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I was wondering if anyone knew about the difference between cremation and burial. In some religons and cults cremation may result in walking the earth for the rest of time. I understand that is a theory, but to what point do people take it. So, if you had to be either buried or cremated, which one would you choose and why?

My answer, cremation. The reason, later...

Neither, actually.

AND I COULDA SAID WHY... sheesh.

I prefer the idea of mummification.

I dont dig fire and that whole being under 6 feet of dirt thing just creeps me out.

Khayman


WOW excellent answer. I did not even think of that type of burial. Do they still practice that?

University of Maryland professors are able to do so, yes.

Takes a helluva long time to get DONE RIGHT.... but yeah.
They do it. :-D

I never wanted to be buried in a coffin, and alwaysprefered to be cremated. However, recently one of my friends told me a theory that falls under the category of organ donators. He believes that you are going to need your body in the after life, and that cremation would leave you in eternal pain. I would elaborate but we didn't have too much time to discuss it. At first I didn't think too much of it, but after a while I figured it would be better to be on the safe side, so I am thinking of alternatives. Mummification doesn't sound too bad.....

I believe the Zorastrians have special 'wells' where the bodies decay in the open and can be picked at by birds and the remaining effluence and matter is washed centrally toward the center of the 'well' and into a pit to mix together. One of the few religions that doesn't bury or burn.

I prefer burial, for a number of reasons. One of them being the whole idea of dust to dust, going back to the earth and all that jazz.

FelixFelix:
I have too heard of this. Is this not associated with the Buddist Religon? I may be wrong, but I know that the people of Tibet used this as a burial.

Xzavier:
I understand your choice. Christian faiths find this the number one choice for burial. I also know that until the 70's, the vatican prohibited cremation as a form of burial saying the body is not intact with the soul. But because of the lack of space to bury, the Church had to accept it. Only smart.

It seems that cremation would get you to the 'dust to dust' point a lot faster.

Felix.. LMAO.. that is so true... :)

Eh all things being a matter of perception lol
I would say that the reasons for cremation to begin with are linked to the time it takes to bury a person, fire being 'absolute" and lack of space.

*snrk*

Titan goddess - here's a quick description:

The interior of the Tower of Silence is built in three concentric circles, one each for men, women, and children. The corpses are exposed there naked. The vultures do not take long—an hour or two at the most—to strip the flesh off the bones, and these, dried by the sun, are later swept into the central well. Formerly the bones were kept in an ossuary, the astodan, to preserve them from rain and animals. The morning of the fourth day is marked by the most solemn observance in the death ritual, for it is then that the departed soul reaches the next world and appears before the deities who are to pass judgment over it.

http://www.religionfacts.com/zoroastrianism/index.htm

I didn't answer the question did I...

Zorastrianism is in the area of India and the Middle East and it's Persian in origin. Islam is from about what 600 AD and Zorastrianism was in Persia before that.

Interestingly, Zorastrianism has a prophet story similar to both Jesus and Muhammad but years and years before either Christianity or Islam.

I think i would personally want to be cremated, and then have my ashes thrown to the wind. That way my ashes could go on to the places I've meant to go but never could.

i would deff do NOT want to be cremated. i would rather be buried or mummified. perhaps even wrapped in fav blanket & thrown in a swamp.
once we die..who cares what happens to the sack of bones really?

Felix
That is very simular to the Tibetian ritual, except in Tibet, they cut you up to help the decomposition along. Yummy... ugh! But what is the ultimate goal of this?

I am not really sure now that I think about it. I dont like dark closed in spaces, and i am not sure about the fire, i think if I had to choose, I would choose burial.

"Eh all things being a matter of perception lol
I would say that the reasons for cremation to begin with are linked to the time it takes to bury a person, fire being 'absolute" and lack of space."

Or the necessity to create a lack of EVIDENCE.

o.O

"sigh"
Must everyone use my posts for their own devices lol
But that actually is a good point.

Nowadays, I'd say that cost is more of an issue than time. Anyone got the latest prices of a good coffin and a decent burial plot? To say nothing of a quality Gothic tomb.

well my grandmas funeral expenses were not cheap... about 2000 alone for the casket . then another 3000 more for the plot.

I am severely claustrophobic- I would prefer cremation, as long as someone somewhere PROMISES I will be scattered across the frozen wastelands

I believe that is a personal choice. I don't have feelings either way about it. I can say however; that being buried and will all the bodies throughout the country..that's alot of space taken up. With cremation, there is no body to worry about.

Thats a fairly romanitic idea redqueen

So do most think of their burial or cremation as still being in their body and aware of everything? I've heard claustrophobia and fear of fire come up in this thread and I would have thought that dead is dead is dead so no worries...but that appears to not be the case.

