Vision

To support the work of souls, especially in the time of the death of the physical body.

To assist families and communities to “re-claim” their roles of caring for the dying and for the dead, and in bringing forth ritual and ceremony.

To provide trainings for people approaching death, and training “spiritual mid-wives” to guide souls in their “transition” from this life.

To help re-direct the model of cemeteries toward sustainable, organic practices, land protection and restoration, reforestation, greenways and open space.

To help transform the funeral “industry” from profit driven business to “sacred service”

To create a “dying center” to include a retreat center for those approaching death a school, a crematory, green cemetery and ceremony hall.

To establish a community of like-minded and good hearted beings actively engaged in this work.

To establish businesses that support this work.

To assist in the Healing of this culture’s relationship to death.

Mission

To begin providing physical and spiritual support assisting families in having “home funerals”, sea burials, direct cremation, immediate burial, “green” burial and open cremation.

To establish Doorway into Light as federal, non-profit, tax exempt organization,

To continue ongoing trainings and community education, for those who wish to explore their own death, or enrich their path in service to the dying.

To manifest the funds, the land and the expertise to establish a green cemetery, crematory, ceremony hall, and retreat, for beings in the dying process.

To continue to listen deeply, through prayer and meditation, and to each other, that we may know how best to serve the greatest good through this work, and the doors may open for this vision to manifest.

Action

Doorway Into Light is dedicated to empowering, educating and supporting families and communities in caring for the dying and for the dead, through:

• teaching skills,
• illuminating rights and choices,
• providing volunteer support and assistance
• developing a library/resource center
• providing community education programs and trainings
• creating new sustainable models of community systems in this field

By supporting communities in reclaiming their roles in caring for the dying and the dead, which, for the most part, have been given over to institutions, we recognize important opportunities for community bonding and healing.

In accepting the inevitability of our own approaching death and the death of those around us, we develop deeper compassion for all beings and a deeper sense of the fragility and preciousness of each moment and each being. These qualities, in turn, prove invaluable as we engage in caring for others as they make their transition from this life.

We wish to assist in helping to heal this culture’s relationship with aging, dying and death, through education and support.

As well, Doorway Into Light is dedicated to researching, developing and implementing new models of cemeteries and crematories that utilize organic, sustainable and non-toxic practices, including the incorporation of cemeteries with land reclamation, reforestation, open space and agriculture, whereby these models would become training grounds and learning centers to spread the models.

Doorway Into Light has been hosting a death and dying support group that has been meeting monthly for the past year. People with terminal illnesses, caregivers, hospice staff, professionals in the field, individuals wishing to expand their work in service to the dying, as well as those wishing to explore their own approaching death, attend these meetings. The support group and its subgroups (focusing on specific topics) have been important in determining what subjects are of most interest, how the material needs to be presented and what skills and experiences are required of group leaders/facilitators and of “midwives to the dying”. This group has become a “seed center” for participants to then go out to their families and communities sharing the skills and information. Topics and skills presented at these meetings will evolve into our training curriculum. One of the subgroups volunteers as caregivers to the dying in the community.

We begin each meeting by reading aloud the "Death and Dying Support Group-'View'" a growing document clarifying our foundation principles and understandings:

Our bodies will die and we don't know when.

Who we truly are, our essential nature, does not die.

Death is not the end, is not a failure, is not a mistake.

We are here to wake up to our essential nature.

Service work provides a great opportunity to engage in our soulwork and wake up.

Soulwork is the work of living in the knowledge of our essential nature,
as well as the work of living our soul's purpose in this lifetime.


"there are people dying and there are caregivers to the dying,
but they are both engaged in the same work, the work of waking up" - Ram Dass

We recognize that true compassion arises when we do not see another person as separate from ourselves.

We recognize that there is no perfect death, and we have no idea what anyone's death should look like.

As caregivers offering support to the dying, important tools are:
an open heart,
our willingness to be present with what is,
and our commitment to work on ourselves with present moment awareness.

We honor the feelings that may arise when someone's loved one dies, and so we hold
a safe and sacred "container" big enough for grieving and feelings of loss.

This life is precious, this moment is precious, each one of us is precious.

Doorway Into Light has also been hosting a series of “community education programs” over the last two years that have been attended by people from all over the country. These educational and outreach programs have been two to three day seminars featuring experts in the field of caring for the dying and the dead, addressing such issues as end-of-life care, palliative options, green cemeteries, home funerals, grief counseling, communication skills and other areas of study relevant to this field.

The teaching staff and guest speakers have included:

• Trainings, guidance and practices in meditation, contemplation and spiritual disciplines.
• Trainings, guidance and practices in physical care of the dying and of the body after death.
• Exploring end-of-life choices and rights concerning organ donation, intervention, etc.
• Navigating Advanced Health Care Directives and understanding the related laws.
• Being with dying people (community outreach).
• Exploration of one’s own feelings about death and dying and the death and dying of our loved ones.
• Hands-on training in the operations of a “green” or natural cemetery including a nursery intended for native reforestation, as well as the operation of a sustainable crematory.
• Communication and social interaction trainings and grief counseling trainings for those engaged in being with the dying and their families.
• Teaching indigenous and religious customs, traditions and understandings concerning death and the after-life.