“Exposing a young child to the realities of love and death is far less dangerous than exposing them to the lie of… — Caitlin Doughty Children Copy Share Image
“It was death that the public was being cheated out of by the funeral industry, not money. The realistic interaction with death… — Caitlin Doughty Death Copy Share Image
“Death should be known. Known as a difficult mental, physical, and emotional process, respected and feared for what it is.” — Caitlin Doughty Death Copy Share Image
“Many children and grandchildren of immigrants, have, like Sarah, found themselves severed from their family’s cultural rituals. The funeral system in the… — Caitlin Doughty Children Copy Share Image
“The ICU was not the thrill ride I had expected. Turns out, they never called the high school student in from the… — Caitlin Doughty Adventure Copy Share Image
“I have come to believe that the merits of a death custom are not based on mathematics (e.g., 36.7 percent a "barbarous… — Caitlin Doughty Death Copy Share Image
“Dead people look very, very dead. It is difficult to grasp what that means, since it’s unlikely that any of us will… — Caitlin Doughty Dead people Copy Share Image
“He explained that he talks about death "all the time" with his friends. They ask each other, "Hey, what you want when… — Caitlin Doughty Death Copy Share Image
“The most salacious stories—bones ground in a metal blender or torture-spike eye caps—had the power to disrupt people’s polite complacency about death.… — Caitlin Doughty Death Copy Share Image
“Rather than let author and environmentalist Edward Abbey be buried in a traditional cemetery, his friends stole his body, wrapped it in… — Caitlin Doughty Books Copy Share Image
“Untreated, a dead person’s face looks horrific, at least by our very narrow cultural expectations. Their droopy, open eyes cloud over in… — Caitlin Doughty Corpses Copy Share Image
“We do not (and will not) have the resources to properly care for our increasing elderly population, yet we insist on medical… — Caitlin Doughty Aging Copy Share Image
“Today, not being forced to see corpses is a privilege of the developed world.” — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“The earth is expertly designed to take back what it has created.” — Caitlin Doughty Designed Copy Share Image
“Death drives every creative and destructive impulse we have as human beings. The closer we come to understanding it, the closer we… — Caitlin Doughty Death Copy Share Image
“There has never been a time in the history of the world when a culture has broken so completely with traditional methods… — Caitlin Doughty Death Copy Share Image
“The question is: how do we get to be that guy? The one who is facing his own death with complete calm,… — Caitlin Doughty Calm Copy Share Image
“As a general rule, if anyone ever asks you to put stockings on a ninety-year-old deceased Romanian woman with edema, your answer… — Caitlin Doughty Stockings Copy Share Image
“Buddhists say that thoughts are like drops of water on the brain; when you reinforce the same thought, it will etch a… — Caitlin Doughty Buddhism Copy Share Image
“Some consider it gauche to visit so-called ruin porn, but I like to witness firsthand the way nature will declare war against… — Caitlin Doughty Nature Copy Share Image
“Sifting through an urn of cremated remains you cannot tell if a person had successes, failures, grandchildren, felonies. “For you are dust,… — Caitlin Doughty Failure Copy Share Image
“There is not much to enjoy in a layer of inorganic human bone dusted behind one’s ear or gathered underneath a fingernail,” — Caitlin Doughty Underneath Fingernail Copy Share Image
“In that moment, standing at the edge of the pit, I'm sure Brébeuf was moved by the death rituals of the Wendat… — Caitlin Doughty Death Copy Share Image
“Dying in the sanitary environment of a hospital is a relatively new concept. In the late nineteenth century, dying at a hospital… — Caitlin Doughty Death Copy Share Image
“Death might appear to destroy the meaning in our lives, but in fact it is the very source of our creativity. As… — Caitlin Doughty Creativity Copy Share Image
“No matter how many heavy-metal album covers you’ve seen, how many Hieronymus Bosch prints of the tortures of Hell, or even the… — Caitlin Doughty Album cover Copy Share Image
“Holding the space is crucial, and exactly what we are missing. To hold the space is to create a ring of safety… — Caitlin Doughty Family and friends Copy Share Image
“To market the effectiveness of their services, the embalmers would display real preserved bodies they had plucked from the unknown dead, propping… — Caitlin Doughty Dead Copy Share Image
“Accepting death doesn't mean you won't be devastated when someone you love dies. It means you will be able to focus on… — Caitlin Doughty Death Copy Share Image
“The irony behind the Church's disdain for the practice is that European Catholics have used saintly relics and bones as intermediaries for… — Caitlin Doughty Thousand years Copy Share Image
“But the decubitus ulcer presents a unique psychological horror. The word “decubitus” comes from the Latin decumbere, to lie down. As a… — Caitlin Doughty Blood flow Copy Share Image
“It is worth noting that the main players in the recomposition project are women—scientists, anthropologists, lawyers, architects. Educated women, who have the… — Caitlin Doughty Death Copy Share Image
“I had written my thesis on medieval witches accused of roasting dead infants and grinding their bones. A year later I found… — Caitlin Doughty Care and concern Copy Share Image
“Holding the space doesn’t mean swaddling the family immobile in their grief. It also means giving them meaningful tasks. Using chopsticks to… — Caitlin Doughty Family Copy Share Image
“With Q-tips and cotton I cleaned out Elena’s nose, ears, and mouth—a deeply unpleasant task. In the last throes of life, basic… — Caitlin Doughty Every day Copy Share Image
“Katrina noted that “humans are so focused on preventing aging and decay—it’s become an obsession. And for those who have been socialized… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“Buddhists say that thoughts are like drops of water on the brain; when you reinforce the same thought, it will etch a… — Caitlin Doughty Buddhism Copy Share Image
“Even with the knowledge that they may die a slow, grueling death, many people still wish to remain kept alive at all… — Caitlin Doughty Death Copy Share Image
“We know that media vita in morte sumus or, “in the midst of life we are in death.” We begin dying the… — Caitlin Doughty Death Copy Share Image
