The great object of life is Sensationβ€”to feel that we existβ€”even though in pain~ Lord ByronΝβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ Νβ€Œ 
 

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The great object of life is Sensation
β€”to feel that we exist
β€”even though in pain 

~ Lord Byron

The New Yorker

When we do get to contemplating our existence, sentience is something I believe we might want to ponder more. Defined as the capacity to experience feelings and sensations, sentience also overlaps into emotion, sapience (the ability to think and acquire wisdom), and consciousness. It seems that sentience might be a door to understanding a deeply overlooked capacity all beings possess to experience the world in rich vibrant color, instead of black & white. Consider that the body is a vessel, capable of acquiring knowledge, and even consciousness, through feelings and perceptions of the senses. It can feed us in a way that we are mostly disconnected from, as we have been taught that intelligence only exists within the brain. What would it mean to us humans if there was more than one type of intelligence we could access, and that we shared with and connected us to, all other sentient beings? I believe these secrets when revealed might have untold gifts to bestow, allowing us to live more fully within these mortal bodies, connected more authentically to the rest of the animal kingdom, and perhaps even there to aid and comfort us when it’s our time to shed them ~ Karen
 

EO, New York Times 

The tender film EO, follows the journey of a donkey, and through his eyes, we experience his love, loss and life transitions. We are brought in closely to his basic needs, his stages of life. β€œOver and over, Skolimowski reminds you that EO is an animal, not a prop or a plushie, a comic contrivance or a child substitute. He is not human, and yet he is nevertheless a being with a sense of the world and he deserves a place in it. He also has, as Skolimowski repeatedly suggests, desires β€” EO yearns for Kasandra, green pastures, soft caresses, freedom.” (NY Times)


Watch the trailer here. Read the NY Times Review here.
 

In the late sixties, Laraaji became interested in mysticism, and described himself as a conduit, a channel, and a medium. Photograph by Andres Serrano for The New Yorker

The musician and sound artist Laraaji turns 80 this year. His transcendent musical output spans six decades, most famously working with producer Brian Eno. He has recorded more than 50 albums, with his most recent, Segue to Infinity, just released in a boxed set. At times Laraaji’s music was marginalized during his career for falling into the New Age category, an ambiguous label stuck somewhere between intellectual avant-garde and elevator music. His instrument of choice is the autoharp, and he incorporated techniques popularized for piano by the experimental composer John Cage. Today he is basking in a resurgence of interest in his body of work, which can at times employ sharp or abrupt noises to shock the consciousness, an idea he borrowed from Tibetan sound rituals. It is as though Laraaji is trying to teach us that, with help and focus, it is possible to exhale and unclench…

Read the New Yorker article.

 

Listen to Seque to Infinity on Spotify here. Also check out Laraaji’s laughter meditation podcast every Thursday morning on Dublab here.
 

In his new book, Sentience: The Invention of Consciousness, author Nicholas Humphrey, who is widely known for his work on the evolution of consciousness, asks us to explore the morally crucial question of existence and what is consciousness? Just as important are the other questions he posits β€” Is it only humans who have conscious sensations that are essential to our idea of ourselves, or do animals possess this trait also? And what about future machines - will they possess this quality inevitably? This is a great read if you are interested in the quest to uncover the evolutionary history of consciousness and where it might be going, with some radical conclusions.

The more mysterious and unworldly the qualities of phenomenal consciousnessβ€”the felt sensations of properties such as color, smell, and soundβ€”the more significant the self. And the more significant the self, the greater the value that people will have placed on their ownβ€”and others’—lives.


Read the New Yorker article here. Buy Sentience: The Invention of Consciousness here.
 

Lauren Miller Rogen and Seth Rogen, HFC

β€œThere are only four kinds of people in this world. Those who have been caregivers. Those who are currently caregivers. Those who will be caregivers, and those who will need a caregiver.” 

