Adieu, the final farewell, an exploration of death!
Death: Back to Bob Denton home page
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If you live each day as it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.
Steve Jobs, Apple Computer founder;
No one here gets out alive.
Jim Morrison of The Doors, and resident of Père Lachaise Cemetery;
Every man must do two things alone; he must do his own believing and his own dying.
Martin Luther, who inspired the Protestant Reformation.
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This is a self-indulgent look at the subject of Death, in general, and a contemplation of my own along the journey. My conclusion is that it is the end – despite the existence of 4,200 religions and faith groups in the world, with some 80% of global population saying they follow one of these, and that they believe in a soul and an afterlife. Then, I’ve never been particularly inclined to follow along with the mob.
The only afterlife I expect is for my genes to go on – in my children, grandchildren… Blaise Pascal, French mathematician and philosopher, urges that religious belief is justified on purely practical grounds – you gain if it proves to be right, and have nothing to lose if it is wrong. But I prefer to make a firm decision, and if my dismissal of religion proves to be incorrect, then don’t most religions preach forgiveness – QED.
As to funeral customs – I prefer to follow my wife, Jane’s, long-made decision to not have one, to have a simple wicker coffin, be cremated and I would like to have my ashes spread on my family’s grave (holding Grandad, Nanny, Dad and Aunt Peg) in Bristol. No hang on, I do not expect to follow Jane, I fully expect to precede her!
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- Introduction
- Death
- Beliefs
- Famous Cemeteries
- Famous Burials
- Soul and Afterlife
- Anomalous beliefs and rituals
- Conclusions
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