Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Analysis of theories of loss and grief
Loss grief and death quizlet
Analyse theories of loss and grief
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Analysis of theories of loss and grief
The human experience is what connects people to one another. What we experience defines who we are and who we become. It also defines how we interact with others. The amazing thing is that not only do the events that bring joy, peace and happiness connect us but also those that bring anxiety, fear and despair. This brings to light the fact that God somehow in his sovereignty uses all things for the good of those who love Him. These ideas are brought to light in Jerry Sittser’s book, A Grace Disguised which is his personal journey of loss and the insight and experience that was gained in the face of great tragedy. In his book, Sittser discusses various insights he has gained, such as how Christian’s view sorrow, how families recover when someone they love develops a mental disorder, and the Christian view on suffering and forgiveness. I believe that the author has written a book that has many universal truths that can be applied to anyone’s life and they have the ability to bring healing to many. His ideas can also aid professionals who work with the mentally ill in becoming more compassionate. Sittser’s ideas on the Christian view of sorrow and loss are based on his own heartbreak. The loss of his wife, mother and daughter in a car accident and the after effects of such a catastrophe lead him to explore the depths of sorrow, loss and pain and in them discover God. He begins by stating that “all people suffer loss” (Sittser, 2004, p.31) and despite the fact that every person’s loss is individual and unique, all humans will experience some type of loss in their lives. These losses vary from losing your childhood to acquire adulthood all the way to loss that brings great sorrow such as illness, disability, various kinds of abuse and... ... middle of paper ... ...on rather than a disease or a problem that must be cured or solved. Jerry Sittser’s book not only brings readers into loss with all its real emotions and pain but it also highlights truths that can be applied to anyone’s life. Sittser’s faith is evident throughout the book and his struggle of finding his faith within his loss and sorrow is encouraging to many. In the end, through his loss, he finds God again and through the writing of his book is now able to offer many insights on the Christian perspectives of sorrow, loss, forgiveness and how mental illness affects families. Sittser inspires readers because they have witnessed that they can too grow and continue living life despite their loss and without forgetting their loss. Works Cited Sittser, G. L. (2004). A grace disguised: how the soul grows through loss (Expanded ed.). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan.
Drawing a distinction between being for someone and being with someone, Father Boyle writes: “Jesus was not a man for others. He was one with others. Jesus didn’t seek the rights of lepers. He touched the leper even before he got around to curing him. He didn’t champion the cause of the outcast. He was the outcast.” Such a distinction has significant implications for understanding ourselves in relation to others. While being for someone implies a separateness, a distinction between “them” and “us”, being with someone requires the recognition of a oneness with another, a unity that eradicates differences and binds people together. “’Be compassionate as God is compassionate’, means the dismantling of barriers that exclude,” writes Father Boyle. Accordingly, true compassion is not only recognizing the pain and suffering of others – it is not just advocating for those in need. It is being with others in their pain and suffering – and “bringing them in toward yourself.” Indeed, scripture scholars connect the word compassion to the “deepest part of the person,” showing that when Jesus was “moved with pity”, he was moved “from the entirety of his
As I continued to chat with my pastor that day, I really sensed the hurt in his eyes – the anger that comes from an unsolvable injustice, the tiredness of a problem. “What’s wrong?” I finally asked, “Having a bad day?” Sensing that I was truly concerned, he let the truth be told. “I talked with a woman today whose baby died suddenly of unknown causes. As we worked through her grief, she talked about how numerous friends and family, even a religious leader had patted her on the back, shook their heads and said, ‘It was God’s will.’ I find few things worse to say to a grieving parent. Saying nothing at all would be of more help.” It was obvious from our conversation that he had an understanding greater than I about God’s will, and his insight created in me a curiosity and desire to learn more.
After reviewing the work of David Hume, the idea of a God existing in a world filled with so much pain and suffering is not so hard to understand. Humes’ work highlights some interesting points which allowed me to reach the conclusion that suffering is perhaps a part of God’s divine plan for humans. Our morals and values allow us to operate and live our daily lives in conjunction with a set of standards that help us to better understand our world around us and essentially allows us to better prepare for the potential life after life. For each and every day we get closer to our impending deaths and possibly closer to meeting the grand orchestrator of our universe.
Most individuals have experienced the everlasting joy and love that comes with caring family and friends, but the realization is that agony and despair will always win the war of light and dark, and family and friends are simply just impeding the end result. When a child is born, agony is already set in place, for screaming and crying will commence as soon as the child feels hands clasped on to him. However, this agony is soon met with joy as the child is met with his mother’s soothing heartbeat. Moreover, sometimes this heartbeat never comes, and thus, agony and despair stay within this child’s heart forever. Jimmy Baca, a lost young man who has only witnessed pain in his life, is this child. Furthermore, there comes a time in every individual’s
However, individuals of the World State only require comfort for pain and suffering because they are death conditioned at a young age. Interestingly, soma is compared to religion, a comforting human concept. In chapter seventeen Mustapha Mond states, “Christianity without tears - that’s what soma is” (Huxley 238). Soma provides the desired comfort to its consumers, much like the comfort that Christianity provides to its believers. Soma, however, masks the agonies or “tears” in life while Christianity does not completely eliminate the evil in human lives on earth. The Savage, John, suggests, “it is natural to believe in God when you’re alone - quite alone, in the night, thinking about death” (Huxley 235). While God does provide a natural comfort for humans, He does not provide it to the extreme extent that soma does. The World State civilization relies upon soma’s comfort, becoming addicted to the escape from suffering that the drug provides. John confronts Mustapha Mond for “getting rid of everything unpleasant instead of learning to put up with it” (Huxley 238). Religion provides comfort from “everything unpleasant,” however, it does not simply eliminate these unpleasant feelings. In the ideas of Christianity, people first must endure these hardships in life before being granted complete relief through eternal life in heaven. Soma does not create the necessity
“How can there be a God in a world full of suffering?” This question, left unanswered, is enough to turn a potential believer or one of weak faith away from Christianity. The suffering of the world cannot be denied, especially living in a time preceded by the bloodiest century in human history. Furthermore, there is no simple, neat answer to account for the presence of pain, misery, and death within the world, while also accounting for the limitless power of a God. Malcolm Guite provides a reassuring poem in response to this issue, entitled “Jesus falls the third time,” central to his collection of poetry, Sounding the Seasons, in he describes the suffering of mankind and Christ.
