{"id":5398,"date":"2013-07-24T12:35:22","date_gmt":"2013-07-24T16:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/blissblog\/?p=5398"},"modified":"2013-07-24T12:35:22","modified_gmt":"2013-07-24T16:35:22","slug":"death-and-the-human-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/07\/death-and-the-human-experience.html","title":{"rendered":"Death and the Totality of the Human Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Life is eternal, and love is immortal,
\nand death is only a horizon;
\nand a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight.
\n~Rossiter Worthington Raymond<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Death is such a strange and multi-faceted experience. Yesterday, I witnessed my sister Jan and her family as they said goodbye to her husband, and their father Pete.\u00a0 A simple man with complicated emotions that sometimes ran him. A long term illness that set the agenda for daily dynamics that literally had my sister running herself ragged. Love and loss in one package.\u00a0Knowing that he is no longer suffering, is a relief to everyone who knew him. Knowing that\u00a0the healing is beginning\u00a0for\u00a0Jan and the kids is a relief to me. Seeing them grappling with losing him and all the things that would mean for their lives, has been challenging. Although their\u00a0process is not about me, I can’t help but have an emotional reaction to the situation. First and foremost, I know that they are all enwrapped in a huge\u00a0quilt of support\u00a0 comprised of \u00a0family and friends. People came out en masse to one or more of the trifecta of ceremonies to honor his passing; the viewing, the mass, since Pete was Catholic,\u00a0and the graveside service. The priest spoke at one point about not knowing the day of our death, so we need live as fully and lovingly as possible, focusing on the good in life.<\/p>\n

I was glad to see cousins with whom we had grown up, show up in support of the family. Our parents used to gather every month or so for Cousins Club meetings and now my generation gets together for weddings, funerals, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. I gazed at their gracefully seasoned faces: Ricky, Steve and Teddy-brothers who, along with Jan and me, are part of the ‘Adult Orphans’ club since losing their father earlier this year and Roz whose grandmother and mine (as well as that of the aforementioned R, S and T:) were sisters. Her parents are among the last of my parents’ generation.\u00a0 My BFF Barb whose father recently passed after celebrating his 90th also came out to be with us. We gave knowing nods when she walked in to the funeral home.<\/p>\n

We all carry the woundings and wonder of looking death in the face and knowing that there is more to it than\u00a0 closed eyes and still hearts. Before Michael died in 1998, I heard these distinct words from Beyond:\u00a0 “Everyone is on loan to you.” and then more recently, “Everyone you now know and love will one day die or leave you, or you will die or leave them.” Those comfort, rather than frighten me and I live each day as if this could be my last. Sometimes I forget (that darn spiritual amnesia) and get caught up in fretting over minutia.<\/p>\n

Such a mish-mosh of juxtaposed emotions; tears and laughter; the silly and the somber. When we grieve well, we leave room for spaciousness that lets every emotion take the stage as they do, sometimes all at once. The totality of the\u00a0 human experience.<\/p>\n

Wishing Pete the peace that he didn’t experience in life and wishing my sister and the kids, beginning anew.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

http:\/\/youtu.be\/1eR1ni6sZK4<\/a>\u00a0 Life Is Eternal- by Carly Simon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Life is eternal, and love is immortal, and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight. ~Rossiter Worthington Raymond   Death is such a strange and multi-faceted experience. Yesterday, I witnessed my sister Jan and her family as they said goodbye to her husband, and their…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":233,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,1,41,19,26,50,3,22,14,4,54,16,24],"tags":[2833,848,1491,1074,4861,1073,3282,3283],"class_list":["post-5398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-affirmations","category-attracting-what-you-desire","category-death","category-empowerment","category-forgiveness","category-god","category-gratitude","category-healing","category-how-to-invite-bliss","category-inspiration","category-interfaith","category-my-personal-bliss","category-peace","tag-bar-mitzvah","tag-bat-mitzvah","tag-carly-simon","tag-catholic","tag-death","tag-jewish","tag-life-is-eternal","tag-loss-and-grief"],"yoast_head":"\nDeath and the Totality of the Human Experience - The Bliss Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/07\/death-and-the-human-experience.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Death and the Totality of the Human Experience - The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  Life is eternal, and love is immortal, and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight. ~Rossiter Worthington Raymond   Death is such a strange and multi-faceted experience. Yesterday, I witnessed my sister Jan and her family as they said goodbye to her husband, and their…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/07\/death-and-the-human-experience.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-07-24T16:35:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/estock\/fspid3\/348200\/canada-348297-m.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EdieWeinstein1\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Death and the Totality of the Human Experience - The Bliss Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/07\/death-and-the-human-experience.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Death and the Totality of the Human Experience - The Bliss Blog","og_description":"  Life is eternal, and love is immortal, and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight. ~Rossiter Worthington Raymond   Death is such a strange and multi-faceted experience. Yesterday, I witnessed my sister Jan and her family as they said goodbye to her husband, and their…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/07\/death-and-the-human-experience.html","og_site_name":"The Bliss Blog","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga","article_published_time":"2013-07-24T16:35:22+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/estock\/fspid3\/348200\/canada-348297-m.jpg"}],"author":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EdieWeinstein1","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/07\/death-and-the-human-experience.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/07\/death-and-the-human-experience.html","name":"Death and the Totality of the Human Experience - The Bliss Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/07\/death-and-the-human-experience.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/07\/death-and-the-human-experience.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/estock\/fspid3\/348200\/canada-348297-m.jpg","datePublished":"2013-07-24T16:35:22+00:00","dateModified":"2013-07-24T16:35:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/edcd643a643a9ca91adb1e8f9e177386"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/07\/death-and-the-human-experience.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/07\/death-and-the-human-experience.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/07\/death-and-the-human-experience.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/estock\/fspid3\/348200\/canada-348297-m.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/estock\/fspid3\/348200\/canada-348297-m.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2013\/07\/death-and-the-human-experience.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Death and the Totality of the Human Experience"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/","name":"The Bliss Blog","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Edie Weinstein","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/edcd643a643a9ca91adb1e8f9e177386","name":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/0d6\/0d6cd7619da51a9a40cc705280e88f9cx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/0d6\/0d6cd7619da51a9a40cc705280e88f9cx96.jpg","caption":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW"},"description":"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW is a colorfully creative journalist, inspiring transformational speaker, licensed social worker, interfaith minister, editor, radio host, BLISS coach, event producer, Cosmic Concierge, the author of The Bliss Mistress Guide To Transforming The Ordinary Into The Extraordinary and co-author of Embraced By the Divine: The Emerging Woman\u2019s Gateway to Power, Passion and Purpose. She has also contributed to several anthologies and personal growth books. Edie has interviewed such notables as Ram Dass, Wayne Dyer, Debbie Ford, don Miguel Ruiz, don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. Marianne Williamson, Grover Washington, Jr. Noah Levine, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Weaver, Ben and Jerry and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She calls herself an Opti-mystic who sees the world through the eyes of possibility. Edie is the founder of Hug Mobsters Armed With Love, which offers FREE HUGS events on a planned and spontaneous basis. www.opti-mystical.com.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.opti-mystical.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga","https:\/\/x.com\/EdieWeinstein1"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/author\/eweinstein"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/233"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5398"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5402,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5398\/revisions\/5402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}