Tag: loss

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 see her son again.

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.

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 to heaven, yet she returns each day, as close as a whispered web or a patient beetle on my boots.

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.

Lincoln’s Grief  

The healthy sorrow of our most melancholy president

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 include changed views of the sacred, nature, and time itself.

Shakespeare’s Grief

After a pandemic took his son, the Bard would never be the same

Facing Loss with Job and Faust

“Adonai has compassion,” sang the psalmist, “for he understands how we are made, he remembers that we are dust.” Perhaps in our dust of grief, we see clearly for the first time.