Our Lives Are an Endless Series of ‘And’
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About this episode
Kathryn Schulz joins Klein to explore what it means to hold grief and joy at the same time — lives as an endless series of 'and.' Centered on her father's death and, in the same period, finding her life partner, Schulz reflects on her father's refugee family history after the Holocaust, the strange bureaucracy of hospitals and dying, and the difference between trauma and resilience. They discuss how duty and service can anchor durable happiness better than the pursuit of pleasure, what marriage and parenting reveal about dependence, and how William James's idea of mental connection is embodied by the word 'and.' A philosophical and intimate conversation about loss, love, and the refusal to resolve life's contradictions into a single story.