Once upon a time, we lived in a dark, damp world where children didn’t attend school, employment disappeared, and city air was poisonous. COVID-19 was an international pandemic of grief –we all know someone whose families struggled to make ends meet, whose jobs changed or disappeared; whose loved ones have lingering health complications; and whose workplaces, homes, and cities became surrounded by death. Even now as we emerge from the quarantined era, an eeriness pervades our old habits and infects our new ones. So much has happened in the past 2 years to unsettle our sense of place and identity. Not only has the pandemic reoriented how we approach our daily lives, but it has also called attention to the impactful role grief has in multiple aspects of life – school, work, family, health, and home. Pandemic or not, where do we go from here?

In this April workshop designed & led by Merlin Student Scholar Fellow Julianna Breit, we’ll offer a framework for acknowledging and understanding grief’s role in our lives through the lens of philosophy.  In the process, we’ll explore three basic questions:

• “What is grief?” 
• “What can it do for us?”
• And, “How is grief related to self-discovery & self-knowledge?”

While this workshop is not intended to be a “treatment” for grief (in the clinical sense), we do hope that some of the insights gained and questions explored will offer some relief by presenting a philosophical perspective for understanding our lives with grief in them. 

“Vain is the word of a philosopher which does not heal any suffering of man.” Epicurus