The Healings FAQ
Hello and welcome to the Healings FAQ archive. This little Q&A series is the result of an experience I kept having after I was diagnosed with cancer: Not infrequently, friends and even strangers would ask me questions such as whether getting really sick had changed my belief in god, or led me to any theories on what happens when we die. At first I found this odd, but over time I came to appreciate the opportunity to articulate my beliefs around these things. Then what seemed odd is how we almost never talk about things like death, god, and other very important spiritual matters with one another. That’s pretty weird when you consider the fact that we are all going to die! It’s literally the one thing every single person on this planet has in common. Why not talk about it more? Anyway, that’s how the Healings FAQ was born.
The folks below were kind enough to share their reflections on these big questions. I hope you find some wisdom here, and that it’s helpful in shaping your own answers. 🙏 🙏 🙏
Healings FAQ No. 20, Chris Gayomali
"I have zero idea how heaven would work, but I like to think of it as something that functions just fine beyond the stretches of our limited imaginations."
Healings FAQ No. 19, Katie MacBride
"If there’s a God—and there may well be—my tiny, human brain isn’t going to be the thing that figures it out."
Healings FAQ No. 18, Brock Keeling
"I couldn't describe what or who God is — only that I have faith in it, it is inside of me, and it happens all around me."
Healings FAQ No. 17, Shonali
“As a child, I used to pray for three things: 1) world peace; 2) that my family would all die together at the same time; and 3) that the Beatles would get back together.”
Healings FAQ No. 16, Ben Gaffaney
"My suspicion that we’re just killing time between the voids horrifies me. ... I try to calm myself with the logical nonsense of eternal existence."
Healings FAQ No. 14, Stephanie Garr
"What happens when we die is either so amazing or so terrifying that to know would make this life feel impossible."
Healings FAQ No. 13, Nicole Miglis
"The mind is always the hardest obstacle. Losing the mind is far scarier to me than death."
Healings FAQ No. 12, Mark Edgar Stuart
"There's something much bigger than us. So big the most gifted and intuitive humans on the planet have zero clue."
Healings FAQ No. 11, Albert Burneko
"There's no better word than 'prayer' for what I'm doing all of the time, inside of myself, asking for help and mercy."
Healings FAQ No. 10: Megan Koester
"Turns out if you process the unpleasant memories that are making you resent the present, the present becomes manageable. No one tells me shit."
Healings FAQ No. 9, Kambui Olujimi
"You can die slipping on a piece of ice, as the saying goes. This is the time we have. Don't waste it."
Healings FAQ No. 8: Puja Patel
"I find myself chasing god every time I’m dwarfed by nature or blissed out of my mind on a dance floor."
Healings FAQ No. 7: Philip Sherburne
"Music, patterns, math, physics, biology—there’s a perfection to the world that I have trouble chalking up to randomness."
Healings FAQ, No. 6: Angelica Olstad
"I think that death is what connects us to life. It shapes how we live our lives, how we connect with others."
Healings Questionnaire No. 5: Meaghan Garvey
“I believe rationalism to be finite, and life’s mysteries to be as boundless as the cosmos. God? Sure.”
The Healings Questionnaire, No. 4: Tommy Craggs
"These protesters, in resisting the manufacture of human disposability ... have a lot more to offer us spiritually than any kind of personal eschatology."
The Healings Questionnaire No. 3: Katy St. Clair
“The fear I have of death is the unknown. I have spent my life trying to feel some semblance of control by knowing everything.”
The Healings Questionnaire, No. 2: Tim Quirk
"I stopped being scared of death in 1989, when I took some acid with a friend...and realized we're like light switches."
The Healings Questionnaire, No. 1: Rob Harvilla
“I’m glad you’re asking people this but I wish you hadn’t asked me specifically.”