On Being A Mortal Animal - Dr. Scott Eberle #156

ReWild Yourself

"How you live is how you die," Dr. Scott Eberle — a physician specializing in end-of-life care — tells us in today's interview. Having spent many years at the bedside of the dying, Scott has learned some important lessons from those participating in their final rite of passage, and he's here to impart a bit of that wisdom with us today, inspiring us to live and die more consciously.

Dr. Scott Eberle is a medical director of Hospice of Petaluma in Petaluma, California, as well as an experienced teacher and author, and a wilderness guide. Together with Meredith Little of the School of Lost Borders, he co-created “The Practice of Living and Dying,” an innovative wilderness curriculum exploring the human experience of being a mortal animal.

In this interview, we explore the practice of living and dying and what it means to be a mortal animal. Consciously approaching life and death calls for us to "confront the difficult questions" and "have the difficult conversations" right now, and Scott shares how he has integrated these practices into his own life. We discuss Scott's experiences working in hospice, thoughts on death acceptance, the common regrets of the dying and much more. If you’re a mortal animal, you’ll want to hear this conversation!

EPISODE BREAKDOWN:

• Show Introduction:
  • Hunt + Gather updates: Transitioning to autumn, wild cherries & trout fishing
  • Reflecting on the Moon Dance
  • Q&A: Beard-scaping
• Introducing Dr. Scott Eberle
• What is hospice and how Scott came to work in this field
• What it’s like to interact with people in their dying time
• Denial of death
• Lessons learned from the bedside of the dying
• The top five regrets of the dying
• What led Scott back to the natural world
• Experiencing the AIDS epidemic
• The practice of living and dying
• Blending holistic wellness with our modern healthcare system
• Being a mortal animal
• Confronting the difficult questions and conversations now
• Thoughts on the soul and life’s purpose
• What Scott has come to hope for his own dying time
• Scott’s prognosis for the future of the human species