End-of-Life Conversations

We’re all just walking each other home.
― Ram Dass

Despite all of the recent attention to death and the process of dying in America, direct and heart-centered conversations about death are still rare—and patients and families frequently have unmet needs. As part of our work at Commonweal, we have listened deeply to people talking about these issues for decades. Our vision for this series is to contribute to a growing conversation about death in America. We’re creating a public space where questions of death and dying can be explored in safety and without judgment. The following conversations are part of this growing series.

  • Frank Ostaseski with Steve Heilig

    This Vulnerable Human Life

  • BJ Miller and Michael Lerner

    Dying and Living in A Plague Year

  • BJ Miller, Shoshana Berger, Steve Heilig

    A Beginners Guide to the End

  • Sunita Puri

    That Good Night: On Dignity, Suffering, and the Role of Medicine in Life's Eleventh Hour

  • Michael Pollan

    How to Change Your Mind

  • Lael Duncan

    When the End Is Near: The Art and Science of Compassionate Care

  • Frank Ostaseski

    The Five Invitations: What Death Can Teach Us About Living

  • Marilyn Schlitz

    Death Makes LIFE Possible

  • Francis Weller

    The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief

  • Jacob Needleman

    Who Am I? Why Am I Here?

  • Shodo Harada Roshi

    Zen and the Art of Dying

  • Michael Pollan

    The Trip Treatment: New Research on the Healing Properties of Psychedelics

  • Nate Hinerman, PhD

    Ending the War on Death: Improving Care for Dying Patients and those Who Will Be

  • Ann Cutcher, MD

    Enso House: The Story of a Zen Hospice

  • Shodo Harada Roshi

    The Calligraphy of Emptiness, The Zen of Dying

  • Betsy MacGregor, MD

    In Awe of Being Human

  • Diana and Kelly Lindsay

    Something More Than Hope

  • Ilene Serlin, PhD

    Dance and Psyche: How Moving Moves Us

  • BJ Miller, MD

    Dying: Exploring the Terrain

  • Stephanie Sugars

    What Do I Have to Offer before I Leave My Body?

  • Francis Weller, MFT

    Entering the Healing Ground: Grief, Ritual, and the Soul of the World

  • Mark Renneker, MD, Michael Lerner, and Others

    Clinical Advocacy Public Forum

  • Kate Munger and the Threshold Choir

    Making Kindness Audible through the Gift of Song

  • End-of-Life World Cafe

  • Frank Ostaseski

    Being A Compassionate Companion

  • Steve Heilig

    The Modern Evolution of Death

  • Eric Karpeles

    The Last Threshold: Artists and Mortality

  • Scott Eberle, MD, and Rob Feraru

    The Final Crossing: Learning to Die in Order to Live

  • Mike Witte, MD

    Fighting 'till the End?

  • Michael Lerner, PhD

    Death and Dying: Lessons from the Commonweal Cancer Help Program

  • Rachel Naomi Remen, MD

    Stories and Poems at the End of Life

  • Rachel Naomi Remen, MD, and Christina Puchalski, MD

    Spiritual Dimensions of End of Life

  • Ram Dass and Rachel Naomi Remen, MD

    Healing, Aging, and Dying