London’s Death Cafe, November – “Let’s talk about Death baby…let’s talk about you and me….”

London’s Death Cafe, November – “Let’s talk about Death baby…let’s talk about you and me….”

Last weekend I attended my second (indeed the UK’s second) Death Cafe.

For the uninitiated, it’s a concept developed in Switzerland, born out of the ‘philosophy cafes’ where people would get together and philosophise about …..philosophical stuff.  A man by the name of Bernard Crettaz thought a cafe with a more focused theme of death would be a great thing – to bring people’s awareness to an area of life that is treated as mysterious, scary, and not very real but in actuality is, not to put too fine a point on it, common as muck.

So a very inspiring friend of mine set up the same thing here in London.  A pop-up cafe where a few people get together, eat yummy food, drink yummy drinks, hang out, and talk about….death stuff.  And life too – one doesn’t exist without the other in the world…so nor does it at the Death Cafe.

Once again I was overwhelmed by seeing what comes about when people are just given a little bit of space to think about death and to share out loud what their own thoughts, fears, beliefs, and experiences are around death.

I learnt that day that, although it is still such a taboo topic, people actually do deep down want to talk about it.  There is a part of us that hides from it and likes to pretend it won’t ever happen….but another part that so badly needs to contemplate it, discuss it, understand it, but that doesn’t often get the chance.  This is the same part of us represented by a societal obsession with the topic of death – good luck finding a book, tv show, or movie that doesn’t touch on it.  In fact it can show up as almost obsessive in our entertainment….because it doesn’t show up in our every day(week/month/year) conversation.

On the way back to the station one participant said to me how very comfortable, refreshing, enjoyable, and normal the whole thing had felt.  She pointed out that we might be considered weird to be at a Death Cafe, but that surely the opposite – ignoring it and never talking about it – was what was truly weird and abnormal.

I tend to agree. About 300%.

If you’re interested in coming along to one in the future – an experience I couldn’t recommend highly enough – let me know and I’ll put you in touch with the organiser.

Kristie

x

P.S. Watch this video for an example of what doesn’t happen at Death Cafe…..but is just really funny.

Tagged as: Bernard Crettaz, death cafe, death cafe London