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grief 31

Erich Maria Remarque’s Grief

He decides to write about his experience. Two earlier novels were dismal affairs. But now in 1927, over the course of a few months, he fills each page with pain…

What is a Miracle Anyway?

My miracles are many, too many to count or explain. Maybe yours are too.

A Phone that Does not Ring

Jess never missed calling me today, even when I was half a world away. This marks the eleventh year that my phone will not ring.

The Hidden Sorrow of Easter

Christ’s resurrection offers assurance in the face of inevitable, implacable death. But it doesn’t come easily

In Search of Solace

Death often challenges our view of the physical and invisible worlds.

Grief in the White House

Parental bereavement is as profound as the lifelong changes that accompany it

Lament for a Post-National Canada

"Canada has become a country much practiced at outrage."
January 24, 2025

Facing a New Year of Grief

Grief is not a process to work through, a disorder to heal, a condition to treat, or an illness to cure.

William James’s Grief

Decades of sorrow and searching for clinical evidence have strengthened his resolve, tempered now by experiences that add up to more than disparate bits of empirical data.

Mary Shelley’s Grief

Mary writes with gentle pathos, patience, and calm—traits common to those who have endured terrible loss. Her observations on life’s many ironies offer catharsis for author and reader alike.

Joan of Arc’s Grief

My grief would overwhelm me if I were not in God's grace. — Joan of Arc, February 24, 1431

Else Lasker-Schüler’s Grief

Her work is certainly redolent of sorrow and, as she describes it, the eternity that dwells within her. But her words also carry hope and surprising faith that she will…

Falling is Not Failure, and Getting up is Not the Point

Life knocks us down. It is the price of this world, however much we may kid ourselves otherwise. Our falls become part of us.

Sigmund Freud’s Grief

In expressing his love through epistolary lament, it may be that Freud discovered the precise meaning he felt he had lost.
August 26, 2024

Safe at Last

As the sun rises over the Nile or my daughter’s grave, it occurs to me that the ancient Egyptians may have been onto something. Jess lives on, her soul soars…

The Heartbreak behind the EEG

Modern physicians use Hans Berger’s invention to save lives every day

The Consolation of Silence

Your presence is needed. Hush. Stay. Show your love by letting them grieve.

Grief in Eternity

Yet at times, if only for a moment, I feel the shadow over my days is transformed into pure spirit. Such thoughts give me a surprising sense of quiet joy.

Emerson’s Grief

Wallie is gone; no visible scar remains. Mourning provides no lesson, no answers, no closure. The poet is not decrying grief for its lack of utility.

A Son’s Journey to His Father

Men often reflect on their relationship with their fathers during these coincidences of milestones; a similar thing often happens when a son reaches the age his father was when the…

Lincoln’s Grief  

The healthy sorrow of our most melancholy president

98.6 Percent of Us Sense our Dead

We’re not crazy — and we’re not alone
June 3, 2024

Wandering in Solitude

But there is something more going on. We also face a new “transcendent reality,” as Klass puts it, in which we see the spiritual world with new eyes. This may…
May 20, 2024

The Hidden Sorrow of Mother’s Day

Our mothers and our children will always be part of our lives, in life and death. Surprisingly, grief does not dominate our existence, it informs it.