Death Is But a Dream: Finding Hope and Meaning in End of Life DreamsThe first book to validate the meaningful dreams and visions that bring comfort as death nears. Christopher Kerr is a hospice doctor. All of his patients die. Yet he has cared for thousands of patients who, in the face of death, speak of love and grace. Beyond the physical realities of dying are unseen processes that are remarkably life-affirming. These include dreams that are unlike any regular dream. Described as "more real than real," these end-of-life experiences resurrect past relationships, meaningful events and themes of love and forgiveness; they restore life's meaning and mark the transition from distress to comfort and acceptance. Drawing on interviews with over 1,400 patients and more than a decade of quantified data, Dr. Kerr reveals that pre-death dreams and visions are extraordinary occurrences that humanize the dying process. He shares how his patients' stories point to death as not solely about the end of life, but as the final chapter of humanity's transcendence. Kerr's book also illuminates the benefits of these phenomena for the bereaved, who find solace in seeing their loved ones pass with a sense of calm closure. Beautifully written, with astonishing real-life characters and stories, this book is at its heart a celebration of our power to reclaim the dying process as a deeply meaningful one. Death Is But a Dream is an important contribution to our understanding of medicine's and humanity's greatest mystery. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 7 | |
from there to here | 15 |
stumbling out the gate | 29 |
the view from the bed | 39 |
a last reprieve | 71 |
we die as we live | 95 |
the childs language of death | 143 |
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Alizah asked Atul Gawande bedside bereaved Brittany cancer caregiver caretakers child childhood Cicely Saunders cognitive comfort daughter dead death deceased diagnosis died disease distress doctor Doris dreams and visions drug Dwayne Dwayne Johnson dying patients dying process Eddie Eddie's emotional ences end-of end-of-life dreams end-of-life experiences experience of dying experienced eyes father fear feel felt finally forgiveness friends Ginny going happened healing heart Hospice Buffalo hospice care human illness inner institutional review board Jessica journey knew life's end lived looked Maggie Mary meaning meant medicine mother never nurse pain Palliative Palliative Care parents past Patricia Patty peace physical pink spiders pre-death dreams pre-death experiences Rainer Maria Rilke reality relive remember riences sense shared Sierra sleep smiled spiritual story suffering symptoms talk tell tient tion took trauma University at Buffalo words