Photo Credit: Ben Mater
In these tumultuous and tiring days of disruption and disorder, the sources we turn to for wisdom and nourishment talk an awful lot about love.
Love holds us tenderly as we wrestle with our fear and self-doubt.
Love dissolves the loathing that leads us to taste hate on our tongues.
Love pushes us into wells of sorrow that lead to healing.
Love nourishes our hopes for a future grounded in mutual care for one another and our planet.
Love fortifies us for the work that can and must be done.
Regardless of what you think happens after you die, here and now we’re all mortal beings with finite time on this planet. Someday, one day, and you don’t know when, the people you hold near and dear are going to die. And you are going to die. What does that mean to you? What’s the point—the purpose—the meaning of it all?
After a year like no other, we enter 2021 with absolute clarity that we can only manifest the change we seek—change on every level—if we acknowledge what is. Only when we accept where we’re at as individuals, as part of intimate circles of friends and family, as members of communities, and as a global citizenry can we reconcile and collaborate to create a radically different society.
If love is the answer, “how do you make sense of life and death?” is the question.
All our love,
Michelle + Reena
What about you?
How do you make sense of life and death?
How is love the answer to your questions?
There was a time when I thought that death acceptance was the opposite of death denial. I also thought that there were two signs of death denial: fear of death and dying, and strong attachments to life and living. My thinking was that if I didn’t have fear and anxiety about death, and I could sever my strong attachments in life, I would live peacefully with the full acceptance of death.
It was five and a half years ago today that I began a ten-week exploration into big questions around death, dying and community reclamation of deathcare.
Ngaio Davis, a licensed funeral director and embalmer for the last 17 years, considers herself more of a deathcare worker and support giver. As the founder of KORU, a micro-funeral business, she offers funeral-related or death-care services in the Vancouver area of British Columbia, Canada.
