"How do our ideas about dying influence the way we live? Life has been envisioned as a journey, the river of time carrying us inexorably toward the unknown country - and in our day we increasingly turn to myth and magic, ritual and virtual reality, cloning and cryostasis in the hope of eluding the reality of the inevitable end. In this book a preeminent writer on death and dying proposes a new way of understanding our last transition. A fresh exploration of the final passage through life and perhaps through death, his work interweaves historical and contemporary experiences and reflections to demonstrate that we are always on our way." "Drawing on a range of observations - from psychology, anthropology, religion, biology, and personal experience - Robert Kastenbaum re-envisions life's forward-looking progress, from early-childhood bedtime rituals to the many small rehearsals we stage for our final separation."--BOOK JACKET.