Musings on Death

Using personal anecdotes and examples from the arts, the author explores attitudes that inform experiences around death. These reflections are linked to Jung's ideas about the relativization of the ego in the second half of life as well as the increasing importance of holding the opposites. The willingness to engage with life and the ability to maintain a sense of purpose exist alongside the certainty and mystery of death and the inclination to resist consciousness of death's inevitability. Paradoxically, the psyche both prepares for death and is unconcerned.