79 replies to this topic

[saver]

Funny that you mention spirit - I come at it from the completely opposite end of the spectrum: when we're dead we're gone.

But glad we agree that once that happens, the body is just matter. Use of what you can the living I say, burn the rest, it ain't so important.

[dziomek]

I am a firm believer in organ donation; if I can help just one person after my death it will have been worth it. As for the spirit, I believe it lingers on; I have had too many "feelings" to not believe otherwise. The body is just a shell of our greater being; i do not condemn others for their beliefs, as I hope I am not condemned for mine. I am not religious by any means, just trying to be practical. :)

[Pat]

NeilPearson I am so glad to see I am not the only person more freaked about being eaten by bugs than the cremation. In the Viking days your body was put on a bed of wood lit and floated down the river.  For health reasons I know we can't do that anymore.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Pat, on 15 June 2012 - 03:35 PM, said:

NeilPearson I am so glad to see I am not the only person more freaked about being eaten by bugs than the cremation. In the Viking days your body was put on a bed of wood lit and floated down the river.  For health reasons I know we can't do that anymore.

Your brain is gone so you wouldn't know it anyway.

[yoder]

The catacombs of Paris.
https://en.wikipedia...acombs_of_Paris

Makes me think cremation is not so bad.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

yoder, on 16 June 2012 - 10:00 AM, said:

The catacombs of Paris.
https://en.wikipedia...acombs_of_Paris

Makes me think cremation is not so bad.

Especially when you hit the high resolution button. Oh my.

[Julie]

At the moment it seems that modern crematoriums give the most environmentally favourable service.

However, there is a growth of natural burials in which no embalming fluids are used. The coffins are made of a variety of bio-degradable materials - (paper, straw, hazel twigs). The burials take place in meadows full of natural grasses and wild flowers. The graves are carefully plotted but not marked by rows of stones. The dry stone walls enclosing the meadow can be used, should a family so wish, to engrave a name. These have to be humanist burials as the ground is not consecrated.

The nature of decomposition means that areas of the meadow will be reusbale within a relatively short time. The "residents" have been promised that nothing environmentally unfriendly shall ever be done on that land.

I learned about this from a friend at my mother's cremation last December. As far as I know there is at least one such place in the UK.

[Magic Pixel]

Hi all, I agree with dziomek. I feel we must donate what we can of our bodies that someone else can benefit from physically when we die. I have read about how according to one religion the corpse is left on a sort of grill overhanging a pit where vultures who would otherwise have nothing to eat come for their food. That's highly compassionate. The same with burying the body. But cremation has a religious background also. All methods of doing away with the body after one's demise have to do with a belief system. For example the pyramids and their mummies. I myself would donate what I can and opt for creamtion most likely.

[DeeNeely]

neodoxa, on 08 October 2011 - 04:34 PM, said:

Personally, I don't want to subject my body to a pit of flames and incineration...  I'd much rather decompose naturally.  I wish there was a way to just get buried without all of the embalming chemicals, but I think that is illegal.  Haha.

If you live in the United States there is an option. My wife is going that route when she dies. First, her body will be used for organ donation and then she is going to The Body Farm. The Body Farm for those who don't know is a place where bodies are left in various ways to decompose for forensic studies. There are several across the United States. You can arrange to have your body donated and they will even arrange transport.

You can learn all about them at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_farm. Links at the bottom will take you to the various locations.

[johnygreen]

Actually this is a very controversial issue. Religion and human emotions are attached to this issue, this problem can 't be solved.

Yes this is correct that neither cremation nor burial are the eco friendly methods. The only eco friendly method what I think is that we should let the dead bodies lying in the areas where scavengers like vulture, etc. are living because this way all the nutrients of the body would be recycled and will mix with the soil after some time.

[ACSAPA]

I thought I answered this already but I guess there are multiple death threads going. I plan to be cremated and the carbon from my body turned into a manmade diamond by the Lifegems company so that my daughter can wear a pendant made of the "mom diamond" and have me with her every day.

We really don't care if people think it's creepy. My daughter and I have a close bond like sisters and she would rather wear me as a beautiful diamond than visit my remains in some depressing, space-hogging cemetery. I've never done anything normal or conventional in life so why would I start being normal in death?

[johnygreen]

ACSAPA, on 08 September 2012 - 09:10 AM, said:

I thought I answered this already but I guess there are multiple death threads going. I plan to be cremated and the carbon from my body turned into a manmade diamond by the Lifegems company so that my daughter can wear a pendant made of the "mom diamond" and have me with her every day.

We really don't care if people think it's creepy. My daughter and I have a close bond like sisters and she would rather wear me as a beautiful diamond than visit my remains in some depressing, space-hogging cemetery. I've never done anything normal or conventional in life so why would I start being normal in death?

GREAT...

I wish this bond remain continue for ever.

[BuddhaStarlight]

NeilPearson, on 09 October 2011 - 11:06 AM, said:

I think it is going to have so little effect on the environment either way that it doesn't really matter.  It should be what you want.  Personally, it creeps me out more to think about being eaten by bugs and locked in a box.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Plus my ideal funeral would be a few of my loved ones dumping my ashes in a river, or forest floor, or garden, and saying a few words. I like the idea of my body being scattered somewhere beautiful like that.

And lol Nick, I feel the exact opposite--I'd be happy knowing cremation meant I could NEVER become a zombie! :)

[Dustoffer]

I want a natural burial, cremation produces too many greenhouse gases and is a waste of resources.  I feel a big problem is our flush and forget , bury the dead in preservation in refined metal caskets or pollute to cremate society.  The soil has depleted more than 2/3rd in the past 100 years because of not enough composting.  Replenish the Earth is a Commandment in Genesis, too.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

"Shroom tombs" made fun of by Colbert (second clip, after toys r us clip)
http://www.colbertna...mbs---john-pike

This site explains the "mushroom death suit"  Bleh.
http://www.kxan.com/...s-at-convention

[Besoeker]

Dustoffer, on 15 November 2012 - 11:39 AM, said:

I want a natural burial, cremation produces too many greenhouse gases and is a waste of resources.

Is cremation exothermic or endothermic?

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Besoeker, on 17 November 2013 - 10:10 AM, said:

Is cremation exothermic or endothermic?

http://www.merriam-webster.com/

[yoder]

I've seen quite a few options in this discussion that I had never even heard of.  I am still planning on cremation, but now I have other options to investigate further.  Very cool.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

I'll donate whatever organs they can use from my ancient carcass and toss the rest into the compost pile.

[Besoeker]

Shortpoet-GTD, on 18 November 2013 - 04:30 AM, said:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/

I know what the words mean..........but I don't get the point you are making.....
Sorry.