--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I think that grief is a profound…" description: "\"I think that grief is a profound spiritual, metaphysical, and - oddly - physical reckoning with death, which we don't understand well. It's both the pr..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b6/meghan-o-rourke-9574_absence_i-think-that-grief-is-a-profound-spiritu_816785.jpg" --- # I think that grief is a profound spiritual, metaphysical… ![“I think that grief is a profound spiritual, metaphysical, and - oddly - physical reckoning with death, which we don't understand well. It's both the process by which you relearn the world in the absence of someone who was a pillar in it, and the process in which you confront the reality of death.” quote by Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b6/meghan-o-rourke-9574_absence_i-think-that-grief-is-a-profound-spiritu_816785.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b6/meghan-o-rourke-9574_absence_i-think-that-grief-is-a-profound-spiritu_816785.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b6/meghan-o-rourke-9574_absence_i-think-that-grief-is-a-profound-spiritu_816785.jpg) > “I think that grief is a profound spiritual, metaphysical, and - oddly - physical reckoning with death, which we don't understand well. It's both the process by which you relearn the world in the absence of someone who was a pillar in it, and the process in which you confront the reality of death.” [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Grief is a deep, multi‑dimensional reckoning with death, reshaping both spiritual understanding and physical experience. **In simple terms:** Grief reshapes mind and body after loss. Key Takeaway Allow space for both emotional and physical healing. Themes grief death spirituality psychology healing Mood somber introspective Type essay reflective When to use this quote - personal loss - therapy - support groups Key Concepts existential meaning body‑mind connection loss processing Questions to Reflect On - How does grief change daily life? - What practices help integrate loss? A Different Perspective Grief can be overwhelming and isolating. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Absence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absence/) [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Grief](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grief/) [Metaphysical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/metaphysical/) [Process](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/process/) [Profound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/profound/) [Profound spiritual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/profound-spiritual/) [Reality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality/) [Reality of death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reality-of-death/) [Reckoning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reckoning/) [Spiritual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spiritual/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [Grief is a profound part of recovery and new life. Tears of regrets, remorse and despair waters the roots of love and life itself.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/grief-is-a-profound-part-of-recovery-and-new-life-tears-of-regrets/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [One of the difficulties with grief research is that it risks making certain kinds of grief seem normal and others abnormal - and of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/one-of-the-difficulties-with-grief-research-is-that-it-risks-making/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [“Let’s reframe what you’re going through, Maggie,” he said. “I’d like you to think of it as grief.” “For the people who died?” “No.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-chamberlain/let-s-reframe-what-you-re-going-through-maggie-he-said-i-d-like-you/) [Diane Chamberlain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-chamberlain/) > [“Question me now about all other matters, but do not ask who I am, for fear you may increase in my heart it's burden…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/homer-the-odyssey-book-19-115120/question-me-now-about-all-other-matters-but-do-not-ask-who-i-am-for/) Homer The Odyssey Book 19 115120 > [Grief does not seem to me to be a choice. Whether or not you think grief has value, you will lose what matters to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-doty/grief-does-not-seem-to-me-to-be-a-choice-whether-or-not-you-think/) [Mark Doty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-doty/) > [I think grief is like a really ugly couch. It never goes away. You can decorate around it; you can slap a doily on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jodi-picoult/i-think-grief-is-like-a-really-ugly-couch-it-never-goes-away-you-can/) [Jodi Picoult](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jodi-picoult/) > [When someone dies instantly, then I think the well of grief and disbelief all mixed in with it is unfathomable. And when murder is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-buchan/when-someone-dies-instantly-then-i-think-the-well-of-grief-and/) [Andrew Buchan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-buchan/) > [I think grief is a huge subject; it's one of the things that everybody is going to confront in one way or another. There's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-darnielle/i-think-grief-is-a-huge-subject-it-s-one-of-the-things-that-everybody/) [John Darnielle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-darnielle/) > [In our culture I think most people think of grief as sadness, and that's certainly part of it, a large part of it, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anthony-rapp/in-our-culture-i-think-most-people-think-of-grief-as-sadness-and-that/) [Anthony