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Year of Magical ThinkingAlso, this webpage has some great essays and reflections on grief and authors: "Sheng Sheng Man" (声声慢), translated by various scholars.
“The Friend Who Cares”Alzheimer Society essay, 2008From “The Guest House” translated by Coleman Barks in The Essential Rumi (HarperCollins, 1995)
Note: Barks' translations are widely used but are adaptations rather than literal translations. For more literal translations, consult works by Jawid Mojaddedi or other Persian scholars.
Where to find the readings
This section is still under construction
Religious Texts
Buddhist, key texts
Christianity, Key texts
Portal:Bible
Hinduism, Key texts
Islam, Key texts
Portal:Islam
Judaism, Key texts
Portal:Judaism
There are so many traditions, I have only started compiling key texts. Here is a link to the WikiPortal on Religions for reference to many others.
Portal:Religion
Resources
Canadian Virtual Hospice - cultural resources
Indigenous Perspectives on Palliative and End of Life care
Other literature
Didion, Joan
“Life changes in the instant. The ordinary instant”
“Grief turns out to be a place none of us know until we reach it.”
“Grief is different. Grief has no distance. Grief comes in waves, paroxysms, sudden apprehensions that weaken the knees and blind the eyes and obliterate the dailiness of life.”
Gordimer, Nadine
“Whom to talk to? Grief is boring after a while, burdensome even to close confidants. After a very short while, for them. The long whole continues. A cord that won't come full circle, doesn't know how to tie a knot in a resolution. So whom to talk to. Speak”
Li Qingzhao
“Seeking, seeking, searching, searching / Cold and desolate, desolate and mournful / This is the hardest time to bear."
Nouwen, Henri
““The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.”
Pratchett, Terry
"The disease slips you away a little bit at a time and lets you watch it happen."
Rumi, Jalaluddin (Barks translation)
“This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all!”
“Don't turn away. Keep your gaze on the bandaged place. That's where the light enters you.”
Walcott, Derek
“Half my friends are dead. / I will make you new ones, said earth. / No, give me them back, as they were, instead, / with faults and all, I cried.”
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