering mutual understanding and respect. This process is inherently transformative, aiming to initiate change that benefits individuals, communities, and the broader ecosystem. Authentic inquiry thus acts as a catalyst, promoting actions and decisions that enhance the wellbeing of all involved.
The principle of beneficence ensures that the benefits of research extend to all participants, advocating for an equitable distribution of its fruits. This approach challenges us to consider the impact of our work on marginalized entities and the environment, striving to address inequalities and promote a more just and sustainable world.
Authentic inquiry views the four criteria—learning, educating, transforming, and benefiting—not as separate elements but as a cohesive framework that permeates every aspect of the research process. This framework does not discriminate between living and non-living, human and non-human; it recognizes the value of all beings and their contributions to our collective understanding and wellbeing.
Inspired by Heesoon Bai’s perspective (Bai, 2015), we reject the binary classification of matter into living and non-living, acknowledging the limitations of such societal constructs. In the Anthropocene era, it becomes imperative to focus on research that addresses the wellbeing of our planet and conserves its finite resources. Authentic inquiry, therefore, is about recognizing our role as Earth citizens, committed to living in harmony with all forms of existence.
By advocating for researchers to adopt new roles and confront the significant challenges of our time, we envision authentic inquiry as a way of life. This approach is not merely a methodological tool but a comprehensive philosophy for conducting social inquiry in harmony with the world. Authentic inquiry represents a potential framework for life itself, advocating for a coexistence that respects and values all forms of existence in our shared pursuit of knowledge and sustainability.

Event Oriented Inquiry

We adopted event-oriented inquiry in the late 1990s when we learned about Sewell’s revolutionary work in cultural sociology (Tobin, 2021). Sewell (2005) pointed out that whenever social activity occurs, participants experience culture as patterns of coherence and coexisting contradictions. That is, there is a dialectical relationship between patterns of coherence and contradictions. To put it plainly, patterns of coherence do not occur without extant contradictions, and vice versa. Another way to think of this is that contradictions make each enactment of culture unique — infusing difference into each enactment while patterns of coherence infuse sameness. Similarly, contradictions are regarded as sites for resistance and change. Attention should be given to research being transformative to all participants — i.e., catalyzing changes in cultural production, not only in the moment, but in the future as well.

Using Heuristics to Frame Expansive Research

In our work heuristics emerged as such reflexive tools to heighten awareness and be catalysts for transformative change (Tobin & Alexakos, 2022). Every chapter in this post is intended to act as a heuristic in the sense that readers will become more aware of critical issues that are salient to them, think about those issues, and transform their practices, consciously and without realizing changes have been affected.
Ripple effects draw attention to the spread of learnings from a study to permeate participants’ lifeworlds. For example, a study that is situated in a public high school produces culture (i.e., schemas and practices) that is enacted within the school and then, as and if desirable, in other fields in which participants engage. In so doing, other people in those fields interact and also produce new culture. That is, learning occurs throughout social life, reminding us that fields are unbounded and that a change in any social space can catalyze changes elsewhere/everywhere. This stunning realization draws attention to the salience of doing research with participants along a birth through death continuum, everywhere and anywhere. Just as learning in schools can spread benefits throughout lifeworlds, it follows that learning in any social space can benefit school learning, and more generally in enhancing learning/practices throughout the social spheres in which humans participate.

Read More: https://yoadp.com/death-education/understanding-lifes-end/