The Great Mystery: A Lecture Series on Death

Cultures of Death and Near-Death Experiences

Embark on a transformative journey in this enlightening series on death and its mysteries. Discover unique perspectives and gain insight into the timeless question of human experience: what is death?

The University of Toledo and the Toledo Lucas County Public Library present this thought-provoking and enlightening lecture series that explores the multifaceted aspects of death, and its significance in human existence and fosters a deeper understanding of death’s impact on individuals, families, and society.

Distinguished scholars from diverse fields will share knowledge, expertise, and perspectives on death. Through a wide range of captivating lectures, attendees will have the opportunity to discuss and reflect on death, dying, and themselves.

Cultures of Death and Near-Death Experiences

Artistic expressions of death and near-death experiences help us come to terms with our mortality - some artists find beauty in it and some cultures glorify it. Survivors of near-death experiences sometimes turn to art as an outlet for their overwhelming emotions. Dr. Allred and artist Joni Johnson will discuss cultural expressions of death through art.

Presented by:

Ammon Allred is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toledo and Faculty Director for the Palmer Global Fellows Program. His research focuses on aesthetics and the philosophy of literature in the post-Kantian tradition, particularly in phenomenology and deconstruction. He received his PhD in Philosophy from Villanova University in 2004. Before joining the faculty at UT in 2008, he held positions as a postdoctoral fellow at Villanova University and a visiting lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania. Doctor Allred’s main area of specialization is in aesthetics and post-Kantian philosophy, particularly phenomenology and deconstruction. His research focused on the role that the imagination plays in shaping our response to pressing existential questions.  His publications have drawn on a range of philosophers such as Plato, Kant, Hegel, Heidegger, Blanchot, Derrida, and Badiou and artists and poets such as Leonardo da Vinci, Brice Marden, Milan Kundera, Robert Maplethorpe, Salman Rushdie, Anne Carson and Paul Celan.

Joni Johnson loves to explore the edge of community conversations by asking fruitful, intuitive questions and understanding nonlinear healing. Joni sees herself as a collection of living, breathing questions. She has led interactive community projects like the ‘Before I Die’ wall and a blog called ‘Humans of Toledo’ while also pursuing the intrapersonal path of understanding and processing childhood wounds and grieving the loss of close loved ones. Through this complex conversation with life and expanding interpersonal relationships, Joni discovered a passion for assisting in the coevolution of our community ability to heal, holding space for collective growth. She has found a deep love for challenging binary thinking with softness and expanding how a community interacts and moves with one another. Joni created a community YouTube series on death. This series explores how people process death through reflection and narrative – and how opening the heart opens the door for transmuting the heaviness into healing. Guests are introduced not by what they ‘do’, but by how they see, sharing unique perspectives on processing grief with grace, wisdom, art, literature, and ultimately, spiritual practice.