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For the last year I’ve been conducting interviews about death and dying for The Wake Up to Dying Project–a project that encourages people to think, and talk about death and dying. The goal is to help people be a little more prepared, both practically and emotionally, for our own deaths, and the deaths of loved ones. Today’s show features segments from an interview with Tim Kasten of Middlesex, VT. Tim has experienced more death in his family than many of us and he has significant medical conditions of his own. Death has become a pressing consideration for him, and as both a Buddhist and scientist, he approaches the subject with intense curiosity. Here are segments from our conversation.Possibly Related Episodes
EPISODE MUSIC
| TRACK NAME | ARTIST |
| All the sound herein... | Larry Massett |
Thanks so much for this.
Very moving, insightful interview with dear friend Tim. Such an important subject to talk about, and one that truly is not talked about enough. I love the idea of being curious about death, even while also afraid. The interview charts all these moments, throughout life, of coming close to death–taking a peek at it, in one way or another. The image of all being in the same boat is powerful, simple, and true. I loved hearing these stories. Thank you so much for sharing vulnerably and personally about such an intimate subject. I think Wake Up to Dying is a vital project.
Thanks Tutttle that was beautiful, most beauutiful
A beautiful and profound discussion about death and love. Thank you Tim!
You really got it down and you know I can relate. I loved hearing you speak and it was excellent story telling about a topic that most people shun away from.
This is such an important subject to explore. Thank you so much for doing these incredible interviews And thank you, Tim Kasten, for your wisdom, honesty, courage and insight into the “boat” we are all on. How true, how well said, and how crucial it is for people to understand.
What a riveting and clear-eyed conversation full of compassion and truth. You help us all imagine how to begin or continue it it with ourselves and the ones we love. A huge gift. Thank you.
Thanks you for this tender, honest and open-hearted conversation. We learn so much about our own life choices through other’s stories. Thank you to Tim for allowing us into your intimate stories.
A profound, tender interview with a generous view into the experience of a brave man. Truly special.
I want to talk about Ray Burke and how well he took care of our roads. More importantly I would like to discuss why his successors have fallen so short. I grew up in Vermont knowing that I could get where I needed going-Thank-you Ray Burke! Now-a-days I assume roads are closed with less than 2″–Not the way Vermonters should live! I miss Ray Burke.
“Talk radio” supreme; providing inspiration and insight to dig more deeply (or even to just get the shovel out to begin to dig) into our own pasts, presents, and futures. Also, the sound quality and editing (along with Tim’s lovely cadence and eloquence) made this show a treat for the ear. I am now waiting to hear about Tim’s mother’s passing. Thank you….and keep the shows coming!
I really appreciated Tim’s insights and wisdom around his family’s deaths and his own illness. My family also experienced the same end of life issues for our mother nearly two years ago. We too learned how hospital staff obstructed, through ignorance and negligence, my mother from having a good death. Extracting her from the modern medicine model and wanting her to die at home, as she wished, proved to be an ever shifting and unsolvable Rubik’s cube due to the lack of resources. It was immensely frustrating – it still burns very hot today. The last thing my Mom taught me was how not to die; something I’m considering on a daily basis since being diagnosed with ovarian cancer last October. Tim’s commentary on the fruitlessness of a medical staff person spoon feeding his dying father touched upon a very similar observation I made when visiting my mother in the hospital. She had already signed two DNR/MOLST forms, discontinued her medications eight days prior, and had stopped eating three days earlier – I glared into the eyes of the nurse as my mother soon after vomited, painfully, into the kidney basin I held for her. Institutionalized madness! I’m very grateful to be living in VT where I have choices about how to die and not obliged to follow through a Frankensteinian health model. Please keep this conversation going!
❤️