Religion and Ethics Forum

General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Roses on November 22, 2019, 04:45:45 PM

Title: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: Roses on November 22, 2019, 04:45:45 PM
Our middle daughter phoned a few minutes ago and left me as gobsmacked, as she is! She helps out in a hospice and the chaplain asked her to discuss with her clients their deaths and what they wished done with their ashes for those wishing to be cremated. He had a suggestion to make, apparently it is possible to have them made into a cake with other ingredients to make them more palatable, YUM, YUM! :o My daughter told him that on no account was she going to suggest that to anyone.  ::)

I have just told my husband that his ashes will make me a scrumptious meal if he departs this life first, his reply wasn't very polite. ;D
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: Walter on November 22, 2019, 04:50:58 PM
God botherers in a hospice . How sickening!
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: Udayana on November 22, 2019, 05:40:29 PM
Is this the new LibDem policy? Palatable to whom?
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: Roses on November 22, 2019, 06:29:08 PM
Apparently cannibalism is legal in all but one State across the pond. :o How would people like roast Trump for their Sunday lunch? ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: Anchorman on November 22, 2019, 06:38:28 PM
God botherers in a hospice . How sickening!
   



Eh?
My local hospice ASKED for the services of a full time chaplain (and we provide one [- at our expense).
The gentlrman in question, apart from a degree in theology, also has a degree in clinical psychology and practiced with the NHS.
He is a valued member of the hospice team, and the last thing he does is attempt to kick folk into the kingdom.
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: Walter on November 22, 2019, 06:58:47 PM
   



Eh?
My local hospice ASKED for the services of a full time chaplain (and we provide one [- at our expense).
The gentlrman in question, apart from a degree in theology, also has a degree in clinical psychology and practiced with the NHS.
He is a valued member of the hospice team, and the last thing he does is attempt to kick folk into the kingdom.
hi Anchs,
I speak only for myself
But I see it like shite hawks buzzing round a shit tip !
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: Robbie on November 22, 2019, 07:32:00 PM
LittleR, that really is quite a revolting idea & I'm gobsmacked by it.
I also hate the idea of ashes being made into jewellery - imagine carrying a bit of a deceased loved one around in a pendant, between your breasts. Yeuch.

Ashes are very good fertiliser, if someone didn't want to have them scattered in garden of remembrance they could be scattered in a bit of someone's own garden and maybe shrubs or a tree planted there.
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: Steve H on November 22, 2019, 10:15:48 PM
Read an article about death practices in a special issue of 'New Scientist' today. Cremation is not very environmentally friendly. A better option is woodland burial in a biodegradable coffin. I America, it is legal to compost human bodies, and they can be wrapped in a shroud impregnated with fungal spores, which will convert the body to compost. I think I'd like a woodland burial - but not for a good few years yet, I hope.
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: Roses on November 23, 2019, 08:25:52 AM
LittleR, that really is quite a revolting idea & I'm gobsmacked by it.
I also hate the idea of ashes being made into jewellery - imagine carrying a bit of a deceased loved one around in a pendant, between your breasts. Yeuch.

Ashes are very good fertiliser, if someone didn't want to have them scattered in garden of remembrance they could be scattered in a bit of someone's own garden and maybe shrubs or a tree planted there.

My husband and I have opted to be taken straight to the crem, no funeral and we couldn't care less what is done with our ashes.
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: Steve H on November 23, 2019, 08:28:38 AM
My husband and I have opted to be taken straight to the crem, no funeral and we couldn't care less what is done with our ashes.
I'd've thought your families would like some kind of funeral, not necessarily religious. Funerals are mainly for those left behind, not the dead person.
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: Roses on November 23, 2019, 10:43:12 AM
I'd've thought your families would like some kind of funeral, not necessarily religious. Funerals are mainly for those left behind, not the dead person.

They are happy to comply with our wishes, but if they want to have a party that is up to them.
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: ippy on November 23, 2019, 01:07:18 PM
I'd've thought your families would like some kind of funeral, not necessarily religious. Funerals are mainly for those left behind, not the dead person.

Correct.

Regards, ippy.
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: jeremyp on November 23, 2019, 05:59:13 PM
How would people like roast Trump for their Sunday lunch?

I'm sorry but he makes me sick now and I haven't even started eating him yet.
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: Anchorman on November 23, 2019, 06:43:48 PM
I'm sorry but he makes me sick now and I haven't even started eating him yet.
   



Feelin' sick?
Hey; this is your lucky day 'cos there might (or might not) be a cure....

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-gruesome-history-of-eating-corpses-as-medicine-82360284/
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: Outrider on November 26, 2019, 08:56:21 AM
LittleR, that really is quite a revolting idea & I'm gobsmacked by it.
I also hate the idea of ashes being made into jewellery - imagine carrying a bit of a deceased loved one around in a pendant, between your breasts. Yeuch.

Ashes are very good fertiliser, if someone didn't want to have them scattered in garden of remembrance they could be scattered in a bit of someone's own garden and maybe shrubs or a tree planted there.

I can imagine people finding the idea of scattering ashes as just throwing someone away, whereas turning them into jewellery and keeping them close is somehow reverential - I think it's an entirely personal thing, I don't really see a definitive right or wrong to it.

