S2E27: Unlearning Our Fear of Death

About this episode

Ky Dickens interviews Lynette Wallworth about her near-death experience and its impact on her understanding of death and culture.

In this episode of Talk Tracks , Ky Dickens sits down with Emmy Award–winning filmmaker Lynette Wallworth, whose near-death experience at age nine reshaped her understanding of reality, belonging, and what it means to die. That experience set her on a lifelong journey that led her to Indigenous communities in the Brazilian Amazon, Mexico, and Australia, where death is not feared, but understood as part of an ongoing cycle of existence. Through these relationships, she began to question a core assumption of Western culture: is our fear of death inherent, or has it been learned? Drawing from her upcoming documentary Edge of Life , Wallworth shares stories from psilocybin-assisted end-of-life trials, where patients facing terminal illness report vivid, often life-altering experiences that dissolve their fear of dying. These accounts of reunion, continuity, and peace mirror both ancient traditions and emerging scientific inquiry. What if the greatest barrier to understanding death is not the unknown but what we’ve forgotten? -------- Join  The Telepathy Tapes Backstage Pass  to get ad-free episodes, never-before-heard interviews, behind-the-scenes documentary footage, and…

People in this episode

Host: Ky Dickens

Guest: Lynette Wallworth

Topics covered

• fear of death
• near-death experience
• Indigenous communities
• psilocybin
• documentary
• cultural beliefs

Keywords

• death
• fear
• near-death experience
• psilocybin
• documentary
• Indigenous culture
• life-altering experiences

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Edge of Life

Places: Brazilian Amazon, Mexico, Australia

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