Aftermath: Recuperation (Grieving Futures)
It took several cracks in my amour and a year of blinking at the world in shock before I sought the help I needed. It is no lie to say that after that, things got really difficult, but it is no less true that they also got better.
Love is my eternity
The grieving atheist’s consolation is not in hope but in love. The theme of reunion runs through a lot of religions, and many people of faith rest the burden of their grief on the hope that someday they will be reunited with their loved ones. They believe that they...
Living as the afterlife
As a non-deist and skeptic, I view "after life" as the yawning, endless time that is experienced by those of us surviving the loss of a loved one: We are living after the life of someone else has ended. It's an important role for us. We are all the after-life that the...
What ‘Sacred’ Means
I was interested in reactions to this NPR 'Code Switch' story, "What Part of Sacred Don't You Understand?" Normally I don't read comments sections because therein lies madness, but in this case I made an exception. The topic is a sensitive one here in America,...
The Value of Life Before Death
A well done video of David Foster Wallace's Kenyon College commencement speech. It is worth watching and thinking about, offering up a thoughtful commentary on modern life and what we think about:
Salvation from Sin
A surprising title for an atheist blog about grief, but I find both concepts fascinating. I've wondered for years why we need them, why we created them in the first place. I joined a friend at a Unitarian Universalist service this morning, and was thrilled that the...
Poppa’s Boots
They are military boots, worn in and proud, and they get shuffled from corner to corner of my house because I can’t wear them, and I can’t get rid of them…
Writing recommences on ‘The Empty Bowl’
A long time ago, I decided to write a book about atheism and grief. I was going to call it "The Empty Bowl", a riff on my own Buddhist studies as well as a vivid image of grief itself. In a not very unusual occurrence, I stalled after that. Grieving Futures stalled...
Secular traditions are powerful
I was linked to a great article via What's Your Grief? blog: The Day the Man Came to Burning Man (link to LA Weekly). It's a tear jerker, if inspiring as well. I was surprised because I have more than few friends who go to Burning Man every year and no one mentioned...
The Freedom to Funeral
I was talking to my friend David recently about funerals. He is an observant Jew who had attended an Evangelical Christian funeral, and was appalled by the fact that the music was recorded. I have to assume it was a pretty terrible choice of hymns or a cheap sound...
Censoring suicide – Martin Manley’s Final Report
If you spend any time online in the "death circle" of funeral directors and grief/mourning specialists, you have seen the story of Martin Manley, a sports writer in Kansas who committed suicide on August 15th. Suicides, sadly, are not very unusual items to report on....
Tragedy changes us; Patience tempers us; Fortitude keeps us going.
Lessons in grief, crisis, and recovery from 30 years of life as an adult orphan from a GenX woman who has resentfully struggled every step of the way.
