Would you like a funeral?

[Q-Source]

This question just came to my mind when I was reading jimmygun's thread.

What would a person who does not believe in the after-life and God would want as a funeral?

I mean, most of us are Atheists but it does not imply that our families and friends are Atheists as well , so if we die I think that they will want to follow all the religious rituals (more as a comfort for themselves really).

But, is it correct to ask our religious families that -when we die- they just bury the body and forget about it?

In my case, I will let my family decide (obviously I won't be there to say a word ) . We have to be practical, if we don't believe in God, why would we care if they take our bodies to a Church and pray for our "souls"?

I wouldn't mind at all. On the other hand, if I give my family specific instructions about what they should *not* do, I know that they would feel very sad...

Have you thought about it?

 

[LillyThePink]

gather at Crematorium

Sing a rousing chorus of ding dong the witch is dead

Friends/Family say what they think

Everyone goes to the pub. preferably to do karaoke, but its optional.

 

[Guest]

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What would a person who does not believe in the after-life and God would want as a funeral?
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I personally don't care because I won't be here.

I'd hope for everyone to get together and have some food and fun.

As far as the presentation of my body, etc., I don't really care. On one hand I can not see the idea of taking up space in a coffin and having my body unnaturally preserved. On the other hand, it would be fun for future archeologists.

I think I'd prefer cremation. Although, I'd really prefer, like Alan Watts suggests, to be buried in a field with no coffin, no preserving chemicals, etc., and that would probably be the best way to grow things in the field.

 

[Wile E. Coyote]

Re: Re: Would you like a funeral?

I think I'd prefer cremation. Although, I'd really prefer, like Alan Watts suggests, to be buried in a field with no coffin, no preserving chemicals, etc., and that would probably be the best way to grow things in the field.

That is a very ... poetic ... wish. I like it.

It is also very practical, as it would save your family a lot of money in costs.

I also do not need a box to contain the mass of material that was once me. I would rather my memory be honored than my body, as that is the only part of me that could be immortal.

 

[Beleth]

I want a big ol' WAKE. With lots of drinking and laughing.

And then after that I want to be placed in a peat bog, or some permafrost, or something like that, so I can be found 5000 years from now by archaeologists who will wonder what my culture was like and how I died.

I am not afraid to die. I just really, really don't want to ROT.

Seriously.

 

[Akots]

Would I like a funeral? Hm...

Well, I was't planning on it, but now that you mention it... would it have to be before April? It would make it tough while moving to my new apartment, which i'm doing in the next few weeks.

Mid-June would be pretty good for me, though. I might take oyu up on that actually... tempting offer.

 

[Q-Source]

Would I like a funeral? Hm...

Well, I was't planning on it, but now that you mention it... would it have to be before April? It would make it tough while moving to my new apartment, which i'm doing in the next few weeks.

Mid-June would be pretty good for me, though. I might take oyu up on that actually... tempting offer.

Oh really?

So, your life is not that exciting and joyful

 

[Akots]

Actually, mine is a very enjoyable life, and quite prosperous. A change of pace would just be nice. You know how it is.

Could I have it on a tropical beach, and have a BBQ party for all my living relatives? For the hamburgers, not me. Heeey... maybe both!


OK, OK.. so I am being a little silly...and i'm not ready to kick the bucket just yet. But speaking seriously, who would want their funeral to be a big party? I think it would be a great idea... i don't want my family to be miserable because of little old me. However much longer I live, I have more than enough to look back on as it is. Well... except for marraige, and possibly spawning my own little broodlings.

Hm... maybe i'll have to pass after all... I don't want to die without giving a family a try, if only because it's the one experience I cannot even comprehend experiencing. Don't want to die until I've lived through all the important stuff. After that, though, I'm pretty much good to go.

 

[Peach Jr.]

I don't think it would matter much to me - after all, I wouldn't be there to defend myself

However, if I did have a say in the matter...

I would want to be cremated - after any usable organs were donated - and have my ashes scattered over the beach near where I grew up.

And then, the party

 

[Peach Jr.]

I don't think it would matter much to me - after all, I wouldn't be there to defend myself

However, if I did have a say in the matter...

I would want to be cremated - after any usable organs were donated - and have my ashes scattered over the beach near where I grew up.

And then, the party

 

[c4ts]

Funeral? Perhaps if my retirement plan to upload my consciousness into the internet in the form of a computer virus fails, I may need one...

