Funerals...

Maggie Tello wrote:

Its not the face or the body of the individual we need to memorialize, it is the soul that once inhabited that body

Think of that persons body as a representation of their soul. People like having an open casket because that body is a physical representation of who that person was that people can go up to and say goodbye. No one is going to a funeral to say goodbye to the lifeless flesh and bones that their loved one used to be. That body is the body that you heard that persons voice through, that they wrote down their thoughts with, that they lived their life in. It's the only way to represent who that person was, because that is where their soul lived.

Erin Clarke wrote:

Maggie Tello wrote:

Its not the face or the body of the individual we need to memorialize, it is the soul that once inhabited that body

Think of that persons body as a representation of their soul. People like having an open casket because that body is a physical representation of who that person was that people can go up to and say goodbye. No one is going to a funeral to say goodbye to the lifeless flesh and bones that their loved one used to be. That body is the body that you heard that persons voice through, that they wrote down their thoughts with, that they lived their life in. It's the only way to represent who that person was, because that is where their soul lived.

The body is a tool of the mind, nothing more. If I want to pay due respects, I'll do it in my head, since the brain truly represents a person's thoughts.

Jerel Crespo wrote:

Erin Clarke wrote:

Maggie Tello wrote:

Its not the face or the body of the individual we need to memorialize, it is the soul that once inhabited that body

Think of that persons body as a representation of their soul. People like having an open casket because that body is a physical representation of who that person was that people can go up to and say goodbye. No one is going to a funeral to say goodbye to the lifeless flesh and bones that their loved one used to be. That body is the body that you heard that persons voice through, that they wrote down their thoughts with, that they lived their life in. It's the only way to represent who that person was, because that is where their soul lived.

The body is a tool of the mind, nothing more. If I want to pay due respects, I'll do it in my head, since the brain truly represents a person's thoughts.

That's what I'm saying. I'm not trying to convince anyone to like open caskets, I'm just explaining why people like them. If it's enough for you to say goodbye to someone in your head, that's awesome.

Erin Clarke wrote:

Maggie Tello wrote:

Its not the face or the body of the individual we need to memorialize, it is the soul that once inhabited that body

Think of that persons body as a representation of their soul. People like having an open casket because that body is a physical representation of who that person was that people can go up to and say goodbye. No one is going to a funeral to say goodbye to the lifeless flesh and bones that their loved one used to be. That body is the body that you heard that persons voice through, that they wrote down their thoughts with, that they lived their life in. It's the only way to represent who that person was, because that is where their soul lived.

I think that was very eloquently stated, even though my compliment is pretty much spam, I just felt it was worth complimenting.

*LOL SPAM* -Jerel

Michael Bird wrote:

You guys can bring up other forms of funerals or death rites if you want.
I personally think that funerals are very odd. Take a dead body. Keep it preserved for about a week. Paint it and make it look like it is napping. Place in huge expensive wooden bed. Open the bed and have many people in a room with it. Force little kids to go up to it and stare at death. Bury in the ground.
It’s probably just me but I think that is just really odd. Of course I also think that having a pet is a weird practice as well but whatever.

Does anyone think that this is a perfectly normal practice?

I was at a funeral awhile ago thinking this same thing. Here I am sitting on a wooden bench in a room full of people milling around talking about just about anything with a week old corpse sitting at the head of the room in a satin lined bed. The releasing of butterflies at the burial is odd too, seeing those little things packaged and wiggling around kinda made me think about how selfish humans are. Why preserve the dead anyways? Take up room in the ground and waste perfectly good vitamins and such. Burn the body, grow in the ashes, tahts how you should remember someone, with a TREE.

Michael Bird wrote:

Jonathan Stagnaro wrote:

I think it's also a weird practice, which is why I'm thinking of having my body burdened when I die. Saves space and I don't want anyone grieving over me. I think that whoever had close connections with me needs a break from grief and I also need to rest in peace.

What do you mean “burdened?” I haven’t heard of something like that?

Oops, I only get 2 hours of sleep at night.... I wasn't thinking straight

Hmm....I'm not sure if I'm severly disconnected from the respect for life. The main issue I have with funerals is that they suck the money out of those who are in emotional dispair. For this reason I consider funerals (with the death box and all) unnecessary and excessive. Why waste money on someone who is gone? Unless one gains an incredible amount of closure or relief from having a funeral, I believe this particular ceremony to be a pointless spending of money. (I also have an issue with taking up vast amounts of land to bury all these people).
Instead, I think that people should be cremated. It costs less and it allows the loved ones to spread it some place nice, without taking up an entire lot of land! (There is also possiblity of keeping the ashes but....eww). Perhaps only certain people can say goodbye to the whole representation of their loved ones, whereas other may part with the like in dust form.

Sure, Elias, it's efficient your way, but in places like Japan where tradition rules, your ideas are completely absurd. And humans without tradition aren't human at all, are they?

http://www.eruditesociety.com/controversial-f10/committing-suicide-t152-30.htm

Jerel Crespo wrote:

As for suicide-bombers, it just depends on your upbringing. I suppose it really isn't bravery if you expect paradise, as you said. However, the Japanese Kamikaze bombers are a different matter. As it was told to me, after death, the Japanese believe humans have to cross a river (something like the Styx, I suppose). Not being intact makes it hard to do so. I remember a murder case sometime back where a little child was killed, and her hands were cut off by the killer. The mother made a comment to the paper, and it was something like 'how can my little girl get to heaven without her hands?'

If the Japanese were exploding, there'd be no way to cross said river.