As a culture, America does not live well with death. By the very nature of our colonial Protestant roots, this country has an inherent denial of death ingrained in our collective psyche. Throw in the social and psychological effects of the country's expansive size. Mix that with our compulsion to minimize, sanitize, romanticize, homogenize and capitalize – oh, yes – we don’t live well with death. There is, of course, an exception - New Orleans, Louisiana.

Have you ever wanted to experience a “near-death experience” without having to experience nearly dying? The Monroe Institute offers a six-day course that claims to generate the same profound insights of an NDE. Participants will discover how to enter into the various states of consciousness associated with the near-death experience, come back safely, and then return to that non-physical world at will. D.S. Moss is skeptical, but communicating with the dead is a superpower he’d like to have and he’ll never say no to a good adventure. Hopefully, he comes back alive.

D.S. Moss confronts what it means to pay the ultimate price. In this episode, Moss has been asked by a friend to “talk to” their nephew, who is contemplating enlisting in the United States Marine Corps, which implies talking him out of it. But Moss will not be trying to talk Thomas in or out of anything. His objective is to listen, answer questions, and share his experience honestly. Oh, and he’s going to drill into the philosophical and psychological question...does a person who joins the military - particularly one so young - truly understand what they are signing up for?

In the conclusion of this adventure, D.S. Moss confronts his food consciously and directly. But, is hunting the most ecologically benign way to feed himself? And even if it is, could I pull the trigger? Should he just say the hell with it and go find a local symbiotic farm? So. Many. Questions. Join him as he tries to answer them all beginning in Vermont with a conversation about hunting mindfulness with Tovar Cerulli. Then off to Seattle for more education with hunting celebrity Steven Rinella, and finally into the mountains of Idaho with a couple more Mosses and a German banker.

Do you know how much death is in your diet? Neither did D.S. Moss. Wanting to face his food consciously and directly, Moss leaves no stone unturned to discover how much death is on his plate. He goes from Vegetarian to Vegan to Mindful Hunter to Conscientious Carnivore. This episode comes with a warning: If you’re a human being who eats food it may make you uncomfortable because as D.S. Moss would quickly discover - food - particularly as it relates to death - is an incredibly emotional and complex topic. Please join his journey into the ethics, emotion, and truth of living at the expense of other life. Special Guest: Steven Rinella

Believe it or not, suicide has been the most requested podcast topics for The Adventures of Memento Mori. However, D.S. Moss has been purposefully avoiding it. He likes to have a natural way into an issue, and he just never had the first-hand experience with suicide. Plus, it’s a hard topic. But, after learning that suicide has been steadily on the rise in the United States for the last twenty years, trying to understand why is worth the awkward conversation. And think how dull life would be if we only had the easy conversations. So we invite you to join us and suicidologist John Gunn for a cup of coffee and an awkward conversation.

Are you the happiest version of you you can be? Are negative thoughts and feelings keeping you from this?  What if I were to tell you the only thing keeping you from living your true bliss is you! In this episode D.S. Moss gives you the secret of how the practice of Memento Mori will help you achieve happiness beyond your wildest dreams. The happiness you can feel with every single breath you take. The happiness, my friends, that you deserve. Guests include Ryan Holiday, author of The Obstacle is the Way and Oliver Burkeman author of The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking.

TThis episode is about Texas, a boy and his dog and the unthinkable and inevitable decision that comes to almost all pet owners. D.S. Moss confronts “How do you know when it’s time to make the decision to say goodbye?”  to a four-legged family member. If you're a person with a pet, know a person with a pet, or just like a sad ‘ol country song - this episode confronts the toughest conversation yet and provides insights for those that must eventually face that same decision.   

Ever written an obituary? Yeah, neither had D.S. Moss. In this episode, Moss is asked to write a memorial to his grandfather with the challenge of a limited word count. How do you capture a person’s life in two paragraphs? And, what exactly is the purpose of an obit? Is it a matter of record or a legacy statement? To make it even more awkward, his grandfather is actually still alive and will be proofreading. Worried he’ll fuck it up, Moss enlists a professional NY Times journalist to help write his first obituary.   

The three-part series into religions and their beliefs in the afterlife comes to a close with the Abrahamic traditions. The conversation begins with NYU’s Islamic Chaplain where Moss revisits the draw to change his life and become a chaplain. Still faithless, he talks with a mystic Rabbi who literally wrote the book on the Jewish beliefs in the afterlife.  In this surprise ending, Moss takes the biggest leap of faith yet.