DEALING WITH GRIEF: Part 4 of 5
Because we live here on the earth plane, in the realm of duality, all sorts of grief will happen.
The question is should we sit there and analyze it, wallow in it, re-inforce it, or should we get out of it as quickly as possible. Its not that these negative states are “evil” per se. Often they are understandable.
Now if we take the modern psychological route, one can spend many years in a negative state, exposing oneself to all kinds of physical and mental problems. For, a person’s negative state will connect one to the negativity of the whole world (and even of what has happened in the past). There is a vast pool of negative energy in the collective psyche. Just imagine all the grief that has ever happened in history! All the losses, the tragedies, that have ever occurred! Yes it is there! So, when a person wallows in a grieving state he or she is not merely dealing with the actual grief of the event that has befallen them, but is now dealing with ALL the grief that has ever occurred. It is like opening a door to this giant cesspool.
This, in my opinion is gratuitous suffering. One’s grief is one’s grief. It is painful but manageable. But the collective grief of all history – this is not manageable, nor healthy.
Grief, like any other negative state, is something to get out of as quickly as possible. This is perhaps the greatest lesson that grief has to teach – how to get out of it.
Among the Jews, when one has lost a close family member, the Kaddish is prayed every day – three times a day – for a year. And, what is the Kaddish? A hymn of praise.