The founder of death Cafe was defeated by illness and died at the age of 44

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Jon Underwood, founder of the death Cafe (Death Cafe), died on the 27th of last month at the age of 44. Jon Underwood's wife, Donna Molloy, pointed out that Underwood died of a cerebral hemorrhage caused by acute leukemia, the New York Times reported.

Underwood used to be a director of strategy and marketing until he read an article about the "death Coffee" campaign, which was first conceived by Bernard Crettaz, a Swiss sociologist. Underwood devoted himself to the study of Buddhism. He has long been confused about the philosophical meaning of "death". He found that although everyone in the world would eventually die, the subject had always been a taboo word, and many people avoided it.

Underwood put Crettaz's ideas into practice. He quit his job and started the death Cafe. His wife, Donna Molloy, recalled: "he said there was no job more meaningful than this." Starting in the basement of his London home, Underwood wanted to encourage participants to put aside traditional taboos and talk about life and death in an easy and natural way. At present, Britain, France, the United States, Ireland, China, Austria, Canada, Denmark and other 19 countries have held thousands of similar activities.

In a 2014 speech, Underwood described: "death is magical in nature." He found that these rallies, which began in 2011, were filled with more laughter than tears. Because people are used to talking about how to live, but never think carefully about how to die.

Death Cafe is not a place where people come to seek comfort and burst into tears, nor do they involve "suicide plans", "post-mortem insurance" arrangements, and so on. We gathered to discuss some unsolved philosophical causal questions: "what is death like?" , "Why are we so afraid of death?" "how does the way we look at death affect our lives?"

"for me, talking about death is at least the ultimate ranking of all goals and emotional ties in life," Underwood revealed in an interview with BBC in 2014. You know you will die one day, but for everyone, what you have to accomplish before you die is different. "

Cake and tea are essential for every party. "some people are scared because they think that talking about death will make it happen earlier," Underwood said. At least these foods and desserts can comfort their body and mind and reduce their uneasiness. "

New York points out that Underwood is so aware of the limits of life that he lives every day to the extreme. When he was asked about his death during an interview, Underwood replied, "No, actually I'm very afraid of death." But doing these things gives me confidence that I will remain open and resilient no matter what happens, and I know I can handle it eventually. It's very useful! "