Everyone in my house holds a different religious/spiritual belief than any other person in the house. I think this provides a great opportunity to teach tolerance and understanding. No one is allowed to call anyone else soul-less or declare that that person will die in an impending apocalypse. No one is allowed to call the other stupid or declare that they are unable to think for themselves.
One night at the dinner table we were discussing our differences and the fact that individual beliefs satisfy individual needs. This ideal then led to sharing about what we believe will happen to us when we die. That discussion led, in turn, to what we would want done with our bodies when we die. (This may sound like morbid dinner-time talk, but it was actually quite a lively conversation).
I said I was kind of interested by what Walt Whitman had to say about our decaying bodies becoming the source for other living things to grow and thrive. I wondered if our only choices were cremation or burial in a coffin. I don't think anyone ever requests: I'd like to be tossed in a shallow grave in the middle of a field (it just seems like the best way to fertilize other living things). -Or- what about the element of surprise: I'd like to be dumped on a remote trail up in the mountains and be discovered years later by surprised hikers!
Dinner-time talk indeed . . . but something to think about.
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1 comment:
If only it wasn't illegal, your idea of being buried in a field is wonderful. Strangely, there are a lot of laws about what to do with dead bodies.
I always thought, once the spirit leaves it, it is a husk merely, so who cares? Even so, I can't escape my wish to be buried at sea. In a tight fitting black iron coffin, dropped into the deepest part of the ocean.
I love your family's dinner talk.
skn
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