With vigils being held throughout the country after the massacre at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, KPCC asked Brie Loskota to address the urge to come together after national tragedies.
Here are a few excepts from the full interview:
On why we come together, even without religion:
The reason that we see groups coming together is because communities and individuals need meaning, and rituals provide a way to affirm the core values and the things that were lost in the violence that they’re mourning.
On what people are looking for in these gatherings:
It’s the gathering together that helps people overcome trauma. If we think about it in spiritual terms, it has an important way for us to reconcile what happens in the world with who we think we are.
On the common theme of love:
It’s a very hard thing to grapple with the notion, ‘how do we do this to us?’ How do people do this to other people? And the only real answer that people can come up with is [to remind themselves that] there are so many more people who believe in the transcendent powers of love and forgiveness and healing and community and making the world a better place.
Usually ask others to address prob. Takes self reflection & critical analysis to say, what role am I playing? – @USC's @brieloskota on @kpcc
— USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture (@usccrcc) June 17, 2016
https://twitter.com/brieloskota/status/742232702623961088
Click here to listen to the whole interview.