- Rosalynn Carter,  Former First Lady

Seth Rogen and Lauren Miller Rogen share the motivation behind their caregiving advocacy non-profit β€˜Hilarity For Charity’ through personal experiences of lack of infrastructure for care of aging parents in their β€œAcross The Aisle” interview with The Washington Post. They point out that care is a societal responsibility, not a personal one and in other developed nations, there are opportunities for individuals to get care that is subsidized or funded by government agencies, but we don’t have that in the U.S. They created a program where folks in need can apply for grants and they will pay to have in-home care in their homes. They also point out that because there is so little infrastructure, there is no standard for the level of training provided to someone that wants to get into the caregiving field which could be so prosperous. There’s a lot of work to be done in really investing in that care workforce.

Watch their interview on Across The Aisle here. Read the article on The Washington Post here. Learn more about Hilarity For Charity here. Directly make a difference and tell Congress to expand access to in-home aging via Caring Across Generations here.
 

Lila Barth for The New York Times

When the pianist Adam Tendler received an inheritance, a manila envelope stuffed with cash, he decided to use it in support of what he loves most – Music. Weeks after his father’s death, and being handed that envelope, Tendler began to commission new solo works by composers including Laurie Anderson, inti figgis-vizueta, Missy Mazzoli and Nico Muhly, culminating in a premiere of 16 new compositions.

From the start, the goal of Inheritances had been to provide a vessel through which I could connect to my elusive father, process my grief and reconcile with my past. But I also hoped that writing these pieces would provide a similar vessel for the composers, and ultimately that this shared experience would extend to our listeners. 

Inheritances became a kind of sacred space, a gathering, a ritual. 

Read (or better yet listen) to the NY Times article here. Watch the March 2023 performance of Inheritances here.
 

Spiral Magazine

In the next few decades, more people will die than ever before. Worldwide, the number of people over 65 years of age is projected to reach 1.6 Billion by 2050. Consciousness is shifting around the weight of climate change and more sustainable models of body disposition are being created. According to The Economist, young people especially are already thinking about becoming compost as it appeals to the contemporary, secular vision of the afterlife resting on the belief of returning to the Earth. These shifts are looked at in-depth in this thoughtful piece in Spiral Magazine.

In 2015, for the first time in the US, cremation was more common than burials because it is less expensive. Since cremation relies on natural gas to burn the body and emits pollutants into the atmosphere, people like Green-wood Cemetery in Brooklyn and Resomation in Glasgow are coming up with solutions. Green-wood through electric cremation (read more in New Yorker) and Resomation through using a water and alkaline solution to dissolve the body into ash-like residue. Even religious people are considering backing greener alternatives such as The Church of England and Archbishop Desmond Tutu requested aquamation for his remains over the past year.

Read Green Remains in Spiral Magazine here. 

Read Quite a few young Americans plan to end their days as compost in The Economist here.

Read Greening the Burial of the Dead, in Brooklyn in the New Yorker here.

Read Church of England to consider greener alternatives to burial in The Guardian here.
 

The use of psilocybin for end of life anxiety and existential distress has gained an enormous amount of traction in the past decade due to the remarkable results from clinical trials and patient guided therapy. Check out these two insightful articles ~ Death, Hope and the Psychedelic Experience, from a two-time cancer survivor pondering his end, and the choices available to him, and A Reciprocity of Presence, about a palliative care doctor’s revelation regarding the ultimate power of being present and dropping into the body. There are references and personal perspectives in both of these pieces to offer solace and direction.
 

Resources

NPR TED Radio Hour's special series Mind, Body, Spirit features tech entrepreneur Artur Sychov of Somnium Space, the creator of Live Forever Mode. He is asked, can AI replicate the person's soul? Is AI sentient? The answer, he says, is unknown. What do you think?

Listen to Artur Sychov's interview here and the entire "Mind, Body, Spirit" segment featuring two other guests here.

In honor of our celestial home and Earth Day this month, check out Pale Blue Pod 

with hosts Astrophysicist Dr. Moiya McTier and comedian Corinne Caputo. It’s an astronomy 

podcast for people who are overwhelmed by the universe but want to be its friend :)
 

Exit Strategy’s Art & Culture Monthly Reader is curated by Karen Bellone and Kirby Lee, death doulas at the Seventh Sense serving Hudson Valley, NY. Our intention is to refocus the narrative around death, dying and grief to raise awareness and consciousness, through the lens of arts, culture, storytelling and innovation.

Please feel free to forward this newsletter to anyone you feel might benefit from these resources and articles.

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