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Quote by Elaine Pagels

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Why Religion? A Personal Story

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Elaine Pagels
Elaine Pagels

Elaine Pagels is a renowned American religious historian and professor. Born on February 13, 1943, she is known for her research on ancient religious texts, particularly those of early Christianity and Gnosticism. more

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“Saeed prayed a great deal, and so did his father, and so did their guests, and some of them wept, but Saeed had wept only once, when he first saw his mother's corpse and screamed, and Saeed's father wept only when he was alone in his room, silently, without tears, his body seized as though by a stutter, or a shiver, that would not let go, for his sense of loss was boundless, and his sense of the benevolence of the universe was shaken, and his wife had been his best friend.”

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Book:Exit West
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“The world is full of widows--several among my closer friends. We have each known that grim rite of passage, have engaged with grief and loss, and have not exactly emerged but found a way of living after and beyond. It is an entirely changed life, for anyone who has been in a long marriage--forty-one years, for me: alone in bed, alone most of the time, without that presence towards which you turned for advice, reassurance, with whom you shared the good news and the bad. Every decision now taken alone; no one to defuse anxieties. And a thoroughly commonplace experience--everywhere, always--so get on with it and don't behave as though you are uniquely afflicted. I didn't tell myself that at the time, and I doubt if it would have helped if I had, but it is what I have come--not so much to feel as to understand.”

LifeLossGriefMarriageMourningWidowsSelf PitySpousesLoss Of A Spouse
Book:Ammonites And Leaping Fish: A Life In Time
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