7 Comments

Great flier!! So on a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being totally at peace, how much did your peace with your mortality grow? I freak out if I think about mine too much and would like to enjoy some peace before death knocks on my door...or surprises the hell out of me.

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I would say... 7? It improved a lot more two days ago when completely by coincidence I went to visit North America's only open-air funeral pyre in Crestone, Colorado. One of her major points in the book is that the corporatization of death has taken families out of the equation, resulting in a cold and distant death culture. We've established distance between ourselves and death, but haven't conquered it, which makes us uncomfortable. So establishing a comfortable relationship with it is key, I suppose. That book really helped me with that!

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Corporatization of death. Interesting… I’ve never thought of it that way. Thanks for the input :) I need to find this book!

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OMG it's crazy. A huge number of the funeral homes in the US are corporately owned, and they run a powerful lobby that stops people from doing what they want with their loved ones. They brand funeral homes individually (who would want to visit a chain called McDeath?) to give people the impression that they're locally owned. Crazy stuff:

https://www.npr.org/2017/02/07/504020003/a-funeral-may-cost-you-thousands-less-just-by-crossing-the-street

https://www.capitalisticman.com/profiting-from-death-global-funeral-industry-overview-and-analysis/#:~:text=There%20are%20only%20three%20publicly,market%20share%20by%20number%20of

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McDeath lol. A fast food restaurant by a similar name should be named that. Those articles have definitely emphasized my desire to not be put in a box six feet under!! The bill won’t be the only thing haunting my family.

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So last weekend, I visited a friend in Alamosa, Colorado. We went and visited the town of Crestone, where the country's only open-air funeral pyre is located. It's a place of breathtaking spiritual power.

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Yes!! When my parents start talking about their wishes I told them if I go first, donate what can be donated to science then take me to the dessert during sunset, light me up and then take my ashes to an ocean of their choosing for one last swim.

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