Rapp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anthony-rapp/) > [I think grief and fear are going to come to him suddenly. They'll be undiluted and words won't work. We're all going to get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kaui-hart-hemmings/i-think-grief-and-fear-are-going-to-come-to-him-suddenly-they-ll-be/) [Kaui Hart Hemmings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kaui-hart-hemmings/) > [“I need to tell about my people in their grief. I don’t think grief is something they get over or get away from. In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendell-berry/i-need-to-tell-about-my-people-in-their-grief-i-don-t-think-grief-is/) [Wendell Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendell-berry/) > [I think grief teaches us a lot. Once you've really experienced grief for the first time, everything kicks into perspective. You stop stressing about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-faist/i-think-grief-teaches-us-a-lot-once-you-ve-really-experienced-grief/) [Mike Faist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-faist/) > [by and by, the cause of my disease Gives me a pang that inwardly doth sting, When that I think what grief it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-howard-earl-of-surrey/by-and-by-the-cause-of-my-disease-gives-me-a-pang-that-inwardly-doth/) Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey > [I don't think grief of grief in a medical way at all. I think that I and many of my colleagues, are very concerned…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kay-redfield-jamison/i-don-t-think-grief-of-grief-in-a-medical-way-at-all-i-think-that-i/) [Kay Redfield Jamison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kay-redfield-jamison/) > [I think grief is a step towards strength because it allows you to be porous and take everything in, and have it transform you.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carrie-brownstein/i-think-grief-is-a-step-towards-strength-because-it-allows-you-to-be/) [Carrie Brownstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carrie-brownstein/) ## More by Meghan O'Rourke > ['Hamlet' is the best description of grief I've read because it dramatizes grief rather than merely describing it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/hamlet-is-the-best-description-of-grief-i-ve-read-because-it/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [Sometimes you don't even know what you want until you find out you can't have it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/sometimes-you-don-t-even-know-what-you-want-until-you-find-out-you/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [Grief is at once a public and a private experience. One's inner, inexpressible disruption cannot be fully realized in one's public persona.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/grief-is-at-once-a-public-and-a-private-experience-one-s-inner/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [There are many kinds of loss embedded in a loss - the loss of the person, and the loss of the self you got…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/there-are-many-kinds-of-loss-embedded-in-a-loss-the-loss-of-the/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [One of the difficulties with grief research is that it risks making certain kinds of grief seem normal and others abnormal - and of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/one-of-the-difficulties-with-grief-research-is-that-it-risks-making/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [This is part of the complexity of grief: A piece of you recognizes it is an extreme state, an altered state, yet a large…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/this-is-part-of-the-complexity-of-grief-a-piece-of-you-recognizes-it/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [The people we most love do become a physical part of us, ingrained in our synapses, in the pathways where memories are created.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/the-people-we-most-love-do-become-a-physical-part-of-us-ingrained-in/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [My theory is this: Women falter when they're called on to be highly self-conscious about their talents. Not when they're called on to enact…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/my-theory-is-this-women-falter-when-they-re-called-on-to-be-highly/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [Grief is characterized much more by waves of feeling that lessen and reoccur, it's less like stages and more like different states of feeling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/grief-is-characterized-much-more-by-waves-of-feeling-that-lessen-and/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [I wasn't prepared for the fact that grief is so unpredictable. It wasn't just sadness, and it wasn't linear. Somehow I'd thought that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/i-wasn-t-prepared-for-the-fact-that-grief-is-so-unpredictable-it-wasn/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [For sure, the funeral industry seems intensely cynical to me and I don't think it is HELPING people mourn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/for-sure-the-funeral-industry-seems-intensely-cynical-to-me-and-i-don/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [To mourn is to wonder at the strangeness that grief is not written all over your face in bruised hieroglyphics. And it's also to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/to-mourn-is-to-wonder-at-the-strangeness-that-grief-is-not-written/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [A mother, after all, is your entry into the world. She is the shell in which you divide and become a life. Waking up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/a-mother-after-all-is-your-entry-into-the-world-she-is-the-shell-in/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [But when my mother died, I found that I did not believe that she was gone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/but-when-my-mother-died-i-found-that-i-did-not-believe-that-she-was/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [Like my mother before me, I have always been a good speller.