What Really Matters at the End of Life
What Really Matters at the End of Life by B.j, Miller
"At the end of our lives, what do we most wish for? For many, it's simply comfort, respect, love. BJ Miller is a hospice and palliative medicine physician who thinks deeply about how to create a dignified, graceful end of life for his patients. Take the time to savor this moving talk, which asks big questions about how we think on death and honor life." - TED.com
MEET B.J. MILLER
In his Sophomore year at college, B.J. Miller faced his own mortality after a freak accident. Thus began his life’s study to gain insight into “Living Life and Facing Death” and the question “What really matters at the end of life?”
From 2011 to 2016 he was the Exec Dir of San Francisco’s Zen Hospice Project and it was during this time that he spoke at TED Vancouver, a talk with now over 18 million views.
Today, he is a palliative care physician at the University of California, San Francisco Cancer Center and co-author of a book with Shoshana Berger called “A Beginner’s Guide To the End: Practical Advice For Living and Facing Death”.
He recently started a new project, “the Centre for Dying and Living”, designed for people to share their own stories related to living with illness, disability and loss or caring for those who are. It’s mission is
“To reclaim illness, disability, and death as natural parts of the human experience.”
Upon opening the resource you see the words: “To know what’s knowable, and to make space for the rest.”
Join us this Sunday as we continue to do just that... together at West Hill.
Watch the November 10 Gathering
First Reading
After serving as chaplain for the US military in China and Burma and earning the Bronze Star, Rabbi Alvin I. Fine moved to San Francisco to become a most respected social justice leader. He became known for his oratorical style, for his championship of civil rights and liberties and for his success in bringing harmony to his congregation.
Birth is a Beginning, by Rabbi Alvin I. Fine
Birth is a beginning, and Death a destination.
But life is a journey, a going, a growing.
From stage to stage, from childhood to maturity. And youth to age.
From innocence to awareness; and ignorance to knowing
From foolishness to discretion, and then perhaps, to wisdom.
From Weakness to strength, or strength to weakness
And, often, back again. From health to sickness, and back we pray, to health again.
From offense to forgiveness, from loneliness to love,
From joy to gratitude, from pain to compassion,
And grief to understanding, from fear to faith.
From defeat to defeat to defeat— Until, looking backward or ahead,
We see that victory lies not as some high place along the way,
But in having made the journey, stage by stage, a sacred pilgrimage.
Birth is a beginning, and death, a destination.
But life is a journey.
Second Reading
Jeremiah Say is a present-day blogger from Singapore. He hopes to inspire people around the world to learn to appreciate things a little more.
“Life is short, live it. Love is rare, grab it. Anger is bad, dump it. Fear is awful, face it. Memory is sweet, cherish it.” - Jeremiah Say
Third Reading
Marie Curie was a Polish physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel prize, the first person to win a Nobel Prize twice, and the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two scientific fields.
“Nothing in life is to be feared, It is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, So that we may fear less.” - Marie Curie