Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death by Irvin D. Yalom (PDF)

Description

Written in Irv Yalom’s inimitable story-telling style, Staring at the Sun is a profoundly encouraging approach to the universal issue of mortality. In this magisterial opus, capping a lifetime of work and personal experience, Dr. Yalom helps us recognize that the fear of death is at the heart of much of our anxiety. Such recognition is often catalyzed by an “awakening experience”—a dream, or loss (the death of a loved one, divorce, loss of a job or home), illness, trauma, or aging. Once we confront our own mortality, Dr. Yalom writes, we are inspired to rearrange our priorities, communicate more deeply with those we love, appreciate more keenly the beauty of life, and increase our willingness to take the risks necessary for personal fulfillment.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This book had a very unexpected effect on me. I have been experiencing nightly anxiety attacks surrounding my fear of death for the past several years. If you are here it’s likely you are experiencing something similar or know someone that is. I bought this book on a whim before my solo trip to Mexico.I was frustrated at first. The author speaks mostly of himself and his patients experiences. Being that I went to medical school and have worked in the field prior, I prefer books that speak more in a clinical sense. This book was frustratingly simple. Speaking on things that just made me want to scream “Well no duh! Tell me something I don’t know”. I think the frustration came from hoping for an answer or immediate fix to my nightly terrors. Or at least the tools to fix the problem. Annoyed with the book I stopped reading it. I put it down and forgot about it.Something unexpectedly happened though. My anxiety attacks stopped. One month later I came to the realization that I haven’t had one since I read this book.I’m not sure how, but this book had some sort of unexpected effect on me. I had tried everything (including skydiving! Several times).The authors simple words are a blessing in disguise.I highly recommend you give this book a shot. Like me, you may be pleasantly surprised.

⭐I am 41. I originally purchased this book because turning 40, being divorced, being all alone for many years, on top of being a truly single mom, completely responsible for so much, I developed major death anxiety. Every pain, every new bump, EVERY ANYTHING that I feel that is not normal, instantly sends me into a panic. Hitting that big 40 brought on a lot of death anxiety for me. My dad also died at 45 so that lingers in my mind. I guess if asked my biggest fear about dying is who will care for my 11-year-old? I am currently not finished with the book so I will update again after. I am not sure if it has helped yet as I haven’t had a “NEW” freak out moment in a few weeks but I found it helpful to hear all of the other patient’s stories. My goal in reading this book is to be comfortable with death so I can live without the fear of it and to have a more purposeful life. I’d like to state also that I am a saved Christian and a true believer but I also respect all beliefs so the mentions of non-belief in this book did not offend me as I am reading for the therapy of it. So far, I find comfort in all of the stories from each patient mentioned and have come to realize a few places I had not thought of before that my death anxiety may be coming from!! I look forward to wrapping this book up and giving more feedback.

