In 1962, as a first-year undergraduate student at the University
of Virginia, I had the pleasure of reading Plato’s dialogue The Phaedo
for the first time. The work reports a conversation about life after death
the philosopher Socrates had with his friends just before his execution. Socrates
said “In obedience to dreams and visions”. He had been writing
poetry while in prison. Socrates likened his situation to that of swans who,
according to Greek folk belief, sing their most beautiful songs just prior
to death. Socrates speculated that, like himself, the swans did so because
they anticipated a joyous afterlife.
Twelve years after being introduced to The Phaedo, I encountered this strange
phenomenon in a clinical setting. It was 1974, and I was a third-year medical
student trying to resuscitate an elderly lady. To my astonishment, she recited
a poem as she turned gray before my eyes, and died. At that time I was just beginning
to learn the techniques of cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Hence, I did not have
the presence of mind to pay close attention to what she was saying. Even so,
it was plain that it was poetry, because of the rhyme and meter.
Since that time, I have learned of a couple of hundred other cases of this extraordinary
phenomenon of the mind and spirit. I am convinced that, fairly frequently, human
beings in the final days, hours, or moments of life recite poems or sing songs.
Apparently, they sometimes even compose original verses. Yet, as far as their
surviving relatives and friends know, they never before had any interest in poetry.
I dub these amazing occurrences the Swan Song Phenomenon, in honor of Socrates
and Plato. And I am confident that other, diligent medical doctors and psychologists
will be able to confirm my findings by asking among their own patients whose
loved ones have died. Swan songs are not nearly as common as near-death experiences,
a phenomenon that almost everyone knows about by now. Still, swan songs are common
enough to count as a major, psychological and spiritual mystery.
Well, of course, it would be foolish for me or anyone else to offer a firm opinion
of this mystery. However, I can put forth an interesting although somewhat speculative
conjecture. We know that ineffability is one of the most common characteristics
of profound, mystical and spiritual experiences. That is, people who have them
say that they are unable to adequately describe them, because of the limitations
of language. No matter how articulate or well educated or intelligent they are,
people say their mystical experiences transcend language. People with near-death
experiences, for example commonly say, “I just can’t describe it” or “There
are no words to describe it”.
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On the other hand, people desire deeply to express to their
loved ones what happened during such life-changing, transcendent episodes.
And we also know that episodes of transcendent consciousness are quite common
during the dying process. Furthermore, people in this state are typically aware
that they are dying and that they do not have much more time
Poetry is at the confluence of all these circumstances. For it is a compact,
non-literal form of verbal expression that is closely tied to human emotions.
So, it makes a certain amount of sense that the dying would fall back on poetry
as a way of expressing themselves.
Perhaps I am wrong, though. The ancient’s thought that swan songs attuned
the souls of the dying to the higher states of existence they were about to enter.
One of the main, spiritual tasks of Pythagoras’ students was to compose
their own “passwords.”
These “passwords’ were special verses they would subsequently recite
as they were dying. They believed that the verses would ease their transition
to the next life. Members of at least one Gnostic sect had a virtually identical
practice.
Perhaps swan songs are related to the mind-transforming songs of prehistoric
shamans. Shaman songs were lengthy, verse compositions meant to propel shamans
on their journeys to the spirit world. Members of Siberian shamanic societies
had an old saying: “We cross over to the other side by the power of our
songs.
The Japanese tradition of death poetry is another, cultural manifestation of
the swan song phenomenon. Practitioners of the tradition wait and try to get
as close to death as they can before writing their poems. Clearly, swan songs
are a worldwide phenomenon. And I believe they are a deep, spiritual mystery
that is closely tied to the question of life after death.
The Swan Song Phenomenon, Near-Death Experiences, and many other unusual spiritual
experiences on the brink of death, are just some of the topics to be covered
in Dr. Moody’s weekend workshop Sept 9-11 at the Inner Space in Sandy Springs,
Ga. For registration information call 404-252-4540
 Author,
researcher, teacher and world renowned expert on Near Death Experiences. He has
over 25 years of experience working with the bereaved. The phrase “Life
after Life” has become synomous with Dr. Moody’s work www.lifeafterlife.com
Dr. Moody is presenting a weekend workshop in Atlanta GA Sept 8, 9, & 10
call 404-252-4540
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