All Is Not Loss: The Spirituality of Grief

Loss is a universal human experience, and it is not limited to when a loved one dies. We experience loss in various ways throughout our lives: the death of a pet; the break-up of a relationship; children leaving home; job loss; the death of a parent; physical diminishment and more. So often, loss and grief are seen as unwelcome companions on life’s journey, yet aspects of them can be transformative. This book explores a spirituality of grief that asks how loss and grief might offer us an invitation to grow. This is emphatically not a search for ‘silver linings’ to sugar-coat pain, or a quick fix. Instead, it is recognition that our experiences of loss and grief have qualities that can enrich our lives, and that these are worth exploring. Ten chapters examine aspects of loss that are widely recognised: parting, regret, nostalgia, failure, bereavement, shame, ageing, dependence, mortality, and disenchantment. Each form of loss is accompanied by a ‘redemptive theme’, which seeks ways in which loss, over time, may be re-integrated into life and foster greater connection, meaning and growth.

About the Author :
Dr Duncan MacLaren has worked with loss and grief in healthcare settings for over a decade. He is a hospice counsellor in Edinburgh, and was previously Head of Spiritual Care and Bereavement in NHS Lothian.

Review :
'This book makes a significant contribution to...[the] conversation about death and bereavement. Its subject is grief – not just the grief that arises from dying and death, but the grief that comes from others forms of loss, including partings, ageing, failures, [and ] regrets...Duncan MacLaren has seen too much to offer easy slogans and shallow comforts. He acknowledges the reality of pain and suffering ...Yet he has also experienced enough to come to the realisation that, in his words, "grief may visit us with unexpected gifts".' 'MacLaren has written a life-affirming study that offers much of depth to those who have suffered loss. He explores grief in differing presentations, whether experienced privately, collectively, or even at a planetary level. Here we glimpse the braided interlace of grief and God. We glimpse the paradox of spiritual opening, by which even death can deepen life and our aliveness to it. This is a book that will be a friend to many who have suffered loss. It should be read by those who might be professionally involved whether as counsellors, chaplains, celebrants, or in other pastoral positions.' 'Drawing on years of pastoral work and wide reading, Duncan MacLaren has written a deeply sane and humane account of the many different forms of grief. Beautifully steering its way through the platitudes that so often surround this difficult subject, All is Not Loss offers real, useful wisdom.'