Here’s what modern day luminaries have said
about participating in our own death:

“Being invited to the bedside of someone who is facing death is above all a great honor; full and rich. There is time for everyone to cry, to laugh, to wonder and to explore the possibilities and practice for their own death.  It is not that I know death, but that I have learned from the greatest teachers –those who are dying.”

“In the Eastern Tradition, the state of your consciousness at the last moment of life is so crucial that you spend your whole life preparing.  At the moment of death you let go lightly, you go out into the light, towards the one, towards God  The only thing that died, after all, was another set of thoughts about who you were this time around.”

“Dying is nothing to fear.  It can be the most wonderful experience of your life.  It all depends on how you have lived.”

“Personally, I have been looking forward to dying all of my life.  Dying is the most fascinating experience in life.  You’ve got to approach dying the way you live your life – with curiosity, hope, experimentation and with the help of your friends.”

“Ignore death up to the last moment; then, when it can't be ignored any longer, have yourself squirted full of morphia and shuffle off in a coma. Thoroughly sensible, humane and scientific, eh? ”