(March 3, 2015 at 6:10 am)ManMachine Wrote:(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
Missing my point. I am not saying humans should abandon everything, I am saying we should be pragmatic. Mourning is part of our evolution, so yea, we are going to do it. Unfortunately our species has far too much of a tendency to turn this natural behavior into a comic book. And because we make such a big production over everything others love it because they can play off our egos and insecurities.
