Mortally Wounded: Stories of Soul Pain, Death, and Healing

What makes for a good death? In Mortally Wounded - a best-seller in Ireland - Dr. Michael Kearney explores the nature of soul pain and healing in those close to death. He explains how it is possible to learn to die well, overcoming our fears and accepting death as an integral part of the journey of life. Drawing on his extensive experience of caring for people who are terminally ill, Dr. Kearney reflects on and shares his own case studies. Believing that the root of the pain we face when dying is often a personal and cultural disconnection from all that is considered soul, Kearney advocates a personal quest inward - or downward - to the deepest part of our very being. Psychological techniques such as dream analysis and visualization exercises are often combined with mythological insight to help patients explore the darkest parts of their souls. Dr. Kearney sees the myth of Chiron, the wounded centaur, as a metaphor for the mortally wounded in us all. It is only after descending to the underworld for nine days and nights that Chiron finds relief for his pain and suffering - as well as discovering a path that reaches to the heavens. Careful attention to spiritual health, asserts Kearney, is an essential complement to the physical or outer care of the patient.