To my mind, the ashes are just waste disposal - who they were isn't about a body, it's a pattern of thoughts, and that's echoing around in the memories of all the other patterns of thought that intersected with them whilst they were active.

O.
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: Roses on November 26, 2019, 09:01:00 AM
I'm sorry but he makes me sick now and I haven't even started eating him yet.

Roast rat would be tastier, imo. ;D
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: Udayana on November 26, 2019, 11:00:20 AM
I can imagine people finding the idea of scattering ashes as just throwing someone away, whereas turning them into jewellery and keeping them close is somehow reverential - I think it's an entirely personal thing, I don't really see a definitive right or wrong to it.

To my mind, the ashes are just waste disposal - who they were isn't about a body, it's a pattern of thoughts, and that's echoing around in the memories of all the other patterns of thought that intersected with them whilst they were active.

O.

hmm... but waste disposal is really (really) important; patterns of thought echoing around - not so much.
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: Outrider on November 26, 2019, 11:09:24 AM
hmm... but waste disposal is really (really) important; patterns of thought echoing around - not so much.

Important to whom?  I don't really care, when the time comes, what you do with my wife's body, but I'm really, really invested in keeping my mind sharp enough to remember her if she goes first...

O.
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: Nearly Sane on November 26, 2019, 11:17:30 AM
Important to whom?  I don't really care, when the time comes, what you do with my wife's body, but I'm really, really invested in keeping my mind sharp enough to remember her if she goes first...

O.
And indeed I'm not bothered what happens to my body after death, but very invested in not losing those patterns of thought before I die
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: Udayana on November 26, 2019, 11:35:41 AM
Important to whom?  I don't really care, when the time comes, what you do with my wife's body, but I'm really, really invested in keeping my mind sharp enough to remember her if she goes first...

O.

I was thinking more of the future of life on the planet rather than individuals. We'll probably all be dead in a hundred years so can't really see how memory of an individual is that (objectively) important in the long term. If they have any really great useful ideas of-course they should be recorded and passed on.
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: Outrider on November 26, 2019, 11:42:21 AM
I was thinking more of the future of life on the planet rather than individuals. We'll probably all be dead in a hundred years so can't really see how memory of an individual is that (objectively) important in the long term. If they have any really great useful ideas of-course they should be recorded and passed on.

Oh, as a general concern, waste management is hugely important - I'm reminded of the case of the local authority that was castigated for trying to integrate the heating system of a swimming pool with the local crematorium for efficiency purposes and the castigation they received for even considering it.

O.
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: Roses on November 26, 2019, 11:44:32 AM
Oh, as a general concern, waste management is hugely important - I'm reminded of the case of the local authority that was castigated for trying to integrate the heating system of a swimming pool with the local crematorium for efficiency purposes and the castigation they received for even considering it.

O.

I remember that thinking those objecting to it were being totally unreasonable.
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: Outrider on November 26, 2019, 11:48:10 AM
I remember that thinking those objecting to it were being totally unreasonable.

I didn't agree with their objections, but I think I understand them - death is still something of a taboo and seen with some ... 'reverence' (for want of a better word) in sections of the populace. Also, for many people, the body isn't something separate from the person, and to not show a suitable level of respect is insulting.

To turn the final ritual of their life into a side-show to a water-slide, from that perspective, sullies the act of remembrance and the solemnity of the event.

O.
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: Roses on November 26, 2019, 01:37:13 PM
I didn't agree with their objections, but I think I understand them - death is still something of a taboo and seen with some ... 'reverence' (for want of a better word) in sections of the populace. Also, for many people, the body isn't something separate from the person, and to not show a suitable level of respect is insulting.

To turn the final ritual of their life into a side-show to a water-slide, from that perspective, sullies the act of remembrance and the solemnity of the event.

O.

I don't see it that way, but then I have no sentimentality towards dead bodies, even those of people of whom I am fond.
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: Harrowby Hall on November 26, 2019, 03:11:23 PM
Oh, as a general concern, waste management is hugely important - I'm reminded of the case of the local authority that was castigated for trying to integrate the heating system of a swimming pool with the local crematorium for efficiency purposes and the castigation they received for even considering it.

O.

Would this be Redditch that you are talking about?   Redditch was NOT castigated - there was considerable approval for the project. And it retains local approval.
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: Outrider on November 26, 2019, 03:19:32 PM
Would this be Redditch that you are talking about?   Redditch was NOT castigated - there was considerable approval for the project. And it retains local approval.

Having looked it up, it was Redditch - and it may not have been castigated within Redditch and the surrounding areas, but it was certainly taken to task for even considering such a thing in the mainstream press.  Fair play to them for sticking to their guns, though - as I said, I personally don't have an issue with what is, for me, just a waste disposal task.

O.
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: Harrowby Hall on November 26, 2019, 03:32:16 PM
Thank you for replying. It was actually a few years ago.

When you say "the mainstream press" are you referring to those organs of integrity like the Express and Star?
Title: Re: Legal cannibalism!
Post by: Outrider on November 26, 2019, 03:41:50 PM
Thank you for replying. It was actually a few years ago.

When you say "the mainstream press" are you referring to those organs of integrity like the Express and Star?

I think the headlines I saw on the quick search included the Telegraph, Guardian and possibly the Express - I think it's a subjective which of them is least deplorable, but you have to go a long way down before you can pick out the fine distinctions, normally....

O.