Eulogy is
speaking well of the dead. Related to forgiveness, absence of judgement,
resting in peace. The beautiful princess and the compassionate Queen. It fills
a liminal time with holy farewell. Since grief is an archetype, expressions of
personal pain are soon provoked. Grief is contagious. Grief uncontained. Grief
in the wild. Grieving anger.
We must experience the events of our own time. Some deaths
are not spoken of, or not enough, such as the deaths in custody. In the
prevailing aura of loss, histories are constantly mourned. Justified and
sanctified. In the beginning is eulogy. Soon imminent causes come forward. This
progresses into criticism, then to comedy. Within 48 hours people take sides
and conflicts arise. This is a spiral, containing direction and pressure: a
mass phenomenon. We live in a culture of ambient anger. On all sides. Also,
each life contains continuous waves of grief, only lightly sleeping. Each
family, too.
Why, then, eulogy?
The mind of God must contain feelings that are unknown
to us, because it is qualitatively different to anything mortal. We remind the
immortal of the noble, the good, the tragic. We remind ourselves of both pain
and beauty. Keep it simple. Love one
another.
