The Comfort of the Big Beyond: Grief + Spirituality

About the event

Is there anything beyond death? How does believing that we are connected to something bigger alter our experience of grief and loss? Do you believe in an afterlife, reincarnation or other connections within the natural world and wider universe? Do these beliefs help us to make more sense or create more meaning out of loss?

In this session, host Adela Straughan speaks with psychologist Dr Lisa Miller, and former Bishop of Edinburgh, Richard Holloway, about spirituality and different ways to tap into a heightened awareness of the world around us.

They’ll discuss the science and philosophy of spirituality as it relates to grief, whether found through meditation, a walk in nature, reading a sacred text or saying a prayer.

Dr Lisa Miller is author of The Awakened Brain, which combines cutting-edge science with on-the-ground application to reveal that humans are universally equipped with a capacity for spirituality, and that our brains become more resilient and robust as a result of it. Now in his ninth decade, Richard Holloway has spent a lifetime at the bedsides of the dying, guiding men and women towards peaceful deaths. His book Waiting for the Last Bus is a radical and joyful invitation to reconsider life’s greatest mystery, while his upcoming book The Heart of Things is a moving and personal anthology encompassing melancholy, morality, mortality and more.

View each speakers’ profile below for further information and useful links.