The video we watched in class today made me think...
Is the use of cemeteries by the living always considered desecration?
Burial is probably my least favorite of all the methods to dispose of bodies. That being said, if I were to be buried I would rather the space above my remains be used rather than preserved. I think Green burials touch on this point somewhat but I would like to elaborate on my own thoughts.
Firstly, I think that I should not want to be buried in a place designated primarily for mourning, filled with quite and sadness. A place used in horror stories as a setting for terrible fear. No thank you! I think I would want to be buried at a beach or under a children's playground. Why is it that when I said that I automatically felt like a sexual predator? Because in out society dead bodies and spirits are seen as predators who just have to torment the people surrounding their resting place. If my spirit did happen to live past the life span of my body would this 'spirit' be so very altered form the person I am now?
I like beaches and parks and flowers and laughter and fun and a little mischief... and if any or all those things were gone I think I would feel very lost. I would not dampen the mood, I think, if I were to be buried in a more lively atmosphere. I would not care if they used my tombstone as a base ball plate; at least in that way it is getting used by someone, for I do not think my spirit will have much use for it. As for those who would argue that the loss of my monument is equivalent to the loss of my memory I would like to say this; those who will remember me will remember me and they will not need a grave stone in order to do so, I would hope. So the using of the space I feel would not only be a use of available resources but it would also make me happy.
Besides if all cemeteries are preserved, no one can use the space, which may slowly cause some problems. For eventually there may be more space allocated to the dead than to the living especially with a global population of 7 billion and growing... do we have enough burial space for all those bodies... will we in a hundred years... in a thousand? Where will the living go, once all the worlds a cemetery? And by cemetery I mean an allocated space to be used ONLY by the dead.
That is just an exaggeration obviously... I do not fear that situation becoming a reality for what a farce that would be.
But still I fell that these are a few of the reasons that I would not be persuaded to be buried. I see it as being imprisoned in the ground with a bunch of dead inmates who are as dull and serious as corpses (for that is what they are). My spirit would die a second death without fun and laughter, and I feel claustrophobic at the very thought of being buried. It is so much more acceptable for cremated remains to be spread in more appealing locations: floating in lakes or oceans, with your family in the yard, perhaps flying of a mountain top and into the wind being everywhere and nowhere all at once.
I think this video clip from the move Kill Bill Vol.2 sums up my thoughts on burial. I find that, I too (or my 'spirit'), would be fighting to get the hell out.
Is the use of cemeteries by the living always considered desecration?
Burial is probably my least favorite of all the methods to dispose of bodies. That being said, if I were to be buried I would rather the space above my remains be used rather than preserved. I think Green burials touch on this point somewhat but I would like to elaborate on my own thoughts.
Firstly, I think that I should not want to be buried in a place designated primarily for mourning, filled with quite and sadness. A place used in horror stories as a setting for terrible fear. No thank you! I think I would want to be buried at a beach or under a children's playground. Why is it that when I said that I automatically felt like a sexual predator? Because in out society dead bodies and spirits are seen as predators who just have to torment the people surrounding their resting place. If my spirit did happen to live past the life span of my body would this 'spirit' be so very altered form the person I am now?
I promise none of my parts would be exposed!
I like beaches and parks and flowers and laughter and fun and a little mischief... and if any or all those things were gone I think I would feel very lost. I would not dampen the mood, I think, if I were to be buried in a more lively atmosphere. I would not care if they used my tombstone as a base ball plate; at least in that way it is getting used by someone, for I do not think my spirit will have much use for it. As for those who would argue that the loss of my monument is equivalent to the loss of my memory I would like to say this; those who will remember me will remember me and they will not need a grave stone in order to do so, I would hope. So the using of the space I feel would not only be a use of available resources but it would also make me happy.
Besides if all cemeteries are preserved, no one can use the space, which may slowly cause some problems. For eventually there may be more space allocated to the dead than to the living especially with a global population of 7 billion and growing... do we have enough burial space for all those bodies... will we in a hundred years... in a thousand? Where will the living go, once all the worlds a cemetery? And by cemetery I mean an allocated space to be used ONLY by the dead.
That is just an exaggeration obviously... I do not fear that situation becoming a reality for what a farce that would be.
But still I fell that these are a few of the reasons that I would not be persuaded to be buried. I see it as being imprisoned in the ground with a bunch of dead inmates who are as dull and serious as corpses (for that is what they are). My spirit would die a second death without fun and laughter, and I feel claustrophobic at the very thought of being buried. It is so much more acceptable for cremated remains to be spread in more appealing locations: floating in lakes or oceans, with your family in the yard, perhaps flying of a mountain top and into the wind being everywhere and nowhere all at once.
I think this video clip from the move Kill Bill Vol.2 sums up my thoughts on burial. I find that, I too (or my 'spirit'), would be fighting to get the hell out.
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