Death: The End of Self-Improvement

ISBN: 1916290302

Author: Tollifson, Joan

Condition: Used

This book celebrates the great stripping process of aging, dying and spiritual awakening. Beautiful, poignant, at times humorous, transcendent, messy, down to earth, refreshingly honest-the book explores death, and more importantly, being alive, through a rich mix of personal stories and spiritual reflections.Joan writes about her mothers final years and about being with friends and teachers at the end of their lives. She shares her own journey with aging, anal cancer, and other life challenges. She explores what it means to be alive in what may be the collapse of civilization and the possible extinction of life on earth due to climate change.Pointing beyond deficiency stories, future fantasies, and oppressive self-improvement projects, Joan invites an awakening to the immediacy of this moment and the wonder of ordinary life. She demonstrates a pathless path of genuine transformation, seeing all of life as sacred and worthy of devotion, and finding joy in the full range of our human experience.ReviewThe problem with most books (and articles and podcasts) about being here now or embracing the present moment is that they really arent. As often telegraphed by their cover images (sunsets, flowers, mountain peaks) theyre about embracing the nice bits of the present. And they generally imply that if you follow their advice, you could float contentedly through life, relishing simple pleasures and finding wonder in the everyday. In other words, theyre about the ideal person you might become if you werent so prone to irritability, boredom and gloom. So theyre not actually about embracing the present at all. Theyre focused on escaping it, in pursuit of a better future. None of which could be said about Death: The End of Self-Improvement, the latest book by the spiritual teacher Joan Tollifson.-Oliver Burkeman, from his review in The Guardian, August 15, 2020