I guess the fears is why one of my ideas on burial exist. I want to be cremated. I do not want my body that I have nurtured for all these years to be pumped full of crap people use to "preserve" your good looks so they have a chance to gather around and feel bad for themselves. Heck, I am the dead one here. But after all the things they take out of my body for donation I want to be lite up and hopefully smoked by some really loyal friends. Not all of me, but enough. The rest? Spread it all over. I want to be everywhere at once. Be sure to check with the local county if you are going to have your ashes spread. It seems that cremated flesh, yeah right, can cause something or another. YUCK!!! I want to go out the way I came in, hot and ready to go.

Be aware - you could still get the embalming treatment if the FUNERAL is open casket...even if you are to be cremated afterward.

Thought of that too... You better be johnny on the spot if you want to see me.. I hear you get ripe at one point. I do not think it is mandatory to be filled with preservatives and you can have that in your will. And I am hoping I go naturally, but if not they have some good organs to use.

"I am severely claustrophobic- I would prefer cremation, as long as someone somewhere PROMISES I will be scattered across the frozen wastelands"

She's from the deep south.

She's just tired of humidity.

fucking A skippy I"m tired of humidity- I want some SNOW across my ass for a while

lol, well Im in love with my humid Dixie oh well thats what I get for tring to be all poetic n shit....back to the topic at hand.

After the organ donation, want to be put in a mausoleum on TOP of the ground...lol

(I think in KY...if you are not "preserved" you have a 24 hour time period to be buried.)

Yep, that is the average except in drier climates you have more time. I am from the deep south also, Louisiana, and those bodies have a tendancy to float up with a good rain. Scary

I want to be cemented in a concrete statue of myself

I want to be cremat, but I want to have a embaulm properly because I dont wanna be burn alive. As for the momification I am aware a lady called Evita was momiffy in a wonderful way, but not with the cloths and all, it was more a secret techinc that preserved her till now and in a condition almost perfect.

Mt will states I am to be cremated,with part of my ashes to be taken to the family lands in Scotland

Cremation....don't want anyone to be able to find me(my body)

I'm out on the mummification process. I watched a discovery channel program once & you should see the literal butt plug they use when you are mummified!!! I'd also prefer not to be burned, although my ancestors were building funeral pyres in North America before the white man set foot here... So, just give me a nice coffin WITH a BELL. hooked to the tombstone like in the good ole days... just in case they make a mistake and buy me alive!

my people are cremated as they believe it helps free the soul from the body and stops others from occupying it, somehow they also believe it is more respectful than "sticking 'em in a box and buring them like a dog does bones".

Cremation … and scattered over Stonehenge.
Just need to find a cremation place not linked with the church or have some church appointed person bless me … don’t want that to sound intolerant I just want my last day to be perfect lol

Once your spirit leaves your earthly body I personally believe it doesn't matter if you are left out for the birds. However, I like the idea of cremation, but I don't want to sit on a mantle or be worn as a necklace. Just let the wind take me where it may.

Cremation for me. Why use up perfectly good land for a dead body no one will ever need again?

My daughter wants my ashes...I'll be gone, what do I care what she does with them?

Oh and NO ONE will be looking at me after I've croaked...I don't want people to see me that way. I want to be remembered the way people knew me when I was alive...not after my spirit is gone.

After what organs can be taken from my body that might be of use to someone still living..

Well, I don't really care. I would probally prefer cremation and scattering because it would be a lot cheaper on my "survivors."

As long as there's a view and I don't end up in the catbox.

You guys crack me up. I totally understand traditions, family mantel pieces, and burning with a thousand other bodies. But really, it is illegal to just throw me away. They got to do something with the body. May as well wipe it off the face of the earth and me and aunt sally, uncle bob, and john boy can take a joy ride on the wind... LMAO.. Very smart people here on the Rave.. Merry Meet Indeed...

I will be cremated. I am a Tantric Buddhist and a Taoist. My reason lies in my training. It is taught that the only way to truely transition into the next is to complete the circle of life. Now, since I can't be buried in a wild region with out anything between me and the soil, modern laws forbid such things. I will be cremated and have my ashes scattered in the wild.

I have always said i dont want to be cremation, due to the thought of being burned at a high temp. but then with burial i am not going to be 6 feet under ground so some parasite can feed on me for eternity. i always wanted to be encased in a mausoleum. no bugs. but then with the creation thing you can be released at some area that you like, and be free. not quite sure yet.

i dont really know because both creep me out

I perfer cremation, i do not want the body that i am insitting in the ground and festering until the worms eat me. plus i want my ashes to be combind with my other halfs ashes and spread in the silver springs. where i am was happiest.

