hi guys,
Recently there has been a campaign called 'god doesn't need your organs in heaven, but we do.' or something like that, as much as I see it as a worthy cause, I believe in traditional burials, however, we live in times of change, and tradition isn't everything, and there is also this urn thing that uses your ashes to nourish a tree, so I think that's great too, I would like someone's view on this and what they would do to their corpse. Of course, to some of us it doesn't matter, as the body is just a shell we cast off, but still, I can't image my organs cut out and distributed.
In these modern times of organ transplants, remember that your death can give life!
As for burial;decomposing bodies (of any animal!) feed the Earth, and the plants on the Earth, These plants then feed other animals.
That is the cycle of Life.
"Earth to earth; ashes to ashes; dust to dust."
That is the true meaning of re-incarnation.
What Brysing said is definitely true ^.^
You can actually learn a lot about what the human body can do to affect the environment if left to the elements if you look up "taphonomy". When you type it, it has that red squiggly under it that shows it isn't correctly spelled, but its some what of a newly revived study in forensics that is all about finding what decomposition of the body can do to/for the Earth.
I guess beneath the fear of being cut open (I died that way in a past life and before remembering that I still had a little fear and the thing was that in that lifetime death was peaceful but the sight itself was traumatic) I always knew it was the right thing to do and traditions need to be cast aside sometimes. I guess it's good to know that even after death we give life to someone who may need and deserve our organs and continue to live through them (not as in possession, I want to pass over quietly). It is a nice way to look at things, thankyou all for helping me defeat my inner fears.
Traditions are important only if you make them important. I am glad to hear you are getting over your inner demons that influence you causing you to be torn in your thoughts. I personally would like to be cremated and put in a tree urn then planted on my family's mountain land. This is only after my organs are harvested for viable donation to another living person in the form of a transplant and then the rest donated to science for teaching purposes, such as dissection, decomposition study, etc. What is left after no more benefit can be made to research and teaching comes the cremation and burial. I would like this because I want to help the earth and the creatures upon it as a whole by reducing, reusing, and recycling in every way that I can.
That's the right attitude,KTS! I, too, will be cremated, but my ashes will be scattered on the earth, as was taught to me by my witch teacher. I have carried an organ Donor Card for over fifty years; but I doubt that my old body will now be of much use to the medical profession!
