Lost in the Five Stages of Grief

The New Republic

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Mixed Factuality

Independent: Win McCormack

Lost in the Five Stages of Grief

Early in the fifteenth century, an anonymous text on how to face death appeared. Titled Speculum artis bene moriendi (The Mirror of the Art of Dying Well), it counseled readers to remember that dying had a good side, that it was not to be feared, and that the good Christian should resist a series of spiritual temptations in the face of death. One must not give in to despair, a lack of faith, impatience, or pride, and to remain overly attached to…