From: Kevin Jones <100621.17@compuserve.com>
Date: Mon, 02 Dec 1996 14:25:42 +0000
Subject: And now for something completely different!
To: Subscribers to the mailing-list TWC-L <twc-l@halmarax.demon.co.uk>
Well, now we've had a round of humour and fun and games (don't stop though!), I
thought it might be time to return to the matter in hand!
A view of death entirely alien to most of western culture is given by Pamela
Travers in 'The death of AE: Irish Hero and Mystic' (pp 471-482, 'The Celtic
Consciousness'). In particular, when AE (George William Russell) was told by the
doctor that he had terminal cancer, he replied 'I have had a very interesting
life, I have done nearly all the things I wanted to. I have rejoiced in the love
of friends. What man could want more?'
Her account is highly instructive - he spent his last month saying goodbye to
friends. He wound up with a housefull of guests, including Pamela Travers, the
guests being the ones he most wanted to be there at the end. He then, by all
accounts, made a point of dying well; rather than let death take him, he
voluntarily walked into it.
The whole essay is well worth reading. If anybody wants the publisher, I can
look it up.
Kevin