MORE EPITAPHS.....

Here is a few more epitaphs for your enjoyment. Laughter is a mighty healer. These next few have to do with dying on the job, which was considered common back in the late 1800′s. Safety on the job site was not documented to the extent that it is in this century and accidents happened.

Though never a quitter,

Our dearly departed

Finished a job,

He should never have started.

He sought a gas leak

In the dark of the night,

Struck one tiny match

And went out with the light.

~

Snoozy Smith, who snatches naps

Anytime and place, perhaps

Pulled last week his greatest blunder;

Napped in a field and got plowed under!

Please take these postings with a light heart. I know that if I’m around after I die, I would like to see my family laughing instead of crying. They want to hear it like it really is! These are classic and take some wit to create.

CAPSULA MUNDI

Capsula Mundi was created by a couple of Italian inventors who had the vision of a forest for a graveyard. They created an egg-shaped capsule which was made from bio-plastic or starch-plastic (potatoes and corn starch). The deceased were placed in the capsule in the fetal position and the capsule is planted in the ground like a bulb. A circular depression is dug above the capsule to mark the place and a tree is planted in the middle. The tree is usually chosen by the deceased before death. This is probably one of the most beautiful concepts of “being born again”. I don’t really mean in the religious sense, but in the sense that our soul doesn’t die and is reborn into another realm. With all the new environmentally friendly and simple ways of burial that man has created in the last couple decades, I’m starting to wonder if the old concept of casket and tombstone is nothing but “nostalgic”  ingraining in our society. Hence the term “think outside the box.” If every grave was replaced by a tree, our planet would be a different place. We need to replace the term “death” with “re-birth”. When we are born on this earth, do the angels cry or sing? Do they lament over our leaving like humans do when their loved ones are “reborn”? So many questions and always searching for answers. God bless.

SKY BURIAL.....

Sky Burial is got to be one of the strangest burial practices that is practiced by one of the most spiritual colonies on earth.  In the land of Tibet, the geography is rocky and barren, forcing the population to dispose of their dead by other means.  Since they cannot dig the ground or burn much wood, they must hack up their dead and leave them in a high place to be eaten by vultures.  The vultures are of a large breed and also have many within a flock so the job is done quickly.  Since the Tibetan people are so healthy because they live mostly off the land, the toxicity level of their bodies is very low which in turn causes no ill effect on the vultures.  The family of the deceased can choose to watch or not, which in turn would be a strange funeral, but a very memorable imprint of the life, death, life cycle.

There is a similar ritual that is practiced in some parts of India known as Dakhma or Towers of Silence which are large circular stone columns where the dead are laid out on top for the same reason.  To be returned to the earth by birds of prey.  I will continue that story at a later date when I get more facts straight about the practice.  I know that the Tibetan monks study a book called The Book of the Dead, or Bardo Thodol,  is read aloud by the monks in order to help the decease’s journey to the other side.  There seems to be many levels of consciousness that must be faced and many untold truths and demons revealed.  This could take several days or sometimes weeks before the deceased is ready for the sky burial.  Some monks are known as the body hackers and their job is to hack up the body so the scent of blood and decay reaches the flocks of vultures.  Once the vultures arrive, the funeral can proceed.  As strange as this ritual can seem, it also has a very natural out come, but limited as to where it can be practiced.

LIFE AFTER DEATH......

When I talk about life after death, I’m not talking about the person who died, I’m talking about the close people that were left behind.  It’s believed that when a person dies, their soul explodes everywhere and those closest will feel the effects.  When a loved one dies, they are always on our minds and maybe that is why every time we turn around something reminds us of them.  Is it them trying to reassure us that they are okay and they are here for us?  Most people chalk it up to the grief syndrome but I believe that the deceased are still close and we can still feel them.  Just in this year I have experienced the passing on of five relations and two pets. These people and animals have guided me since their passing in different areas of my life.  Answers to questions just seem to arrive when I think about the deceased person who had the answers.  Can we still communicate?  Is it wrong to communicate cause society might think we are losing it?  I strongly believe in communication with the after life.  Is that not what we do when we pray?  People did not stop talking to God after he created this place, so if we are apart of God, who’s to say we cannot communicate to those left behind.  I find these times of communication the most comforting times, like being wrapped in the most comforting arms ever.  Hanging on to these moments of remembrance  helps us through the most difficult moments of pain and suffering.  They want us to remember and I try to always.

PEACE OF POETRY 2....

Peace my heart…

Peace, my heart, let the time for the parting be sweet.
Let it not be a death but completeness.
Let love melt into memory and pain into songs.
Let the flight through the sky end in the folding of the wings over the nest.
Let the last touch of your hands be gentle like the flower of the night.
Stand still, O Beautiful End, for a moment, and say your last words in silence.
I bow to you and hold up my lamp to light you on your way.

~Rabindranath Tagore

- See more at: http://allspirit.co.uk/dying.html#peace

NATURAL BURIAL

I would like to take the time to talk a little about natural burial.  The Natural Burial Association based in Toronto has been conducting fully natural burials in protected green spaces since the early 90′s.  The concept and process is extremely simple.  There is no embalming performed, which is the leading contamination for ground water, there is no expensive casket made out of endangered trees, and there is no cemetery with giant expensive head stones.  The deceased is simply wrapped in a biodegradable shroud or simple casket and is lowered into the ground in a very beautiful and natural spot.  The protected green space is all natural with indigenous plants and trees.  The spot where the loved one is put to rest is marked in other means instead of a head stone, such as a wooden marker or a choice of greenery like their favorite plant or a natural rock.  Decomposition helps create new life in the green space and also has low impact on the area.  Why hasn’t it always been like this?  Why has religion used death as a marketing racketeer for so long?  There seems to be a lot of confusing rules and regulations written by the government when it comes to someone dying and I totally understand some of reasons, but I wonder if a lot of them are not written due to greed or ignorance.  Just think about what the world would be like if we had been conducting natural burials for the last hundred years.  Big difference.  Keeping things simple just seems to make more sense in our hearts and it is what feels comfortable.

COEIO AND THE MUSHROOM DEATH SUIT

The Mushroom Death Suit and Jae Rhim Lee’s Infinity Project has got to be one of the most unique burial techniques that I have ever come across.  I have uploaded the video because it says it all!  If this video doesn’t work, please view on Youtube under Jae Rhim Lee’s Ted Talk.  This is the wave of the future!