The Soul in Grief: Love, Death, and Transformation

Two things impressed me about his book. The first was that the author honestly & truthfully deals with his grief as an extremely personal & individualized experience - the anguish, the depression, the ache, the doubt, the inconsistency; the unwanted & unhelpful push by society, friends, religion which really want us to not remind them of grief; the moments of relief, forgetfulness & grace, etc. The second was that, in his honesty, I was found a very many of passages which echoed exactly my own grief even though the author lost his long-time friend, lover & wife but I lost my friend, gay lover, soul- & life-mate.

Romanyshyn has composed a meditative litany that will prove especially comforting to those who have lost a love and need the solace of deep understanding. This book's cadence, which echoes the rhythms of grief, is balm to the deepest wounds.

The Soul in Grief offers an in-depth look not only at death and grieving but also at love. Dr. Romanyshyn writes about the experience of his wife's sudden death, of her lingering presence, of the unseen world of the dead, and of his attempt to make sense of a senseless loss. He speaks of his well-intended friends who, after a while, encourage him to go on with life. But how does one go on with life when one's whole world is so suddenly shattered? The author relates how the numbness, depression, grief, and despair he feels are slowly transformed as he honors the dreams, reveries, and images that visit him. Describing his journey through grief, the author interweaves his personal experiences, dreams, and reveries with myths, folktales, poetry, and various art expressions. Dr. Romanyshyn speaks with the unique yet universal language of a bereaved heart that dares to delve into the depth of his own pain and existence. Even though the book speaks of death and mourning, in the end, it is a hymn to love and life. It is a sensible and delicate book that will speak to anyone touched by death and grieving. I also highly recommend it to anyone who is at a loss for words when trying to comfort someone in mourning.

this book invites the reader into the imaginal space opened up by grief. It is a space we tend to fear and therefore neglect in our mechanized, electronicized, and tremendously busy culture... one reason we have so much unfinished emotional business. Dr. Romanyshyn's book reminds us that melancholy can be a path to greater self-fulfillment--for as Viktor Frankl pointed out, there are values known only to those with the courage to suffer well. Highly recommended. -- Craig Chalquist, designer of the Thineownself self-exploration site.

Robert Romanyshyn's new book, The Soul in Grief, is a sensitive invitation to enter into a "reverie" of the rhythms of mourning. The work is a thoughtful testimony and poetic meditation created out of the author's painful and profoundly felt loss of his wife. He shares moving, intimate descriptions of the barrenness and the mystical moments of his grieving, leading the reader towards his transformative discovery of an unsuspected, healing balm contained in the grief process itself. The Soul in Grief documents a pilgrim's journey towards meaning in the experience of devastating loss. I am grateful to have this book available to recommend and give to friends who are grieving losses from the past as well as a recent death.