 

[kittynh]

donate body?

Am I the only one that plans on donating my body to science? My kids are into doing that too (oh wouldn't that go down well with the relatives...) I'm not an athiest, but I really don't think I'm going to know what happens after I die. I do get a kick out of thinking about med students chopping me up and making funny jokes. My kids think it would be cool if we could be made into skeletons! At my college we used to decorate the skeleton's and they were "invited" to every party. Now that's a fun thought...

 

[spoonhandler]

I had seriously intended to donate my body to science (once I'd finished using it), but someone pointed out to me how insensitive I was being toward those I leave behind. It may be beyond even my sensible spouse to accept the idea of my body becoming a plasticised learning tool on display or repeatedly dissected by med students.

I have informed my family that my wish is for them to be able to live comfortably with whatever decision is to be made. I'd prefer not to waste space and money with a burial plot, but it's really not up to me. They are aware I'd want whatever organs are of use to others to be donated, but again, they'll be the ones on the spot, trying to balance grief and loss with concerns for the future.

There's no way I could impose my own selfish will on them in the here and now when I can't begin to imagine how they will be feeling if ever the time should come for them to make such decisions.

 

[The Fool]

I'm Dead...what should I care? People can do with me whatever they like. Lay me face down and use my ass for a bike rack for all I care.

 

[evildave]

Organ donor.

Cheapest cremation you can find local to my death. Discard ashes in any way you see fit. Use it in the garden, if you like. It's bone meal. Roses like it.

Use the cash for a party that I'm not invited to.

Explicitly: Go cheap. That's just a lump of meat there, tempting the flies. You can expensively transport it, pump it full of chemicals, put it in an expensive box, dress it up nice, cry over it in an expensive room, then bury it somewhere to rot, or you can burn it up cheap. If you go for the former, the sick little bastards at the funeral home saw you comming a mile away.

If you desperately want a funeral ceremony, a nice photo of me would do fine.

I'm serious about "go cheap". Every dollar you save is more beer at the party.

 

[Q-Source]

There's no way I could impose my own selfish will on them in the here and now when I can't begin to imagine how they will be feeling if ever the time should come for them to make such decisions.

Exactly, this is the point I was trying to make. It is a decision that must be taken between you and your family. Ultimately, if you die first, they will have to deal with it. I think that most of the people find comfort in buring their loved ones in the traditional way.

 

[LillyThePink]

Is burial still really big over in the US?

Mostly in the UK, we go for cremation. Then again, we haven't got the space you guys have

I've only been to 3 burials - all Catholics.

 

[Q-Source]

I would want to be cremated - after any usable organs were donated - and have my ashes scattered over the beach near where I grew up.

And then, the party

Most of the people here say that they would like to have a kind of celebration instead of a sad funeral. But....

Would you do the same if your loved ones asked you to do that before she/he die?

Would you follow his/her instructions?

Q-S

 

[Smalso]

Re: donate body?

Am I the only one that plans on donating my body to science? My kids are into doing that too (oh wouldn't that go down well with the relatives...) I'm not an athiest, but I really don't think I'm going to know what happens after I die. I do get a kick out of thinking about med students chopping me up and making funny jokes. My kids think it would be cool if we could be made into skeletons! At my college we used to decorate the skeleton's and they were "invited" to every party. Now that's a fun thought...

I have made arrangements for my remains to be donated to a nearby medical school. Most are experiencing severe shortages of cadavers for disection, which is necessary in the training of new doctors. When they are finished with it, they will deliver the ashes to a person I have designated to be disposed of as she sees fit. One of the beauties of it is that it doesn't cost anybody anything. I want no funeral, memorial service or anything of that type; however, if some of my friends want to get drunk in my honor, they may use that excuse. As if they need one.

 

[Guest]

I will have a funeral and I plan on writing my own eulogy. That way I still get my say to counter any religious flap doodle that my wife insists she is going to have.

Nobody will allow it to happen but I think it would be hilarious if the coffin was open and empty, with my dead body sitting in a corner out of the way with a beer in my hand. Most of the people I know have seen me sitting with a beer and damned few of them ever saw me lying in a box sleeping.

I am putting a tape together of my own music (original melodies) and I plan on having it played instead of the dirge crap they normally play. On the flip side will be thirty minutes of me telling my favourite jokes, ones that everyone has heard a hundred times. People will be able to buy their own copy of the tape in the lobby of the funeral home for $19.95 plus shipping and handling.