Let’s Talk About Death

Unfortunately, none of us will escape death.

It waits for us around the corner and can appear suddenly – very unwelcome. You can’t dodge it or jump over it.

You are going to die.

How does it happen? I have followed several people at the end of their lives as part of my professional practice. There are different kinds of deaths: some people take their last breath calmly, even with a smile, while others do so in extreme anxiety and agony.

Physically, the heart gives up, there is a very last heartbeat and then a last breath, and then blood supply, carrying oxygen and glucose, cannot reach the brain.

The heart’s functions therefore cease and physical awareness stops. The body starts to cool down and the muscles relax, with stiffness setting in later.

Something has left the body – only a shell remains.

The finality of death feels unreasonable and impossible.

And so it is, we are eternal beings. The only question is where the soul spends its eternity. The soul is thus the person, you, your personality, with all its peculiarities, feelings and thoughts.

How do we want to face death? We can’t choose when, you can die today or in 10, 20, or 40 years.

Consider how fragile life is: Every second your heart has to beat and you breathe in and out 24 hours a day. It requires only a small ‘error’ in the system for the body to die.

Those who have faced death in peace and security, almost longing for it, are often firm believers.

Many strong and proud individuals tremble in terror before their last heartbeat, and many others embrace death in peace.

I have held the hand of a dying Christian. She had long pauses between breaths and was semi-conscious. I prayed silently for her. Suddenly she opened her eyes and looked at me with a big smile. Time stood still and eternity descended upon the room. The joy and peace she radiated in that moment I will never forget.

She took her last breath, her hand went limp and cold, and she was no longer there.

But death was defeated.

Peter Kujala