From a SAND Community Gathering (December 2025), Francis Weller joins SAND co-founders Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo for a wide-ranging conversation on grief, initiation, and the sacred thresholds of a changing world.

They speak of rough passages and necessary descents—of what must burn away, and what endures. With Francis’s steady guidance, sorrow, longing, beauty, and vulnerability are reclaimed not as weaknesses, but as profound sources of strength, orientation, and soul knowledge.

Rooted in the soulcraft teachings of his book In the Absence of the Ordinary, the dialogue unfolds in a spirit of reverence and remembrance. Together, they explore the unraveling of the familiar as an invitation into deeper belonging—grief as a living portal, and beauty as a practice of staying close to what is sacred, even in times of descent.

Topics

00:00 Introduction and Acknowledgements
01:09 Guest Introduction: Francis Weller
02:02 Opening Reflections on Soul and Rhythm
03:17 The Modern Frenzy vs. Soul's Rhythm
05:32 Therapy and the Soul's Healing Process
12:09 The Role of Wounds in Soul Work
16:35 Confession and Community Healing
23:17 Collective Psyche and Modern Challenges
28:39 Historical Roots of Disconnection
31:25 Grief and Ancestral Memory
33:47 Understanding Grief in a Shallow Culture
35:06 The Three Layers of Experience
35:18 The Role of Ritual in Processing Grief
36:00 Fear and Control in Grief Expression
36:22 The Importance of Containment Fields
36:48 Cultural Rituals and Their Significance
40:21 Creating Personal Rituals
50:32 The Long Dark: Embracing Uncertainty
56:13 The Sacred in Everyday Life
59:13 The Role of Elders in a Fragmented World
01:03:12 Concluding Thoughts and Reflections

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