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/like-my-mother-before-me-i-have-always-been-a-good-speller/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) [Explore all 71 Meghan O'Rourke quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) ## More Absence quotes > [Distance sometimes endears friendship, and absence sweeteneth it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-howell/distance-sometimes-endears-friendship-and-absence-sweeteneth-it/) [James Howell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-howell/) > [The work, the work, the work. This is what the business is all about. This is the fun, the glory, the pleasure. It's the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-dusenberry/the-work-the-work-the-work-this-is-what-the-business-is-all-about/) [Phil Dusenberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-dusenberry/) > [Total depravity means the entire absence of holiness, not the highest intensity of sin. A totally depraved man is not as bad as he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-greenough-thayer-shedd/total-depravity-means-the-entire-absence-of-holiness-not-the-highest/) [William Greenough Thayer Shedd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-greenough-thayer-shedd/) > [Local and state governments have outrun the federal government. The EPA has served notice that it will enact a rule requiring CO2 reductions by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/al-gore/local-and-state-governments-have-outrun-the-federal-government-the/) [Al Gore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/al-gore/) > [There, in the center of that silence was not eternity but the death of time and a loneliness so profound the word itself had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/there-in-the-center-of-that-silence-was-not-eternity-but-the-death-of/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [Of all the bewildering things about a new country, the absence of human landmarks is one of the most depressing and disheartening.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/of-all-the-bewildering-things-about-a-new-country-the-absence-of/) [Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/) > [Young men have strong passions and tend to gratify them indiscriminately. Of the bodily desires, it is the sexual by which they are most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/young-men-have-strong-passions-and-tend-to-gratify-them/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) > [It is suggested that in domestic violence at least the presence or absence of a firearm, or of any other type of weapon, is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-greenwood/it-is-suggested-that-in-domestic-violence-at-least-the-presence-or/) [Colin Greenwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-greenwood/) > [The absence of God in most spheres of life is perceived to be normal, and even Christians feel it as normal - which is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-piper/the-absence-of-god-in-most-spheres-of-life-is-perceived-to-be-normal/) [John Piper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-piper/) > [Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future. Jobs, family, employers, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/every-person-needs-to-take-one-day-away-a-day-in-which-one/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [“I was thinking how most people don't make you feel much of anything at all. Don't make you feel like time spent with them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-lotter/i-was-thinking-how-most-people-don-t-make-you-feel-much-of-anything/) [Jane Lotter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-lotter/) > [Cooperation isn't the absence of conflict but a means of managing conflict.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-tannen/cooperation-isn-t-the-absence-of-conflict-but-a-means-of-managing/) [Deborah Tannen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-tannen/) > [Many are observing Ferguson and witnessing the anger, demonstrations, looting and vandalism and calling for quiet. But quiet isn't enough. The absence of noise…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-jackson/many-are-observing-ferguson-and-witnessing-the-anger-demonstrations/) [Jesse Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-jackson/) > [Will capitalist economies operate at full employment in the absence of routine intervention? Certainly not. Are deviations from full employment a social problem? Obviously.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janet-yellen/will-capitalist-economies-operate-at-full-employment-in-the-absence/) [Janet Yellen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janet-yellen/) > [We must begin by acknowledging that there is a complete absence of two things in Indian Society. One of these is equality. On the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-r-ambedkar/we-must-begin-by-acknowledging-that-there-is-a-complete-absence-of/) [B. R. Ambedkar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-r-ambedkar/) [Browse all 2,057 Absence quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absence/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I think that grief is a profound spiritual, metaphysical, and - oddly - physical reckoning with death, which we don't understand well. 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