Magical realism and worldbuilding from the "plane of Grief"
Where does grief transport us and why is nothing the same after?
In my main project, I introduce magic to a non-magical Earth under the premise that a collective, nation-scaled calamity, causing simultaneously experienced grief and “awakening,” is enough to break/shake the fabric of time-space in this fictional world.
After these events, the outside world looks much the same. Because the cataclysm is an internal feeling. However, it is too big a feeling for the human body, such that it rips a hole in the world, so to speak, and opens the way for transformation on Earth… new beings, new magical potential, new (or returned) ways to co-relate with other relatives.
And in my world building, I thought, “How do I explain this?” So…
What if capital “G” Grief is a plane of existence?
I’m talking about these kinds of planes.
And what if this Grief plane disrupted our time-space like a shiv in our x-y-z guts? Under just the right circumstances, like the right energetic attunement happening during said cataclysm? ←(This word has such a FUN spelling! love it)
If we’re living in our little x-y axes world (trained to care about things like completeness, rationality, linearity, social cues, normal societal functions), the plane of Grief comes in and shakes everything up.
Because when you’re grieving, things might not matter like they used to: finishing old projects, showing up on time, showing up at all, eating, watching your kids, personal hygiene, paying bills on time, working at all. Societal functions and general welfare of self and dependents can fall to the wayside. A life of grief without relief may even wipe some off the plane of existence, period.
Why Grief as a plane?
Why express grief as a plane of existence? Well, I wanted to capture how in life, one moment, life is lifing and we can be piddle paddling through “regular," and then, the next, suddenly, the sun doesn’t rise on our planet anymore. “Nothing matters” “I don’t see the point of this anymore.” “I can’t do it anymore, whatever it is.”
Grief can bring us to a place of disorderliness. We leave behind linear time and, shit, even circularity gets lost. Aka not everything moves forward and not everything returns to where it started. However, Grief can also be a shuttle for awakening, personal transformation, and self-realization. It can have a way of highlighting what matters and dramatically sweeping away what doesn’t.
tl;dr: The things that govern us normally do not govern us in “the plane of Grief.” Grief can strip us, which is also a fast-track to self-realization, when honored.
If “nothing here makes sense,” that is because where “here” is has changed. Grief takes one into a new realm, a new plane, a new place… whatever you wanna call it.
Yes, you may have not moved an inch… But where you stand is not where you once stood.
Grief DISRUPTS all concepts of CONTINUITY because we cannot go back to what once was; we must enter something new. A new plane?
How Grief as a plane?
How did I start to formulate this concept?
While I can (and probably will, later) focus on the bioscience of grief,…
I chose to focus on the lived experiences of grief described by others and myself— friends, family, reddit and Mayo clinic online strangers. Whatever felt most familiar.
And the top statement that stood out for me was, “I feel like I’m dying.” Experiences littered with feelings of brokenness, disorderliness, “craziness," and, special shout out to the forever-present self-judgement. These descriptions made me think of grief as something with transportive abilities, made me think that those in the midst of dire grief are not moving in the same worlds as others.
“You’ve been somewhere else lately.” “I’m back.”
This is just my hunch, but… I believe that moving freely across the plane of Grief requires mastery of self-judgment. I might even call it one of the axes of Grief. I gotta work with this hunch a bit more to understand what that means. tbd
“Time heals all wounds” is a lie, I say.
Because not all grief gets better that way. Instead, I hear loved ones describe it like learning how to be a boat cresting with the wave rather than drowning underneath it.
And, maybe, non self-judgement is part of what it takes to turn drowning surfer into open sea canoe. Still toppling over but capable of flipping it back!
Last random thought: where might the plane of Grief intersect the plane of time-space?
In the “before,” we can get by with: I should have, I could have, I would have. In the “after,” where time and Grief interact, we are required to pay more attention to: I am, I need, I want, I feel. Maybe such changes in our language and self-perception occur at the line of intersection between both plane? Literally.
Anyways, that’s all folks. Something for us to think about. Hopefully, I transported you somewhere good.
This is very important and very profound.Thank you!!!!Modupe!
. I am a nonfiction writer, who is looking towards “magical realism” and nonlinearity in my writing. So far I have looked towards surrealism. Grief is coming up as a central axis in my storytelling. I’m also an Orisha priest largely moved into that realm after the loss of my mother and younger brother. I may end up quoting you. Your theory may be the Rosetta Stone I have been looking for. Let me know if you’d like to be in communication. More of my things are on my Stack: the Creative Calabash.
This is such a cool idea, it's got me thinking!
I'm not sure if you're familiar with the concept of flashbulb moments: moments in time that create a collective memory in people who experienced it. Usually these are traumatic moment. The example I often heard in classes would be watching the twin towers fall, but there's a ton of other examples.
With grief as a planar concept, would a flashbulb memory/moment be a targeted point in time when planar grief slips into the ribs of our dimension?
Also by this concept would there be a difference between collective grief and individual grief?
Again, I really enjoyed this, thank you for sharing this concept!