I want to donate my organs then be cremated and some of my ashes scattered over each continent. How dramatic.

buriel if i had to choose. however i would rather be frozen befor i die. mabye they will come up with cures for what ever was my illness. oh and one for being short to.

There are other interesting things you can have done with ashes... Such as scattering them into space.

Heavenly Journeys

Think about bodies of people who have died before outr generation. You never know if they are going to be dug up and moved out of their "final" resting place, or they could be robbed and such. I would much rather be cremated and dumped into a river, if not just dumped intoa river to begin with..that is supposed to be humerous not serious..but you neevr know what will happen to a body after death. i plan on donation organs and then being burned up.

cremantion i want to be spread over the lock, i dont want to be buried because a lot of gravy yards are bing moved in the name of progress

Either one works for me as long as I'm not in the ground where someone can walk on me I wanna be put in a moselium

I vote for cremation. My mother, who was very Catholic, refused to be cremated. Her gypsy background insisted that she be put in the earth. Titan Goddess knows why I want to be cremated. :)

I am donating my body to Body Worlds.
Corpes art has always been alluring to me.

http://www.bodyworlds.com/en/bodydonation/body_donation_program.html#BoDoInfo

the thought of being buried is well kinda scary, cremation sounds better but yea i always wanted to be mummified.

I'm skipping both!

I plan to have my body made into a piece of art. In Viking times they would burn bodies to set the soul free.

The thought of burial, & cremation creep me out, I dont know what other type of burials are available.

I saw my grandads body get cremated, it was just a big room with chairs & at the front the coffin was there, when there about to cremate, red curtains go around the coffin....

All my family are buried together at a cemetary right next to my home, apart from my grandad, his ashes were buried with them instead, so I suppse I'd be cremated as well & buried with my family.

sounds to be very intruging, guess theres many ways for ur body to be taken care of after death comes to you.

Something im going to look more into with a private research.

I'm on the fence. I do this for a living and neither method really seems pleasant in application. The mummification sounds interesting. There's also a growing movement in eastern europe toward a sort of mulching process which is weird.

In the end though, it's really all in what the survivors need for closure. Some people need the elaborate ritual in order to say goodbye. Others make peace in their own way.

You can also be buried after you've been cremated, or be placed in a niche in a wall with a nameplate.

My favorite place so far is a niche room with glass so that you can see the urn and place pictures and flowers. It's a peaceful place, and beautiful. I'm sort of biased in thinking that it's better to leave a place someone can visit as opposed to scattering, especially if you didn't have a chance to see the person before they've passed, but that's just my view.

Also, if I died now I wouldn't want to be embalmed and have my co-workers see me naked! lol

How about bronzing...is that legal/available?

perhaps we could just have a religious VR ceremony at one of the meets, build a tall byre for me, and set me on fire with all the alcohol in the bar- then, it's just me burning for you guys- we all know what's going in the wind then...

In a way i think cremation is nice cause when I die i want to be free, so burning me and then letting my ashes go to the wind would be wonderful i think.

I checked out the Lifegems and all you need to do is give them a lock of your hair, so it can be done while you are still alive. I think this is really neat and am totally considering it. It is expensive though.

Body Worlds is also every interesting because you can still donate your organs.
What they do is strip the flesh off your body then plastisize you- your body in then in a sense immortalized and put on exhibit.

Oh I thoroughly forgot about body worlds! That method is so intriguing, to end up as an art exhibit!

I have heard of the ashes made into jewerly. I was looking into that at one time. They also offer a pendant that is water and temperture resistant where they put a small portion of you ashes in. You can have it done in either a ring or a pendant. That kind of creeps me out but would be nice to be able to travel with my children and watch their lives even after I am gone.

Cannibalism... Grock me.

*laughs*

Serriously... I believe in cannibalism (As long as you eat healthy... I think most humans these days would taste quite gross with all the preservitives and stuff... A polynesian GF I had once said her grandmother rather tasted like ham with fresh pinaple) even though my religion forbids anything but burial in a natural way (ie no preservatives and in a way that most preserves the body)

However the body is te temple of the ousl and I think that it takes the soul some time release it's attatchement to the body; thus the time nessesary for decomposition is a buffer zone that allows for the metaphysical grieving process of the instantaneous loss of materialism.

Either, really, however, I don't like the idea of my body rotting in a box for hundreds of years. I would more prefer to be cremated... In both situations, though, the body is returned to the earth.

