Diary of a Death Doula

Subtitled '25 lessons the dying teach us about the afterlife', this is a remarkable book by a hospice death doula (with her role as a calming and peaceful presence) who is also a clairvoyant, and who previously worked on Wall Street. Her sensitivity enables her to perceive what is going on in the transition from the physical we call death and even to hold telepathic conversations with the patients. One key insight is that prolonged periods of sleep around the dying process represent preparatory inner work prior to departure, a retuning of consciousness to higher realms where we are connected to a much larger reality. The book is written within the cultural context of the scientific view of death as extinction, a view which turns out to be an illusion. I was struck by a quotation early in the book handed to the author by a nurse:

'If the body is ready and the soul isn't, you don't leave.

If the soul is ready and the body isn't, you don't leave.

When the soul is ready and the body is ready, then you leave.'

The main part of the book consists of the 25 lessons, each drawn from a different encounter with a dying person. The author describes the physical background and experience as she settles in and tries to work out where the person is in the dying process. As in the books I reviewed in the main section, the lessons and insights are important for life as well as for a more profound understanding of the dying process as a transformational journey. The author sometimes perceives the pull towards a fullness of light and love as well as the supportive presence of deceased loved ones. People who have lived an intense spiritual life can manifest bright light in their auras at this point of transition. The key questions seem to relate to how well we lived, how well we loved and, at the end, how well we learned to let go. Spiritually (p. 179), the substance of the higher realms is love, 'the fabric woven into our air, the chain of life in heaven.' The absolute centrality of Love is always the final and crucial message of such inspiring books and one which we can sometimes forget, focused as we are principally on the physical.