⭐This book, “Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death,” is a great read for people who would like to learn a lot more about fear of death being universal and how it negatively influences many aspects of life. The author, Irvin D. Yalom, MD, is Professor of Psychiatry emeritus at Stanford University. Though he has a Jewish heritage, Dr. Yalom confessed to being an atheist. Religious people should not merely write off Yalom’s insightful conclusions since he is an atheist. The fact that Yalom is an atheist does not invalidate his medical research, insights, and expertise. Atheism may be intellectual or a reaction to and a defense against the God of fear-based religion.The title, “Staring at the Sun,” is pregnant with meaning. Yalom postulates that just as a person cannot stare at the sun without being physically blinded, no one can stare at death without being emotionally blinded. Phobia is from the Greek word “phobos”–fear. Humans have at least one phobia. Many have more than one, and some people have multiple phobias. Some of the more common phobias are: acrophobia (fear of heights), agoraphobia (fear of public places), algophobia (fear of pain), claustrophobia (fear of closed spaces), hemophobia (fear of blood), mysophobia (fear of dirt/germs), pathophobia (fear of disease), xenophobia (fear of strangers), and panophobia (fear of everything). Some clinicians have theorized that all phobias are just different manifestations of one primary phobia–the mother of all phobias.In this fascinating book, based on Yalom’s lifetime work of studying fear of death and helping people deal with their phobias, it appears that there is One Great Phobia–FEAR OF DEATH! According to Yalom, “Death anxiety is omnipresent in the unconscious as an intrinsic component of the human condition; the absence of evident death anxiety at a conscious level does not mean that the individual is without death anxiety; death anxiety is easily aroused.” He explained that for some people, death anxiety is in the background–corralled in the unconscious mind. “But for other people, the anxiety is louder, unruly, tending to erupt at three in the morning, leaving them gasping at the specter of death. They are besieged by the thought that they, too, will soon be dead–as will everyone around them…Thoughts of death may seep into and permeate your dreams no matter how hidden from your conscious mind. Every nightmare is a dream in which death anxiety has escaped its corral and menaces the dreamer.”Omnipresent-death anxiety is immeasurably exacerbated by morbid fear of God and eternal damnation in literal hell fire which is spiritual terrorism. Conversely, fear of death is greatly ameliorated by a totally-loving conception of God and a sane, sensible explanation of purifying hell fire in the Holy Bible and other Holy Books which are emotionally-healing and life-transforming rather than worsening fear of “The One Great Phobia!”Boyd C. Purcell, Ph.D., Author of”Spiritual Terrorism: Spiritual Abuse from the Womb to the Tomb”

⭐Irving Yalom is a practising psychiatrist who deals with people’s fear of dying.His own belief is that your consciousness simply “switches off” when you die.His book is interesting up to the point when someone dies and it surprised me just how many people actually fear dying!He makes a good living from it anyway!!It is an interesting read to see exactly what fears people have about death and how it affects their lives the older they get. In the end, he tries to calm his patients fears so that they get some peace in their final days.He doesn’t take into account research in other fields such as that undertaken at the Munro Institute in Virginia or the work of Dr. Ron Moody, both of whom have researched where we go after dying.Anyway, an interesting read if you are more biased to the atheist view of this is all there is!

⭐The first third of this book is very thought provoking. Whether you think about you mortality or not read the first third. I am sure you will be informed and thoughtful, hopefully not disturbed. After than it is a bit repetitive and the last chapter is hard work if you are not a therapist (I am not…).Overall, I am glad I read most of the book, it does make you think and helped me think differently about life, and death. The message is simple – live for today, plan to live a long happy life, understand what the people you knew (who have died) did for you and the affect they had on you. Don’t fear your mortality. If you do, read this book.

⭐If you are like me and are prone to obsessing over the realisation that you have less of your life to live than you have already lived as you try to cope with the seemingly relentless march of time, then Yalom’s book provides some comforting respite. Yalom’s references to philosophers through history underline for me that there is nothing unique in my anxieties about death and my strong emotions are both natural and an essential characteristic of my humanity. Yalom’s book encourages me to accept that every moment spent worrying about the inevitability of my own demise is a moment which could be better spent revelling in the enjoyment of life’s experience.

⭐I heard this reviewed on A Good Read and bought it on the strength of what the reviewers said. I have read other Yalom books and do admire his warmth and humanity. He is the kind of therapist that we might all like to have ….honest,funny and honouring of the people he is seeking to help.The book is a series of case studies of clients’ death fears and anxieties and Yalom is his wonderful honest self, talking also about his issues with the subject. It’s a good read, a quick read and for me, fairly satisfying but a little limiting as one case follows another.For me the limitation of the book is his atheism and rationality concerning death

⭐I bought this book because I heard it reviewed on radio 4’s good read, but I was pretty disappointed. The book can be summed up as …. everyone’s anxiety is about fear of death whether they know it or not, the author had lots of patients where he diagnosed fear of death, his patients were less anxious after he had diagnosed them.Maybe the book didn’t do anything for me because I do not have death anxiety to any significant degree, or maybe I do and am so deep in denial that I cant see it. Whichever it is, the book did nothing for me and I abandoned it 2/3 of the way through. Possible case of having a hammer and every problem looking like a nail.

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