The Plowboy Interview: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

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ON LIVING, DYING... AND BEYOND

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross is best known for her work with death and dying, and her fame is well earned. More than any other individual in the Western world, she has helped shatter the taboo that—as recently as 20 years ago—isolated the terminally ill in an atmosphere of nervous silence. Meanwhile, the Swiss-born physician devised her celebrated five-stage (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance) model of the dying process ... authored the classic book On Death and Dying (as well as a number of other volumes on the subject) ... sparked the hospice movement in the United States ... and helped millions of people learn to see dying as "the final stage of growth" an integral part of life itself.

Most people would agree that the lessons that Kübler-Ross has learned while aiding thousands of terminally ill patients can have meaning for everyone ... because we all have to deal with others' deaths and—ultimately—with our own. But her teachings have a broader relevancy as well. From her work with the seriously ill, Elisabeth has gained a great deal of practical wisdom about how to live more fully and positively. Indeed, a good portion of her work now consists of running intensive, five-day "Life, Death, and Transition" workshops (given through her service organization, Shanti Nilaya) ... in which she attempts to help people express, and then get rid of, internal hostility, fears, and guilt.

When, years ago, several of her patients told her that they'd traveled in spiritual form during near-death experiences, Elisabeth's work took on a further dimension: The previously nonreligious physician-scientist set upon an investigation on of the nature of death itself and of the reality of an afterlife. Subsequently, in keeping with the openness that helped make her a successful healer and counselor, Kübler-Ross has publicly described many of her own perceived out-of-body experiences and spirit guide encounters. (She gained some notoriery for this aspect of her work when she supported, and was subsequently duped by, a pair of self-styled— and apparently unscrupulous—psychic healers. Kübler-Ross has since severed all connections with the couple.)

And while (as Elisabeth herself suggests in the following interview) the reader can make up his or her own mind about the validity of Kübler Ross's personal religious beliefs, we hope that no one will dismiss her more "down to earth" wisdom ... because this short, hardworking ("If you had 50 parents of murdered children to contact, would you watch TV?") and plain-spoken woman has been, in many ways, a healer of the human heart.