Death and dying; part seven; afternote...
I need to make something clear that I managed to muddle badly in my "part seven" post this morning. Here's what I wrote:


"Suppose I really were in complete control of my death and dying: I would choose an appropriate time and place, I would simply walk away to the chosen place at the chosen time, and I would sit down there and die. Without making a fuss. If I thought I could do that, it's what I would do. In contrast to a good death, which I hope for, I would call that a "best" death. I set that option aside only because I believe that it's probably impossible for the average human being to do that, and I am very much an average human being."


The last thing I intended that to mean was that I would ever consider suicide. I meant only that if I were able to simply stop living, voluntarily, by an act of will -- after I knew that the dying process had already begun -- I would do that. That's what I meant by "if I really were in complete control of my death and dying."

Suicide is ruled out by my religious beliefs; it's not an option for me. And it never crossed my mind that that paragraph could be interpreted to refer to suicide. I apologize for creating confusion.