Funerals fulfil a social function. Standing at the graveside, dressed in our Sunday best, shoes polished, cautiously striking up conversations with the bereaved, we try our best to comfort without adding to the floods of tears.
Maybe we perform spiritual ceremonies in order to create a safe resting place for our most complicated feelings of joy or trauma, so that we don't have to haul those feelings around with us forever, weighing us down.
They offer a comforting solidity in our otherwise chaotic lives...