What Does Success Mean at the End-of-Life? With Dr Joseph Sawyer

Death, dying and loss present unique challenges to how we understand progress, betterment and success. We are accustomed to meeting challenges through knowledge, endeavour and a belief that, collectively, we can shape the world towards our ideals. Yet death and dying often resist these familiar ways of thinking, confronting us with uncertainty, paradox and experiences that cannot readily be resolved or overcome.

So, if success at the end of life is difficult to define, how might we orientate our actions and care for one another? This session explores what it means to form an open-hearted relationship with death, dying and loss: not simply seeking to understand, manage or overcome them, but recognising them as part of our shared human experience.

It asks how, by remaining open to both the suffering and the moments of beauty, the connection and meaning that coexist with loss, we might discover a basis for collective action. In doing so, it considers how shared responsibility, collaboration and our capacity to care for one another might help us create more considered ways of living with death, dying and loss.