Crossing Rivers: Journal of An Integral Hospice Worker

This book is a record of the experience of a spiritual caregiver at a hospice in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the form of a daily journal over the course of one year. The experiences and conversations contained herein are alternately harrowing, hilarious, heart-rending, and comforting. The reader encounters a great diversity of responses to life and death, bereavement, celebration and ugliness, as the companionable author describes his inner experience at the hospice. As more and more baby boomers face their own aging, and the decline and death of their parents, this book is a timely look at the state of the art of hospice in America. The author describes his meditation practice and "shadow work" in response to the daily onslaught of death and grief which he works with. It also introduces the topic of Integral theory, spirituality, and practice, in a manner certain to fascinate newcomers to this evolutionary new concept.