Individuals approaching death often experience encounters with their dead relatives who seem to welcome them to the next world. These deathbed visions are authentic and convincing they are often followed by a state of euphoria and seem to ease the transition.

The knowledge of the realm of death makes it possible for the shaman to move freely back and forth and mediate these journeys for other people.

I think that the core doctrines of Christianity - the incarnation the resurrection life after death-these are as strong as ever. In fact the belief in life after death has increased in this century.

Vets do what doctors used to - diagnose the injury or the condition patch it up as best they can and remind you that these things happen and that in life we are also in the midst of death.

Perhaps we don't need these religious concoctions to pillow the fear of death. Just the fact that there is an unknown and something greater can bring a feeling of peace. That's enough for me.

'Hamlet' is one of the most dangerous things ever set down on paper. All the big unknowable questions like what it is to be a human being the difference between sanity and insanity the meaning of life and death what's real and not real. All these subjects can literally drive you mad.

The U.S. couldn't even get rid of Saddam Hussein. And we all know that the EU is just a passing fad. They'll be killing each other again in less than a year. I'm sick to death of all these fascist lawsuits.

You hear a lot about God these days: God the beneficent God the all-great God the Almighty God the most powerful God the giver of life God the creator of death. I mean we're hearing about God all the time so we better learn how to deal with it. But if we know anything about God God is arbitrary.

I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own so both of them together is certain death.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations all pride all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death leaving only what is truly important.

Birth and death we all move between these two unknowns.

It was funny actually because that was still during the time we were dating. He would get all these calls because supposedly before we broke up we had already broken up in the trades in the rags or whatever.

Stuff about me dating Kim Kardashian - I have no idea where that came from and all these other rumors. I don't think I'm that type.

Here's the funny thing about the response I've been aware of to my dating famous people: It's been very negative. I'm either not good-looking enough not a good enough actor or not successful enough for these people.

I have mostly been terrified of listening to scary stories around a campfire. We camp a lot as a family and at night my dad would try and tell us scary stories. This made eating s'mores difficult. The story would start with something like... 'and the old man who lived in these woods...' I would then run back into the camper terrified.

I was trying to make art that my son could look on in the future and would realize I was thinking about him very much during these times... that he can look and see my dad's thinking about me but to also embed in these things something that is bigger than all of us.

My dad thinks Obama is a socialist and all these extreme views.

I had always loved music. I grew up listening to classic country Waylon Jennings Merle Haggard. My dad loved Vern Gosdin and Keith Whitley. So I kept going to class and started getting totally into playing guitar and teaching myself these songs.

My father was Catholic my mother was Protestant and because of that I got Christened in both churches so I've got all these names... but my Dad always called me Mick.

So I go to my first book signing and these two girls came up and gave me a piece of paper: '10 reasons you should date our dad. He climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. He's a lawyer.' He didn't know what was going on. He didn't even know me. They called him and he came down and asked me out that day. Now I'm dating their dad!

I had the best of both worlds when I was a kid. I'd spend a quiet week with my mum then I'd go to my dad's property in the Adelaide Hills where there were all these kids and animals running around.

We all feel really blessed to have been with my dad for these 85 years.

I remember once giving my dad some drawings and writings and said 'If you could just give these to the publisher that would be great.' And I was about five!

I didn't want to travel. I didn't want to leave my family. I heard all these stories from Dad about not having Edward around when he was young and I didn't want that to happen.