Prophesizing life from illness and death Aesthetic-phenomenological reflections on company, word and silence

Abstract

This article examines the need to recover, within everyday communication, the lived experiences of illness and dying. From a phenomenological perspective, it analyzes how the narration of such experiences can enrich the understanding of the meaning of life, which is often reduced to a framework that overlooks its constitutive condition of vulnerability. To support this proposal for ethical renewal, a connection is established between the transformation of bodily experience during illness and immersion in aesthetic experience, both understood as moments in which one relearns how to perceive the surrounding world. These processes are grounded in primary aisthesis, which enables the self-constitution of the personal self from early childhood.

Within this framework, the experience of caring and being cared for in the context of illness and death is examined phenomenologically, highlighting the ways in which companionship, speech, and silence configure a space of profound spiritual encounter. This space fosters the search for a sense of fulfillment at the end of life. It is argued that even when the fragility of memory prevents the ill person from having full awareness of his or her condition, such a space can be articulated through touch and companionship, generating a form of communication that reveals the ultimate vulnerability shared by those engaged in the caring relationship.

Finally, it is proposed that this communicative space may be expanded when shared through stories, whether testimonial or reworked as fiction, which invite a prophetic rediscovery of illness and dying. This rediscovery is presented as a lesson for living more fully, both in the care of others and in the care of oneself.