Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
How to die
lobster
Crusty Veteran
Cheap, eco friendly and solent green free ...
Will you be leaving your shell to science? Roasted (cremated)? Minced for raven food (sky burial)?
1
Comments
The first thing that came to mind when I saw the title (and always makes me laugh and gives me a little silly perspective)
I know that's not what you were asking just my first thought. Dying without fear. I wish my carcass to be disposed of in the most environmentally friendly way. My dad is arranging his cremation this week, and told me "Just dig a hole next to grandma and grandpas grave, and toss me in. I'll come up as plants and feed the critters and forever be participating in the game of life. But if you want to take some of me on adventures and deposit me elsewhere I'm ok with that, too. No services. No sad songs. Have some antipasta salad and Green River and make it a party." I pretty much agree. Death rituals aren't for us. They are what helps the living grieve and move on. It's no concern of mine what happens to my remains. So the less impact to the world that helps my loved ones. No expensive funerals services, caskets or worse yet, flowers. I won't tell people not to be sad, because it's just part of missing someone we loved. I hate when people say that.
until one is dead one or others can not know how the death happens
even if one is trying to suicide, one can not know for sure whether that would be successful according to the plan
in other words, to know when to die or how to die is impossible
but we can be ready to face the death without fear
that is by continuing the do good and avoid bad at minimum level
cleansing the mind at optimum level
sabba papasa akaranam
kusalassa upa sampada
sacitta pariyo dapanam
etang buddhana sasanam
it says if one could achieve the first stage of Enlightenment (stream-winner) one has nothing to worry one's next birth
because one is never go to four woeful states
one only reborns in human world or heavenly world
once one achieve the first stage one is unable to do/say/think the way in which one is incline towards woeful states
@lobster nice video, I enjoyed it, seems like a better way to repurpose the body than cremation. It's very natural too, you would think our very distant ancestors climbing down from the trees might well have decomposed in a similar way. I remember reading about the vertical decomposition stack somewhere a few years ago, although I wasn't aware it was so quick, weeks rather than years...
@karasti isn't the avoidance of a death ritual also an avoidance of the sharing of grief? I find funerals quite beautiful affairs, where you can express to others what a person meant to you, and even get to know some sides of the dead person you didn't know existed.
And this might be interesting...
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/10/how-to-be-eco-friendly-when-youre-dead/382120/
@Kerome I suppose it depends on the person and their reasons. Here, like I've said before, funerals are dark affairs, with everyone dressed in black, sad organ music playing etc. They are almost always religious-affiliated. My dad hasn't been to a church in 50 years. He doesn't want the expense to fall on anyone else so is paying ahead for what he wants. I'm pretty sure if we felt we needed a funeral, that he wouldn't mind if we did it, he'd be dead after all, lol. But they are seriously expensive, way into the thousands of dollars. So that is unlikely. No one would have the money. I think one can grieve without throwing themselves into outdated (IMO) traditions. More and more people opt away from it if only because of the cost. They don't want to pay that much to die, and they don't want their families to be stuck paying for it.
Most of the time there is a gathering, it just is more informal. When my grandma died, we had probably 150 people show up, but we grilled burgers (her request) and met at her house. So we still shared stories and grief. But it wasn't a funeral because she wanted nothing of a church, ceremony, music and so on.
If it weren't for people possibly being able to use any organs and whatnot I'd prefer my body to rot in the woods somewhere.
I'll have to be like a cat and just wander off when my time is almost at hand.
I think I'll try something different this time round
My sister wants a viking type funeral, to be floated out on our local lake on a raft, lit on fire from an arrow from shore, and left to burn and sink into the lake. I think we'll have to pull that off at 2am or something,
I told my husband he could just put me in the firepit but it might smell up the neighborhood.
I like the wander into woods method @David ...
The voluntary ascetic, 'return to forest fast' used by Jains is very interesting (don't try this at home people) ... It is mostly deemed 'self murder' ...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sallekhana
Some Buddhist sects have extreme practices
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokushinbutsu
Viking death is very heroic.
... Maybe a canoe with a biodegradeable plug in it ... or sea burial ... fish fodder, seems fitting for a lobster ...
Thanks everyone. Hope this is not too morbid for anyone.
I feel it is better than the 'Death Through Chocolate' gateaux eating method ... which apparantly refers to a murder plot ...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/9405919/Death-by-chocolate-plot-to-kill-Sir-Winston-Churchill.html
Aye caramba!
... and now back to 'How to Die' ...
Currently, my legal docs state cremation. I'm considering doing the whole science give away.
If this compost thing takes off and it's available in the future....I'm in.
I am listed as an organ donor. So no dramatic partings. A friend teases and says are you certain you will be well and truly done before the harvesting begins.
We are donating our bodies to science every time we pop a so-called new and improved pharmaceutical pill...
When it comes to dying, a buddy of mine had the last word when he wrote, "I'd like to die with a smile on my face, but I guess I'll take what I get."
For those who are interested in a place to talk about death and dying...
deathcafe.com
First we must learn to live, of course you can befriend death in that time.
How to die?
There's a blues cut by the Rolling Stones from 1964 (are we really this old?), "What a Shame", with a lyric; "You might wake up in the morning/And find your poor self dead". That always got me. As to dying though, I watched my son die, so I hope to know that I am dying and done with living without him when it happens. Don't want to wake up and find my poor self dead.
And now for something completely different. Well, not completely. I've posted this before here, so forgive the repetition, but this would suit me just fine. A couple of friends or family members, put out with each other and a mighty gust of wind.....