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Podcast #017: The last taboo subject?
Death may well be the last taboo subject in modern Western society. The comedian Woody Allen is humorously quoted as saying, “I’m not afraid of dying. I just don’t want to be there when it happens!” And yet while we try to put the topic out of our minds, a clear understanding of our mortality is so important in bringing clarity to our complex and at times challenging lives. As Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, said two years before he died, “Remembering I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.”
And how true that is! The death rate the last scientists checked was 100%!
In the great Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, one of the characters Yamaraja asks, “What is the most wonder-full thing in the world?” The answer he is given:
“Hundreds and thousands of living entities meet death at every moment, but a foolish living being nonetheless thinks himself deathless and does not prepare for death. This is the most wonder-full thing in this world.”
On today’s podcast we have the privilege of speaking to Professor John Wyatt. John is Professor of Neonatal Paediatrics at University College, London and a Senior Research Fellow at the Faraday Institute, Cambridge University. He is married to Celia and and they have three grown-up sons.
John has written extensively on the subject of medical ethics and his latest book is entitled, “Right To Die? Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide and End of Life Care.”
It is an important book that sensitively explores this difficult subject with both compassion and intellectual rigour.
Do join us for this discussion where we explore:
What thoughts, comments and reflections does this important subject raise for you?
<br />
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Death may well be the last taboo subject in modern Western society. The comedian Woody Allen is humorously quoted as saying, “I’m not afraid of dying. I just don’t want to be there when it happens!” And yet while we try to put the topic out of our minds, a clear understanding of our mortality is so important in bringing clarity to our complex and at times challenging lives. As Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, said two years before he died, “Remembering I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.”
And how true that is! The death rate the last scientists checked was 100%!
In the great Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, one of the characters Yamaraja asks, “What is the most wonder-full thing in the world?” The answer he is given:
“Hundreds and thousands of living entities meet death at every moment, but a foolish living being nonetheless thinks himself deathless and does not prepare for death. This is the most wonder-full thing in this world.”
On today’s podcast we have the privilege of speaking to Professor John Wyatt. John is Professor of Neonatal Paediatrics at University College, London and a Senior Research Fellow at the Faraday Institute, Cambridge University. He is married to Celia and and they have three grown-up sons.
John has written extensively on the subject of medical ethics and his latest book is entitled, “Right To Die? Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide and End of Life Care.”
It is an important book that sensitively explores this difficult subject with both compassion and intellectual rigour.
Do join us for this discussion where we explore:
What thoughts, comments and reflections does this important subject raise for you?
<br />