Beyond the Pall
New Post Every Wednesday
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

Deliberating Disposition: Three Questions to Help Sit With Disquieting Thoughts

2/11/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
Deliberating Disposition: Three Questions to Help Sit With Disquieting Thoughts

You’re going to die.  Sorry.  Regardless of your spiritual or religious belief, or lack thereof, on this plane of existence the meat suit (or “sacred vessel,” whatever your preference) that you know as your body has an expiration date.  It may not be until years from now, or it could be a few minutes away.  Very few of us know the date and hour of our demise ahead of time.

There are far better, more poetic, reflections on the temporal existence we lead, and I encourage everyone to seek them out as I believe coming to terms with one’s mortality is a life-affirming and, frankly, a good get-off-your-butt-and-LIVE motivator.  This post, however, concerns confronting the practical challenges of tending to the expired, inanimate shells that once held our spirit/soul/energy. It may be helpful to disassociate the existential questions of spirit/soul/consciousness from the material realities of tending to the body.  Here are three considerations to ponder, and write in detail in to your death plans. If you don’t have plans, the Midwest Green Burial Society can help you get started:

1.     Whom do you want to take care of making sure your wishes are followed?  A spouse?  A family member? A friend?  You’ll want to make sure they are familiar with and willing to execute your plans as specified.  If your plans include costs, this person is not responsible for them – you are.  Help them help you (well, what’s left of the “you” that they knew) by having set-aside savings and/or purchased pre-need plots, shrouds, caskets, and body preparation services.  Make sure all documents pertaining to your wishes are kept somewhere that your “death partner” knows about and can access. 

2.     What do you want done with your body?  Do you want a viewing?  If so, for whom?  All the world, or just close family?  Do you want to be embalmed or do you want an eco-friendly body preparation? Do you want to be buried, cremated, entombed, resomated, lit up on a funeral pyre?  The options aren’t endless, but are somewhat extensive and vary from place to place.  You’ll need to know your local rights and laws. Do you want a coffin for your body? A shroud? A gilded casket? A vault? A tomb? An urn? To be made into a diamond? A reef? A record? Do you want a headstone? A tree? A rock on the ground for a marker? GPS coordinates for friends, family, and posterity?

3.     Where will your body be buried, burned, entombed, etc?  If you die away from home, say in a foreign country or out-of-state, do you want to be planted where you drop, if possible, or moved back to your pre-chosen burial plot? Does your plan allow for flexibility? If you’re cremated, where do you want your ashes interred or scattered? 

Starting with the questions of whom, what and where one moves down the rabbit hole of these, often difficult, decisions.  They also start to raise the considerations of budget, life celebrations/memorials, and other end-of-life issues, such as power-of-attorney and living wills.  Contemplating one’s demise isn’t morbid, it’s mature and self-aware.  By deliberating death, I’ve found, one can better appreciate this short world walk of a life.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.



    RSS Feed

    Caroline Vuyadinov


    I graduated from St. Vladamir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, New York with a Master of Divinity.  I trained as a chaplain following graduation and worked with a wide variety of people. 

    When I moved to Canada, I began work in a women's halfway house in Hamilton, Ontario which worked with women in conflict with the law on a federal level.  I became the program manager and  loved working alongside the women, creating their plans for their reintegration back to the community.  I also worked as a liaison with the parole board, parole officers and other community service providers.

    Upon my return to the United States, I worked in the Death Care Industry as a Family Service Counselor, which lead me to become a green burial advocate. I co-founded Midwest Green Burial Society with Juliann Salinas. I speak  to community groups and have developed practical seminars for a variety of audiences.  I have been interviewed on a national podcast and was featured on a WGN spot dealing with green burial. 

    Archives

    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014

    Categories

    All
    Children's Graves
    Comunicalbe Disease And Burial Practice
    Cremation
    Cremation Urns
    Cultural Conflicts And Medical World
    Death Of A Child
    Depression
    Ebola
    Family Rights
    Fear Of Death
    Fr-thomas-hopko
    Funeral Laws
    Funeral Planning
    Garden Memorial
    Green Burial
    Grieving Parents
    Heirloom Seeds
    History
    Infant Death
    Live Streaming Funerals
    Mausoleums
    Memorial
    Memorialization
    No Embalming
    Non Religious
    Orthodox
    Orthodox Christian Grave Practices
    Pre Planning
    Pre-planning
    Remembering The Dead
    Serbian Cemetery Rites
    Suicide
    Tree-memorials
    Vaults
    Zito

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly