(March 2, 2015 at 3:12 pm)Brian37 Wrote: I think both are scams. Not that they exist but for what they have become, over priced symbols of narcissism. To me there is a huge difference between charging and gouging.
Moreso with funerals. I will tell everyone here when I die, just have a wake keep it cheap, use a house you don't have to pay for. A little on food and drink sure, and even have a roast of me if you wish. Donate my body to science.
But don't waste money on a casket or cremation. The money spent on that I would want people to use for their own lives. I'll be dead so I will have no way to enjoy what you do for me. I get the mourning part that is normal, but wasting money on it beyond getting together is superfluous.
Weddings are absurd too. All that money could be used for bills or a house or a car or savings. A wedding is one day, it is the relationship after that that matters.
Death ceremonies are the oldest form of ritual we know. They pre-dates all the world religions, it is even believed to pre-date Homo Sapiens. ritual burial was around before we were.
I think death ceremonies have a deep resonance with us, Stonehenge is believed by some to be the centre of a Neolithic necropolis, it certainly has many burials in and around its complex and almost certainly played some part in ritualistic burials. Neanderthals were also believed to carry out ritual burials some of the time.
Neanderthal Burials Confirmed as Ancient Ritual
MM
"The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions" - Leonardo da Vinci
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)
