Note: this post addresses the complex topic of grief. If you’re struggling with grief and would like assistance, please visit the Grief Resource Network.
Last week, in a post titled Memento Mori, I posted about the brutal reality of death. Looking back, I feel like I didn’t adequately address grief.
Grief is natural. Not only do humans grieve, but so do many non-human creatures. Denying or suppressing grief can result in problems emotionally, mentally, and physically.
There is no timetable for the progression of grief. For some, it’s short-lived, while for others, it takes years. Grief is very individual; while many people are thought to progress through multiple stages during the grieving process, the grieving process is not universal in its progression.
From a philosophical perspective, while I quoted Stoicism, the Stoic emphasis on rationality fails. In my previous post, I quoted Seneca saying that we shouldn’t allow grief to control us. While this is good advice, the problem is that we can’t just turn off our emotions. Although we think of ourselves as rational creatures, rational thought is the tiniest tip of the iceberg of the mind. The majority of the mind, conscious and unconscious, is emotion.
Dark Paganism is a philosophy of reason. That doesn’t mean it’s exclusively about rational thought. Reason includes not only our rational side but accepts the emotional and irrational side. This view on reason makes Dark Paganism a form of humanism, for it accepts and celebrates our humanity with all of its messiness and complexity. To quote the Roman playwright Terence, “I am human, and I think nothing human is alien to me.”
Blessed Be,
Frater Tenebris
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