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Light on Death
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By J. Phillip Jones
The Spiritual Art of Dying
The concept of light is prominent in the Vedic wisdom teachings of India. The Vedic sages believed that death is feared only when left hidden in the shadows of our ignorance. Light On Death introduces an Eastern approach to the spirituality of dying and explores the ever-present questions about the meaning of life. The Vedas believed that death, when exposed to the light of wisdom, could be understood, embraced, and used to help liberate the soul to freedom. Jones’ book is especially significant for those who are dying and their loved ones. If our life is a pilgrimage, then the dying process, the moment of death, the afterlife of the soul, spiritual care giving, and grieving can be viewed through the light of Vedic teachings.
The Mandala Wisdom Library introduces and connects the world’s ancient spiritual heritage to the times we live in. Other titles in the series are: Karma: The Ancient Science of Cause and Effect and Ayurveda: A Holistic Approach to Health.
J. Phillip Jones, MA, LMHC, is a psychotherapist, teacher and rites of passage facilitator. He is currently the senior spiritual counselor for Hospice of Hilo on Hawaii’s Big Island, and also lectures, leads seminars, and facilitates longer retreats with his wife to sacred sites around the world. Jones has worked with young people going through adolescent rites, middle-aged people going through vision quests, and terminally ill people going through the Last Rite of Passage as a hospice spiritual counselor. His work with people of all ages in successfully navigating birth to death rites of passage has led him to develop a Four Stages of Life Model (based on the ancient Varnasrama system of India) which helps to balance the physical, social, psychological and spiritual tasks of each stage.
All of us die, and most of us are called upon to support loved ones or friends in dying or in grieving a death. We wonder about the nature of this universal phenomenon. Is dying only an uninvited tragedy or can it also be seen as a sacred passage? Can our end of life journey be a time of completion and even growth?
Light On Death: The Spiritual Art of Dying views life as a pilgrimage culminating in the Great Transition at death. Drawing on Eastern insights from the ancient sages of India as well as modern hospice experiences, J. Phillip Jones explores a spiritual art of dying in which death is the last and most powerful rite of passage.
Light On Death: The Spiritual Art of Dying
By J. Phillip Jones
Published by Mandala Publishing,
An imprint of Palace Press International Cloth: $12.95
ISBN: 978-1-60109-107-9 Trim: 5” x 7 ¼”
Trim: 5” x 7 ¼”Number of Pages: 96 Pub Date: July 2007
Pub Date: July 2007For Press & Media information from the pulisher, contact:
415.526.1370 | [email protected]
“Phillip Jones is a tender friend to the human soul. We all lose someone, we all die.
For Jones, death is the Great Intimacy, the birth from time to eternity.
Read this book and absorb its reverence.”
~ Albert J. LaChance, author of The Architecture of the Soul: A Unitive Model of the Human Person