“I might have said, 'He's got over it. He's forgotten his wife,' when the truth was, 'He remembers her better because he has partly got over it.'” (4). When analyzing Lewis’ discussion of grief, one should focus on his preconception of grief prior to his experience of loss. Prior to losing his wife, Lewis originally thought that grief was a time of extreme sorrow and anguish, but one that is eventually overcome and healed, as a barrier is overcome and conquered or an injury healed. After personally experiencing the death of Helen, Lewis begins to understand that it is a daily process of readjustment, not one of overcoming. Although healing and life can occur afterward, Lewis suggests that it cannot be the same. Nor would Lewis agree that the healing and peace of grief comes by forgetting the death and pain, rather, grief can only bring healing and peace once people accept the inevitable truth, let go of the past to a degree to move forward, and begin the journey with God into the stores of the
As noted, the grieving process is exclusive to each individual; the process in adolescents and children is relatively different. (Everly & Lating, 2013, p. 392-393). How do we as Christian human service professionals assist
I hid my face as I sat desperately alone in the back of the crowded church and stared through blurry eyes at the stained glass windows. Tears of fear and anguish soaked my red cheeks. Attempting to listen to the hollow words spoken with heartfelt emotion, I glanced at his picture, and my eyes became fixed on his beloved dog. Sudden flashes of sacred memories overcame me. Memories of soccer, his unforgettable smile, and our frequent exchange of playful insults, set my mind spinning. I longed only to hear his delighted voice once more. I sat for what seemed like hours in that lonely yet overcrowded church; my tears still flowed, and I still remembered.
In the story “The Beginnings of grief” Adam Haslett’s protagonist demonstrate the power that grief can have in a person 's life, and one may find comfort in pain and violent encounters with another human being while one is gathering the strength to survive.
This project acknowledged the physical and emotional trauma from dealing with emotional setbacks and focused on the emotional pain of young African American adults at Shiloh Baptist Church (Old Site) from twenty to forty years of age who lost at least one parent. People feel loss when our parents die because our parents are our “wisdom keepers.” Some people spend a lifetime “searching for our parents for answers,” wrote psychotherapist Sherry E. Showalter, author of Healing Heartaches: Stories of Loss and Life. Human beings seek in them knowledge about our history, our upbringing, family traditions, and the names of all those faces in old photos. Their passing of information that hasn’t already been transmitted or recorded to later generations can bring insight.
During the span of one’s lifetime, a lot of things come and go. Losing people or even things seem to be a common occurrence for everyone and it often brings sadness or grief. Elizabeth Bishop talks about loss in her poem titled “One Art,” acquiring a posture that promotes healing and the acceptation of it. Listing things she lost, the author talks about the commonness of losing and expresses that, while some might be easy to overcome, others can hurt people at a deeper level.
Patience is the key to understanding one’s suffering at the time of suffering because if you act irrationally, then you will suffer a greater consequence than the one you are experience now, and faith is the key to understanding suffering before you are afflicted with it because with faith, you realize whether or not you have committed a sin and probably of you receiving an adverse effect from the act.
People live in a broken world: injustice, illness and death are everywhere, meanwhile, love, joy and hope are just a shadow of an utopian society. Even the most optimistic people have realized that humanity is immersed in darkness concluding that a hopeless future is what this humanity awaits. Although, the endless works of intellectuals and philosophers have offered explanations of the problem of evil and suffering to the anxious people who seek an end to their interminable sufferings, none of these solutions have satisfy their anguished heart. Hence, where can a man find an answer? Religion has played an important role in this human issue, and Christianity has taken the challenge on explaining the whys of the problem of evil and suffering.
Within the year 2011, I lost three very important family members to cancer and suicide. These tragedies, just months apart, obliterated me. It destroyed my joy, my love for everything, and it turned into despair within God. I questioned him daily, “Why? Why them, and why me?”. I couldn’t understand that if He loved everyone so much, why was their pain and death? It was during this time where my mother felt the need to attend Church much more for the condolences of our family and the spiritual guidance of our hearts. Attending church wasn’t easy, but it was very enlightening on our sad souls. In the events of these deaths, I have learned to accept what is and move on for greater of myself and those around me. Small towns in Texas are notorious for their abundant population in churches. Being surrounded by people who are genuinely interested in my walk with Christ has helped my faith. I have become a better and well represented young woman due to the support from my hometown. My journey with God has molded me to be more Christ-like in everything I do, whether it's sports, academics, or even jobs, and my community has been there to serve as a physical reminder of a spiritual and emotional support system. I work as I would for the Lord. Because prayer is the basic foundation for my walk with