The Five Gates of Grief

[VM-Fox25]

Hello all,

There are many ways to explore and understand grief. I’ve been exploring Francis Weller’s “Five Gates of Grief” and have been gaining a lot of clarity.

The gates are like different shapes, forms, or avenues of grief, and I feel they serve as a kind reminder that we can feel grief in many ways and as a result of many experiences. I recommend reading “The Wild Edge of Sorrow” by Francis Weller for more information, or you can refer to this short document. In brief, the gates are as follows:

1) Everything we love, we will lose – all things must come to an end.
2) The places that have not known love – the parts of ourselves we have ignored, forgotten, or left behind.
3) The sorrows of the world – loss of cultures, lands, connection to the Earth.
4) What we expected and did not receive – loss of communities, longing to belong.
5) Ancestral grief – the pain of those who came before us.

Of course, this looks different to us all, and some points may stick out to you more than others. Just be kind with yourself. I hope this provides you some clarity or perhaps some avenues to explore. Please let me know your thoughts. 🙂

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[VM-Fox25]

Hi @vmv_68

I hope you enjoy the book.

I agree with you that there is a lot of global pain that becomes to heavy for one person to carry, and I love your statement around small acts of individual activism to transform global pain into something meaningful. It’s such a beautiful way of self-empowerment and very similar to the way the author, Francis Weller, encourages processing the grief and sorrow associated with this gate.

Gate 4, “What we expected and did not receive” initially spoke to me most, but I found I have a connection to all the gates in some way. As you said, the “Sorrows of the world” feels quite heavy right now, and so I feel closely connected to that gate at the moment. What I love the most about these gates is that there is not one gate that is more important than the other, each of them have their own merit and can be explored in our own time and at our own pace.

[vmv_68]

Hi @VM-Fox25,

I love your suggestion, and I’ll definitely check that book out.

I feel that the “Sorrows of the World” are weighing more heavily than ever in today’s society, especially with social media constantly exposing us to the suffering experienced by the planet, global communities, and animals. It can be incredibly overwhelming. But at the same time, we can only carry so much global pain, and one meaningful way to transform that weight into something empowering is through small, everyday acts of individual activism.

Which gate spoke to you the most?

[Author]

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