Sky's the limit?
Civilisation drives a wedge between us and nature. We prefer the artificial to the elemental, an iPhone to a sunset. When we hit a problem we look to technology to get us out of a hole. Cremation did that very well - till we discovered just what awfulness comes out of those chimneys. Now we look to research scientists and engineers and people who can do clever things with liquid nitrogen to take us forward once more.
When death happens, though, many of us default to the elemental. Some of us like natural burial. Some of us like funeral pyres. Others like the way the Vikings did it.
I'm not aware of much call for sky burial. But we have some very good uplands in the UK and many hungry raptors. I'd like to think that the Natural Death Centre is on to this, campaigning for it, and I shouldn't be surprised to hear that they are. Hill farmers are finding things very tough at the moment. Here's how they can diversify.
Don't know what sky burial looks like? If you have a detached eye and an unqueasy disposition, make your own assessment. Have a look at the photos here.
Labels: natural burial
posted by Charles Cowling at
10:06
3 Comments:
Speaking as the trustee of the NDC most likely to say yes to this sort of thing,( "Down with this sort of thing!" As Father Ted's banner once read) I would love to think we could campaign on this issue, but let's tread softly. I think we should start with open air pyres and see how the great British Public react to that before we send in the buzzards. Start with pyres... Hark at my irrepressible optimism.
Damn those public health laws!
First of all, blimey, that's EXACTLY what I want (see my funeral preferences posted the other day if you're remotely interested in what I want), only... why do I feel in love with the buzzards (or whatever birds those are) for what they do, but mildly shocked at the humans for slicing me up for them to eat more easily? Because it's premeditated? Because I haven't yet fully differentiated between a dead body and a living one? Seeing the bones chopped up afterwards with an axe doesn't faze me at all. I must work on that.
And I must live a long time if what you say, Rupert, is true, that we have to get past pyres before we can prgress to what I would call the only 'natural' disposal method. But a glimpse into what I would like to call 'the future' shows us how much work we've got left to do if we're to realize our dream of making death socially acceptable - and I mean actual death, not the romanticized versions we chat about in public.
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