Memento Mori: The Art of Contemplating Death to Live a Better Life with Morbid Anatomy Founder and Creative Director Joanna Ebenstein, Begins April 17
Taught Online Via Zoom
Meets Biweekly: Thursdays, April 17, May 1, 15, 29, June 12, 26 2025
7 - 9 pm ET (New York City Time) (Final class may run over to accommodate student presentations)
$165 Patreon Members / $185 General Admission
* Discount code for the instructor’s book Memento Mori: The Art of Contemplating Death to Live a Better Life sent before class begins
* See the related TEDx talk of the instructor here.
PLEASE NOTE: All classes will also be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time
Talking about death is often deemed morbid, or even taboo. But not long ago, many of our ancestors used the contemplation of death as a tool for countering fear, putting life’s difficulties in perspective, and living according to higher values. In times of change and uncertainty, learning to live with death also helps us sit with the mystery at the heart of life and still appreciate, with great joy, the life we have been given.
This class—based on the new book Memento Mori: The Art of Contemplating Death to Live a Better Life—will lead you on a twelve-week program to befriend death in your own way. We will explore—via illustrated lectures and readings—how people have approached, imagined and even celebrated death in different times and places. Through numerous exercises, journal prompts, and lively class discussion, we will work on excavating—and clarifying—our own personal understanding of death, uncovering our own authentic values that can serve as the basis of a full, rich live with the fewest deathbed regrets.
Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung asserted the importance of developing our own conscious myth about death, our own set of meaningful beliefs. As a final project, you will be invited to formulate your own myth of death, or to create your own personal memento mori—an object, artwork or practice meant, in a useful, life-enhancing way!—to remind you of the finitude of life, as a means of encouraging you to live the life you really want before its too late.
Whether you're currently experiencing grief or loss, facing your own mortality, trying to live a meaningful life or simply seeking a deeper understanding of the profound mysteries of existence, this class will offer useful insights to help you navigate your life with courage, resilience, and meaning.
Joanna Ebenstein is a Brooklyn-based artist, writer, curator, photographer and graphic designer. She is the founder and creative director of Morbid Anatomy. Her books include Memento Mori: The Art of Contemplating Death to Live a Better Life, Anatomica: The Exquisite and Unsettling Art of Human AnatomyandDeath: A Graveside Companion. You can watch her Tedx Talk—Death as You've Never Seen it Before—here.
Taught Online Via Zoom
Meets Biweekly: Thursdays, April 17, May 1, 15, 29, June 12, 26 2025
7 - 9 pm ET (New York City Time) (Final class may run over to accommodate student presentations)
$165 Patreon Members / $185 General Admission
* Discount code for the instructor’s book Memento Mori: The Art of Contemplating Death to Live a Better Life sent before class begins
* See the related TEDx talk of the instructor here.
PLEASE NOTE: All classes will also be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time
Talking about death is often deemed morbid, or even taboo. But not long ago, many of our ancestors used the contemplation of death as a tool for countering fear, putting life’s difficulties in perspective, and living according to higher values. In times of change and uncertainty, learning to live with death also helps us sit with the mystery at the heart of life and still appreciate, with great joy, the life we have been given.
This class—based on the new book Memento Mori: The Art of Contemplating Death to Live a Better Life—will lead you on a twelve-week program to befriend death in your own way. We will explore—via illustrated lectures and readings—how people have approached, imagined and even celebrated death in different times and places. Through numerous exercises, journal prompts, and lively class discussion, we will work on excavating—and clarifying—our own personal understanding of death, uncovering our own authentic values that can serve as the basis of a full, rich live with the fewest deathbed regrets.
Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung asserted the importance of developing our own conscious myth about death, our own set of meaningful beliefs. As a final project, you will be invited to formulate your own myth of death, or to create your own personal memento mori—an object, artwork or practice meant, in a useful, life-enhancing way!—to remind you of the finitude of life, as a means of encouraging you to live the life you really want before its too late.
Whether you're currently experiencing grief or loss, facing your own mortality, trying to live a meaningful life or simply seeking a deeper understanding of the profound mysteries of existence, this class will offer useful insights to help you navigate your life with courage, resilience, and meaning.
Joanna Ebenstein is a Brooklyn-based artist, writer, curator, photographer and graphic designer. She is the founder and creative director of Morbid Anatomy. Her books include Memento Mori: The Art of Contemplating Death to Live a Better Life, Anatomica: The Exquisite and Unsettling Art of Human AnatomyandDeath: A Graveside Companion. You can watch her Tedx Talk—Death as You've Never Seen it Before—here.
Taught Online Via Zoom
Meets Biweekly: Thursdays, April 17, May 1, 15, 29, June 12, 26 2025
7 - 9 pm ET (New York City Time) (Final class may run over to accommodate student presentations)
$165 Patreon Members / $185 General Admission
* Discount code for the instructor’s book Memento Mori: The Art of Contemplating Death to Live a Better Life sent before class begins
* See the related TEDx talk of the instructor here.
PLEASE NOTE: All classes will also be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time
Talking about death is often deemed morbid, or even taboo. But not long ago, many of our ancestors used the contemplation of death as a tool for countering fear, putting life’s difficulties in perspective, and living according to higher values. In times of change and uncertainty, learning to live with death also helps us sit with the mystery at the heart of life and still appreciate, with great joy, the life we have been given.
This class—based on the new book Memento Mori: The Art of Contemplating Death to Live a Better Life—will lead you on a twelve-week program to befriend death in your own way. We will explore—via illustrated lectures and readings—how people have approached, imagined and even celebrated death in different times and places. Through numerous exercises, journal prompts, and lively class discussion, we will work on excavating—and clarifying—our own personal understanding of death, uncovering our own authentic values that can serve as the basis of a full, rich live with the fewest deathbed regrets.
Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung asserted the importance of developing our own conscious myth about death, our own set of meaningful beliefs. As a final project, you will be invited to formulate your own myth of death, or to create your own personal memento mori—an object, artwork or practice meant, in a useful, life-enhancing way!—to remind you of the finitude of life, as a means of encouraging you to live the life you really want before its too late.
Whether you're currently experiencing grief or loss, facing your own mortality, trying to live a meaningful life or simply seeking a deeper understanding of the profound mysteries of existence, this class will offer useful insights to help you navigate your life with courage, resilience, and meaning.
Joanna Ebenstein is a Brooklyn-based artist, writer, curator, photographer and graphic designer. She is the founder and creative director of Morbid Anatomy. Her books include Memento Mori: The Art of Contemplating Death to Live a Better Life, Anatomica: The Exquisite and Unsettling Art of Human AnatomyandDeath: A Graveside Companion. You can watch her Tedx Talk—Death as You've Never Seen it Before—here.