[In-person] Curiosity Café: Grief

Grief is often labelled as a negative emotion to be avoided, if at all possible. But many identify grief as a marker of love — a continuation or expression of it. And insofar as we experience loss, grief seems like the most fitting response. This suggests that there is something good and important about grief, even if it is painful.

But what is grief? When we grieve, whom or what are we actually grieving? And what can our experiences of grief tell us about the value of whom or what we are grieving (or, indeed, the value of grief itself)?

Together, we’ll consider what role grief can and should play in our lives, beginning with our lived experiences and ending with an investigation of grief over time. In addition to the questions above, our exploration will be guided by the following:

• Whom or what can we grieve?
• What are the similarities and differences between different kinds of grief?
• Despite being painful, why is grief important?
• Is love worth the pain of grief? Where do you draw the line?
• In your life, what has helped you to grieve? What has hindered your grief?
• What makes grief more or less possible in different circumstances, with access to different resources? Why might it be important for us to make more space for grief?
• How can grief isolate us? How can it bring us together?
• Does grief diminish over time, or do we grow around it?
• Is the point of grief to get over a loss? Can you ever complete grief?
• Why does grief diminish in cases where the person, relationship, or thing continues to matter to us?

Join Being and Becoming’s Alexandra Gustafson and Sophia Whicher to explore these questions and more!

(This is a discussion-based event intended to provide a space to collaboratively explore the concept of grief, such that we may gain a better understanding of what it is and of our own experiences of it. However, this event is not intended to be a place for engaging in the process of grieving: although of course this might happen (and it’s okay if it does), please note that the moderators have philosophical and event-leading expertise, but aren’t equipped to provide therapeutic support/emotional counselling.)

Space is limited! Please obtain a “Pay-What-You-Can” ticket from Curiosity Café here to attend this event. See the ticketing page for more info about tickets and other options including a limited number of free tickets. Come and hang out with us, grab food, and read through our handout from 6-6:30pm. Our structured discussion will run from 6:30-8:30pm with a 10 minute break in the middle.

Hope to see you there!

(Also check out our next Curiosity Class "The Experience of Grief" on Saturday July 5th and our next Philosophical Skills Workshop "How to Evaluate an Argument" on Saturday June 21!)

__________________________________________________________________________

This event is brought to you by Being and Becoming, a Toronto based non-profit. We aim to create community around exploring everyday concepts and experiences so that we may live more intentional, thoughtful, and meaningful lives. We use philosophy as a tool with which we can come to a richer understanding of the world around us.

By offering activities, spaces, and other opportunities for conversation and co-exploration, we hope to enable the meeting and fusion of individuals and their ideas. Everyone is welcome, regardless of background: indeed, we believe the journey is best undertaken alongside explorers from a variety of disciplines, cultures, backgrounds, and experiences.

Find out more about Being and Becoming here.

About the Curiosity Café Series:

For those of you who haven’t had the opportunity to join us at our Curiosity Cafés and are wondering what they’re all about: every two weeks, we invite members of our community to come out to the Madison Avenue Pub to engage in a collaborative exploration of our chosen topic. Through these events, we aim to build our community of people who like to think deeply about life’s big questions, and provide each other with some philosophical tools to dig deeper into whatever it is we are most curious about.