Extraordinary Sunshine Weaver

Have you noticed how difficult it is to grieve a loss? We are encouraged to “move on,” “tears won’t bring them back,” “get on with your life,” and so on. Is our troubled relationship with grieving related to our fear of death?

Francis Weller speaks and writes about grief in poetic terms. Nurturing a robust community (village) of support helps people to navigate grief and loss. How is learning to grieve related to joy? How does self-reliance affect the grieving process? Do we just grieve the loss of a loved one? What are the other personal losses we experience and never resolve? What are the losses of the world (environment)? What rituals have we lost over time that help our souls? How has our severed relationship with ancestors caused grief? Is our current state of anger and rage related to our stuffing away our grief? All war is compressed grief, he says. “Anger is revelatory. Intimidation is meant to silence a relationship.” Through intimidation, we lose part of our soul. Addictions (secondary satisfaction) result when we lean on power, wealth, status, or rank. Empire. Those things feed us, not nurturing sacred communal practices. Gratitude is a partner to grief. Mature people can carry one in one hand and the other in the other hand.

I’m including links to two of his books on grief that I have read. I’ve gifted The Wild Edge of Sorrow to friends who have experienced deep loss.