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Grief and Loss

Wonderful reading this interview with Francis Weller on grief and loss.  In speaking of how little time people allow themselves to mourn and how grieving has become a solitary process, he says: 

In this culture we display a compulsive avoidance of difficult matters and an obsession with distraction. Because we cannot acknowledge our grief, we’re forced to stay on the surface of life. Poet Kahlil Gibran said, “The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.” We experience little genuine joy in part because we avoid the depths. We are an ascension culture. 

The whole interview is thought-provoking. This one I can particularly relate to having lost a loved one recently. I cried my heart out to my best friend from college. She knew my uncle and his significance in my life. We cried together - me for my loss, she to see her friend in pain. It was a momentary release from the pain but I was grateful for it. I took one day off from work to cope and it was business as usual after that. Society does not allow a week, month or year to cope with grief. 

There is this mad rush to move on, return to regular programming and getting on with one's life. Not taking the time to relive memories that made the person so important in our life, is an assault on their humanity.

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