Ep 179 - Death and the Re-signification of Absence

Psychology and Spirituality | Death and the Re-signification of Absence With Jussara Korngold Marcia Trajano Grief today is not only about death—it is layered, complex, and often invisible. Join Jussara Korngold and Marcia Trajano as they explore the delicate threshold between presence and absence, love and longing, the visible and the invisible. What happens when “What if?” becomes “What now?” How do we process losses that go beyond death—lost identities, broken futures, silent goodbyes? Can absence be transformed into a new form of connection? Drawing from psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, and Spiritist thought, this conversation invites us to rethink grief—not as an end, but as a transformation of love. Because love does not end. It changes grammar. References: · Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life - James Hollis · Man and His Symbols - Carl Gustav Jung · Modern Man in Search of a Soul - Carl Gustav Jung · On Grief and Grieving - Elisabeth Kübler-Ross · Plenitude - Joanna de Ângelis | Divaldo Pereira Franco · Self-Discovery: An Interior Search - Joanna de Ângelis | Divaldo Pereira Franco · The Gospel According to Spiritism - Allan Kardec · The Prism of Grief: Love, Loss and Awakening Across the Seasons of Life - Jussara Korngold · The Search for Happiness - Joanna de Ângelis | Divaldo Pereira Franco · The Spirits' Book - Allan Kardec Inspirations: · Jussara Korngold The Prism of Grief: Love, Loss and Awakening Across the Seasons of Life explores grief as a multidimensional and evolving experience that refracts through different “seasons” of life. Rather than viewing loss as a single emotional state, the book presents grief as a prism that reveals love, memory, meaning, and spiritual awakening in varied ways over time. It emphasizes that healing is not linear but cyclical, shaped by personal history, relationships, and inner growth. She reframes grief as a process that deepens awareness, compassion, and connection to life. • Kenneth Doka Kenneth Doka’s concept of disenfranchised grief highlights the pain experienced when a loss is not socially recognized or openly mourned, leaving individuals without validation or support. This can deepen suffering around grief, loss, and death, as the bereaved may feel isolated in their emotional reality. By naming this hidden dimension of mourning, Doka expands our understanding of how absence is processed psychologically and socially. His work also supports the re-signification of absence, helping individuals legitimize their grief and find pathways to meaning-making, healing, and emotional integration beyond societal silence. • Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger’s concept of “being-toward-death” describes human existence as fundamentally shaped by the awareness of mortality, which calls individuals toward authenticity and a more conscious way of living. Rather than denying death, Heidegger invites us to integrate its inevitability into our understanding of being. In relation to grief, loss, and absence, this perspective reframes mourning as part of an authentic encounter with finitude. The absence of the other becomes a catalyst for deeper reflection on meaning, presence, and how we choose to live in the face of impermanence. • Pauline Boss Pauline Boss’s concept of ambiguous loss refers to situations of grief without closure or clear resolution, such as when a loved one is physically absent but psychologically present, or physically present but psychologically absent, as in dementia or missing persons. This unresolved uncertainty complicates mourning and can freeze the grieving process. Her work is central to understanding grief, loss, and death in complex relational contexts, where traditional closure is impossible. By introducing tolerance for ambiguity, Boss helps individuals re-signify absence, fostering resilience, meaning-making, and psychological adaptation without requiring definitive answers. • Schrödinger’s Cat Erwin Schrödinger’s thought experiment illustrates quantum superposition, where a system remains in an unresolved state until observation collapses it into a defined outcome. While originally intended to critique interpretations of quantum mechanics, it offers a metaphor for grief, loss, and death. Absence can be experienced as both presence and non-presence simultaneously, especially in ambiguous or unresolved mourning. This perspective supports the re-signification of absence by acknowledging that emotional reality may remain indeterminate, shaped by perception, memory, and meaning-making rather than fixed finality. This episode is presented by: • Mansão de Caminho - https://mansaodocaminho.com.br • United States Spiritist Federation - https://spiritist.us • International Spiritist Council - https://cei-spiritistcouncil.com • AME Brasil - https://amebrasil.org.br #JoannadeAngelis #PsychologyAndSpirituality #JussaraKorngold#MarciaTrajano #divaldopereirafranco #Spiritism #JoannaDeAngelis #ego