On Halloween we scare ourselves with skeletons, and as the trees lose their leaves we may think the bare branches ominous or dull. But there is also beauty in the bones of things, in the spare shape of the structures at the center.
In times of loss, have you found beauty in the essentials that remained?
The Daily Compass offers words and images to inspire spiritual reflection and encourage the creation of a more loving, inclusive and just world. Produced by The Church of the Larger Fellowship, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation Without Walls.
Oh yes. Most definitely.
In times of loss, have you found beauty in the essentials that remained?…
No. Each time I first experience “loss” – I experience panic and despair; then anger and grief [oh! how I can rage!] … and, the “beautiful” moments are hard to hold onto; because the pain of not having them anymore, creates too many sharp edges…
Blessings,
Dwayne
Often while grieving, I cherish the happy memories that remain with me.
When I’ve gone to lock down units at mental hospitals, I’ve lost everything I thought I cared about: music, contact to the few friends I had, comfort items, fresh air, and every last scrap of freedom. These things were not wonderful enough to convince me that life is worth living; otherwise I would not have been committed in the first place. By stripping everything away, I saw that I cared enough about them to miss them even for a few days. The experience also reduced my life to those terms because everything else – school obligations and the like – were temporarily removed as well and so I could see what I cared about more clearly. I get a glimpse of the “spare shape of the structures at the center” of my life.
I still think there’s got to be a more humane way of running a hospital than ripping away everything precious, but I suppose this way is at least occasionally effective.