Religions like Jehovah's Witness promise their followers certainty and safety. Leaders demand obedience to proscribed standards of behavior, beliefs and practices. But what happens when a follower begins to doubt? For Amber Scorah, leaving the Witness meant giving up everyone and everything in her life. On top of this severing of every tie, she would have to live with uncertainty in a way she never had before. Growing up in the culture, which she now saw as a cult, brought what she thought of as happiness. Now she would choose becoming who she felt she really was but not know what was true about God. And when the worst loss she could imagine came next, she would have to navigate grief without any certainty at all.

As human beings, we wonder what awaits us after this life is over. When death has come to those near us, the question often becomes compelling! In her quest to understand the many ways people think about what comes next, Claire Bidwell Smith investigated and wrote about various beliefs and practices about the time after death. How do each of us imagine or believe it to be? How does this connect or disconnect us from those we love after their deaths? What can we gain by asking these questions and investigating our ideas about death for ourselves? Coming after Claire's first book, Rules of Inheritance, about the deaths of her parents when she was 18 and 24, After This: When Life is Over Where Do We Go? continues her deep reflection on the meanings we give to life, to grief and to death.

For sixty years, Rachel Naomi Remen has lived with a diagnosis, Crohn's disease, that was considered universally terminal when she was first diagnosed. How did that affect her life? She became a physician who worked with terminal illness, a New York Times bestselling author and a fierce advocate for compassionate medicine. She founded the Institute for the Study of Health and Illness (ISHI) at Commonweal and is also co-founder of the Commonweal Cancer Help Program. She worked with thousands of patients and trained many doctors in healing care. Join us as we talk about her own story and the stories of those she has worked with over many decades. We are all sure to be inspired.