Perfect Endings: A Conscious Approach to Dying and Death [Paperback]

Robert Sachs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1998

Perfect Endings shows how the death experience is an expansion into a wider dimension of our core being. It is written as a series of stories that allow us to be privy to the dying process of individuals with whom the author worked in his capacity as a professional hospice counselor. Each case illustrates a particular aspect of this transformative process, and Sachs presents different approaches to mastering the task of letting go of life while providing valuable guidance to caregivers, family members, and those who are facing death themselves.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Perfect Endings is a book about making peace while we still can. It offers a perfect beginning for the rest of our newly lived life."
(Stephen Levine, author of One Year to Live )

"Robert shows us how dying is not only a part of living, but also how it is possible for us to prepare for our own death and--as caregivers to others dying--how we can help them with this polar process."
(Dr. Lopsang Rapgay, author of The Tibetan Book of Healing )

"Perfect Endings invites us to the real world of dying people and the significant individuals caring for them. He helps us know there is a greater Power orchestrating life and death, and that our part is to listen, learn, and support with nonjudgemental love."
(Catherine D. Edgar, M.A., Hospice Counselor )

The book is not at all linear or explanatory and in that lies its strength. It's the best book I've read for getting a feel of what it's actually like to attend a dying person. It works because it conveys the complexity, the many layeredness, the jumble of events and people that tent to coalesce around a deathbed. In this way it would be useful in preparing anyone who has not attended a death to do so.
(The Mountain Record (Media Reviews) )

From the Back Cover

DEATH AND DYING / SPIRITUALITY

“Robert Sachs shows us not only how dying is a part of living, but also how it is possible for us to prepare for our own death and--as caregivers to others dying--how we can help them with this polar process.”
--Dr. Lopsang Rapgay, author of The Tibetan Book of Healing

“In Perfect Endings, Robert Sachs invites us to the real world of dying people and the significant individuals caring for them. He helps us know there is a greater power orchestrating life and death, and that our part is to listen, learn, and support with nonjudgmental love.”
--Catherine D. Edgar, M.A., Hospice Counselor

Written with lucidity and compassionate understanding, Perfect Endings shows how the death experience is an expansion into a wider dimension of our core being. As we move through our dying process, all the strength and wisdom we have gained in a lifetime is called forth. This is a time of quickening in which the final stages of living work themselves out as we step into our death and what lies beyond. No matter how it appears, it is, in fact, our finest hour--our perfect ending. Robert Sachs explains how he uses the Tibetan practice of phowa, or conscious dying, to aid this process in his own counseling practice.

Written as a series of stories that allow us to be privy to the inner workings of the dying process of individuals with whom Sachs worked as a professional hospice counselor, each case illustrates a particular aspect of the transformative process that led each person to his or her own interior landscape. Journeying in tandem with these souls, Sachs presents different solutions to the task of letting go of life and provides valuable guidance for caregivers, family members, and those who are facing death themselves.

ROBERT SACHS is a member of Sogyal Rinpoche’s Spiritual Dying Network, a Licensed Independent Social Worker, and a member of the American Massage Therapy Association. He is the author of The Complete Guide to Nine Star Ki, Health for Life: Secrets of Tibetan Ayurveda, and Rebirth into Pure Land. He lives in California.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Healing Arts Press (April 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892817798
• ISBN-13: 978-0892817795
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,500,542 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good guide for the end of life, April 27, 2000

By 

Lynn Olson (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Perfect Endings: A Conscious Approach to Dying and Death (Paperback)

Sachs is a hospice social worker who has counseled many people faced with death. The book comments on several cases he faced, the most moving account being that of his father's death. In Sachs's long story of his client "Michael"'s dying process, he provides guidelines for approaching death that are worth personal investigation. He gives a good sense of what it must be like at the end. Sachs talks about rituals in The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying (chanting, breathing, focus) that ease the passage into the final moment on earth. I have thought very little about death, refused to be present at my parents' deaths, and generally avoided it all. This book has motivated me to find out more about dying and to plan how I will meet my own death if I am granted the privilege of knowing I will die within a certain period of time. It has also made me an advocate of death and dying education for all of us.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect Endings are soul healing, June 1, 2000

By 

Rebecca Brown "rebeccasreads" (Clallam Bay, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Perfect Endings: A Conscious Approach to Dying and Death (Paperback)

With lucidity & compassion we are shown how the death experience is an expansion into a wider dimension of our being. As we move through our dying process, all the strength & wisdom we've gained in our lifetime is called forth. In a series of stories that give us glimpses into the inner workings of how we die, Robert Sachs, who works as a professional hospice counsellor, offers us a bouquet of transforming moments that led each person to their interior landscape. We are gifted the journeying in tandem with these souls & given different solutions to the task of letting go of life. Very helpful when our Poppa was passing on to his next Great Adventure.