"Death is nature's wake-up alarm. For all of us. Even Liz Scott. Even though the title of her new book is You're Going to Die But Not Me! The Portland psychologist, who skidded past her 79th birthday in March, is hyperaware of the ticking of death's clock. She doesn't want to die - who does? - but she knows death is inevitable. What she wishes weren't inevitable would be thinking of it. Almost obsessively. Many times a day."
"Scott realizes early on that if a subject is as serious as death, you might as well poke fun at it. Death is deadly, so raise a toast and make a joke. "I gotta say, I have always been flummoxed by people who seem (emphasis on seem) so equanimous, so nonchalant, so unfazed about the incontrovertible fact that one day they will die. People! Have you ever faced it square in the face? You will cease to exist. Cease! To! Exist!""
"In this one - which she will talk about Tuesday, May 12, at Powell's Books - she is given to answering a profundity with a wisecrack. There is such a thing as conservation of matter, she notes. "I can't get anywhere close to believing that any 'Liz-ness' will remain when I'm gone, but just try and permanently get rid of this bag of bones and organs and tissues. Go ahead and try to defy the laws of physics!""
""I confess: I believe we all are mucking around in an effort to make meaning of what is meaningless. We are here in an indifferent universe for a mere blip. All the sturm und drang, the big "
Death is inevitable for everyone, including a Portland psychologist who is acutely aware of it. She describes fear of death as persistent and sometimes obsessive, and she responds by researching, reflecting, and writing a book to reach a truce. She uses a novel, nonfiction approach that combines levity with sincerity, arguing that serious subjects can be met with jokes and raised toasts. She questions beliefs about personal persistence after death and points to physical limits. She also frames human life as an effort to make meaning in an indifferent universe, where intense struggles occur within a brief existence.
Read at Oregon ArtsWatch * Arts & Culture News
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