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There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in. ~ Leonard Cohen

This month we are thinking about resilience and renewal. As Martin Luther King famously said, The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.

May we continue to seek it, as we seek the light ahead during a long winter.

Astronomer Rebecca Elson died at the age of 39, ten years after a lymphoma diagnosis. She was among the first to study images from the Hubble telescope. Her poem, Antidotes to the Fear of Death was published posthumously.

Sometimes as an antidote
To fear of death,
I eat the stars.

You can read the entire poem here.

Dr. Chris Kerr, head of Hospice and Palliative Care Buffalo, has done extensive research compiling end of life experiences especially the powerful dreams and visions that so often herald a coming death. In addition to his Tedx Talk you can hear him in this EOL University podcast.

To learn more you can find his book, Death is but a Dream here and a fascinating documentary here.

The color blue conjures up images of sky and water, and is considered to be the most calming of all colors.

Lightyears ahead of his time, 1960’s artist Yves Klein believed in the purity of color as the very essence of art. His deep feelings about the immaculate nature of ultramarine blue led to the creation of his own pigment (forever to be known as International Klein Blue (IKB) as a means of evoking the immateriality and boundlessness of his own utopian vision of the world.

You can read more about him here and see some of his work here.

When asked to speak to the National Partnership for Hospice Innovation about grief in these most challenging times, Epidemiologist Amitha Kalaichandran sought answers from The Book of Job, as seen through the eyes of 18th-century British poet, artist and mystic William Blake.

The lesson he learned from Blake’s Job was that grief is a symptom of letting go when we don’t want to; but that ultimately Creating meaning from tragedy is a uniquely human form of spiritual alchemy.

You can read this potent NY Times Opinion piece here and see William Blake’s 22 Illustrations to the Book of Job here.

David Attenborough, the great documentarian of our planet, is 93. His latest film - A Life on Our Planet - highlights the approaching 6th great extinction in the history of the globe. The earth, over many aeons, will eventually recover. We as a species however will not. He calls this film his witness statement. It is a beautiful call to action.

Please watch it and share it as widely as possible. You can find the trailer here and the documentary here.

Polish composer Henryk Gorecki is known for a simplified musical style sometimes called “holy minimalism. Gorecki’s most well-known composition, Symphony No. 3, was released in 1992, twenty years after its recording. It was inspired by the theme of maternal bonds and child loss, and widely perceived as a memorial for the victims of the Holocaust.

Recently, contemporary musician/saxophonist Colin Stetson, released his own rendition of the symphony with his album Sorrow, calling the composition “transfixing”.

You can listen to Gorecki’s recording here, and read about the interesting history of the composition here.

For beacons on the road ahead, we look to the work of Amanda Gorman and Stacey Abrams.

22-year old Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman galvanized the nation on Inauguration Day. You can be enraptured by her power in this video The Miracle of Morning.

The essence of death is transformation. The death of voter suppression in our country is what is needed to transform systemic inequality. American politician Stacey Abrams produced All In: The Fight for Democracy highlighting the crucial need to finally bring an end to this injustice.

Currently streaming on Amazon, you can watch the trailer here and the film here.

The great podcast On Being produces this animated version of a beautiful poem here.

Kindness is our ground even though we tend to treat it as inconsequential in the larger scheme of our lives. Poetry is unique in its ability to express this often intangible truth.

Please feel free to forward this newsletter to anyone you feel might benefit from these resources and articles.

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