Grieving Together
Grief offers a wild alchemy that transmutes suffering into fertile ground.
Francis Weller • The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief
I’ve come to also see grief as part of the everyday experience of being human in a world that is both good and cruel. In this sense, grief is a constant for us. It is a real and right response to our vulnerability.
Tish Harrison Warren • Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work or Watch or Weep
From this perspective, we can’t help but consider loss and longing as cruel and unruly, judging ourselves to be doing something wrong when we fail to get away from the pain.
Mirabai Starr • Wild Mercy: Living the Fierce and Tender Wisdom of the Women Mystics
Any griever, or any student of history, knows that relationships don’t end neatly with death; memories, imaginings, questions and answers continue to churn in the minds of the living, aided by artefacts and shared community. The secular space where we allow this reality to flourish is the arts.
Amy Kurzweil • Are chatbots of the dead a brilliant idea or a terrible one? | Aeon Essays
we can cultivate our intimacy with these sacred spaces. It takes some effort and courage to consciously break through the veil that Western society has spun around death. We are conditioned to see death as a failure rather than as a pilgrimage.