Making the World Safe for Sorrow

Amazon Best Seller in Death & Grief, Sociology of Death, and Buddhist Rituals & PracticeThere is no one “right” way to grieve. But some ways might be better than others. What if grief were not an occasion for increased loneliness, anxiety, and depression, but instead an opportunity for deep communication, a sense of oneness with all of life, and a place of profound love? What if loneliness itself were largely a matter of unattended grief? What if all of your hatred and ambivalence could find a home in contemplation and turn toward compassion?In Making the World Safe for Sorrow, Margaret (Maggie) Izutsu gently guides you in adapting Japanese memorial customs—both private and social—to ease the pain associated with bereavement, find joy to complement your sadness, and transform living through a spiritual discipline.Drawing on the experience of a dozen pilot project participants who tried on these resources rooted in Buddhist and Confucian traditions and supplemented by their own Christian backgrounds, Maggie describes their challenges and triumphs. She offers simple suggestions for experimenting with these resources, either privately or in community, and invites you to explore these gems of wisdom and practice to better understand how they might affect both our grieving and our culture in general. Read more