What Is Conscious Dying?

The concept of conscious dying is an outgrowth of the Buddhist tradition of living a fully present, authentic life. It was first introduced in the West over 30 years ago by spiritual teachers like Stephen Levine, Ram Dass, Dale Borglum and Jack Kornfield. In straightforward terms, it is about using the knowledge of death as a certainty as a means of spiritual awakening and healing, using specific practices that help guide a person toward a “graceful death.” 

According to its proponents, the ability to die consciously relies on one’s ability to live with and accept the inevitability of death. As conscious dying Guide Deb Grant told SevenPonds in an interview in 2018, “The term conscious dying refers to recognizing the fact that death is inevitable and living with that knowledge consciously. In our society, death is still a taboo subject. No one wants to talk about it. People can be at the end of their lives and never have had a conversation with anyone about what dying means to them — not their spouse, or their family members or even their physician. They have no relationship with death, and so they approach it with anxiety and fear.”

The concept of conscious dying encompasses the belief that our bodies are just temporary vessels and that letting go of them is not something to fear. This belief is based on the Buddhist philosophy of “temporary abode,” which signifies that the body is ”a fleeting shelter for the life essence.” Stephen Levine’s seminal work “Who Dies?” explores this concept in depth, urging the reader to accept the reality that, in some future universe, they are already dead, and open to the possibilities that allow. Levine writes: 

“ ( When) we take each teaching, each loss, each gain, each fear, each joy as it arises and experience it fully, life becomes workable. We are no longer a “victim of life.” And then every experience, even the loss of our dearest one, becomes another opportunity for awakening.”

Spiritual teachers who guide people in conscious dying say it begins with conscious living — that is, living fully in the present with the knowledge that each moment may be our last. Ram Dass explains this idea in “Polishing the Mirror: How to Live from Your Spiritual Heart “when he writes: 

“Death is another moment. If you’re not peaceful today, you probably won’t be peaceful tomorrow. …If we are aware that death can happen at any moment, we start to work on ourselves more constantly, paying attention to the moment-to-moment content of our minds. If you practice being here now, being fully in the moment during your life, if you are living in that space, then the moment of death is just another moment.”

These are profound concepts and may not appeal to everyone. But for those who wish to find a way to approach the end of life with a modicum of grace and equanimity, they may offer a path to that end.  

Sources

Living/Dying Project. https://livingdying.org/

“Significance of Temporary abode”. Wisdom Library. https://www.wisdomlib.org/concept/temporary-abode

“Who Dies?: An Investigation of Conscious Living and Conscious Dying”. Stephen Levine. https://www.amazon.com/Who-Dies-Investigation-Conscious-Living/dp/0385262213