Whatever my family does with my corpse once I'm gone, really, is of no effect to me. (As long as they don't stick me in the freezer X_x;;;;)

Burial at sea ...

you can be fish food and the rest is bashed around rocks until there's nothing left except sand

A Michael Valentine reference was delightful.

Yes... "Stranger in a Strange Land," is on my books to reread list.

Wait...honest question...If you're cremated how can you be expected to walk the earth forever? or do you mean just as a spirit?

hmm...I don't know really, I haven't heard anything from any sort of religion or group/cult about cremation meaning something different.

I'd say cremation after donating any good organs i may have left.

As far as needing your body for after life or such things. I have noticed when going to funerals, the person who died could have been the closest person to you when alive. but when their body is in that coffin, they are not.
Maybe i am just cold in that way ;) but i don't feel sad at a funeral when i look at the body. This body is not the person i knew. i can feel it.

Saying that, i don't think it matters what happens to it after the "person " has left it. Other than making it more pleasant for others

I would want to be cremated to tell you the truth. I'm like Khay, I am not fond of being buried 6 feet into the ground.

I choose neither,I dun understand this and noone else probably will either,Have you ever thought of breathing even when you can't,Just take me to the ocean under a full moon and let meh go

I would prefer cremation one because of a question my best friend asked me, would you like that to be your address for your afterlife? Well until some archaeologist comes and digs you up only to put you into a numbered box.

The thought of that had cemented my decision to be cremated.

The problem with modern burials is that the coffin is placed into a burial vault which is desiged to catch anything that might escape from the coffin during the decomposition of the body. It seems that the human remains are classified as a bio hazard and in most places they don't want anything from a decaying body getting into the soil. The old phrase ashes to ashes just doesn't seem to apply anymore, at least not in the United States. About the only way I can see to really go ashes to ashes is to be cremated and have it pre-arranged with whomever gets possesion of the urn for them to scatter your ashes (litteraly) somewhere.

Myself, I prefer to be cremated. They say that the human brain cells will hold a residual electrical charge for a long time after death. I've heard that it can be months even. If that's true, you might be in a dream-like state after death, at least for a while. I really don't want to be trapped in a coffin potentially having bad dreams for months. If I get cremated at least I know it'll all be over with quickly!

I thought I had death all figured out, now one more thing to worry about. J/K, actually I want to be bured.

I have read that if you are buried, your chances of reincarnation are better, and for coming back faster. I am not sure if this is true. All I know is I hate the cold, and don't want my remains out in a big box, where bugs and worms can get in and make havoc on me. Ew. I'll take my chances being cremated.

Burial. I like the idea of a body decaying in the earth better than a body being burned in a chamber of fire. Much like Hell. If there is Hell. Cremation is mutilation to the body in my belief. While burial, you only have to worry about cannibalism.

You don't have to worry about cannibals with all the crap pumped into your body during the process of getting your body ready for burial and they no longer let your body rot in the earth because of the chemicals.....unless you get buried in the jungle of some third world country.

I haven't decided yet but I've been leaning towards whatever my husband goes for cause if I can't lie next to him in the ground then I want to be put where ever he is....ashes being spread if he so desires...etc. Truely the more I think about it the more I lean to cremation...I don't think you walk the earth for all eternity either....

this may sound grotesque but when i am gone i am free my body will still be here take to the woods and throw my naked body to were the animals will eat and give back to nature

me personnely believe cremation, i believe it wont be far away that that will be the only way it will be as we r very fast running out of space to live. I have seen graves dug up and moved these were over 100yr old graves just so they can build a road...go figure

Neather I want to be placed in a burial vault or shall I say a mausoleum. I cannot stand very small spaces, and I sure don't want to be cremated.
Ghost

Well I will be cremated, if I have any body parts worth giving someone to save their life, then they can have it. It is just my body and it is just the house to my soul, it is my soul that will be free and what happens to the body means nothing to me.

In some religions to cremate the body meant to release their soul so that they don't walk the earth for all time.

cremation that way i can play with fire even in death cause i know im going to play with it for the rest of my eternal life

I am utterly and completely with Khayman on this one. My only tweak is that I would want my carcas shipped off to Egypt- get it done as close to the ancient way as possible. I like to idea of the spirit being free to be reincarnated. To be free is my ultimate goal in life, and if that comes with mummification then that is exactly the way I want to go out. Bring on brain scrambling and disembowelment!

I would prefer Buriel.

I too believe in "Dust to Dust" and would hope that "Returning to the earth" is true,

Illianos.

BURN ME :) I wont care and no need for me to take up more space after I am gone

a burial is when people put you in a coffin and burry you 6 feet under :) a cremation is when they burn you into ashes and spread you on the earth

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