You Cannot Die Alone: Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (July 8, 1926–August 24, 2004)

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross has accomplished much to revolutionize the way Americans view death and dying. The Swiss-born psychiatrist was one of the first professionals in the field to listen to the voice of dying patients and to give them a public forum. Her stages of responding to dying—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance—are universally taught. In this never-published 1994 interview, she touches upon several of her theories in the field of thanatology. She speaks in succession: of four quadrants—physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual—and of the need to develop a mature spiritual quadrant in order to deal with the fear of death; of the associated strategy of taking care of unfinished business that keeps us from being willing to face our own mortality; of her complete disagreement with the work of Jack Kevorkian; of three stages that occur after death: 1) the separation of the soul (butterfly) from the body (cocoon); 2) a return to wholeness and awareness; and 3) being embraced by the bliss of a peace-giving light; of the innovative possibility and need for developing elder-toddler centers in which dying patients would be able to mix with and receive love from very young children; and of grief and grieving in relation to her mother's dying. Throughout the interview, Kübler-Ross emphasizes both the wisdom of children, especially dying children, and trusting a field of unconditional love that awaits us.