Cremations and the ethics of the cremation business

In Arizona, they found two large pits of human bones that were buried en masse by a crematorium.  The bodies were supposed to be cremated and interned in a memory garden. While the law wasn't broken, ethically there should be more respect for the human remains. Which is how we feel when we talk about our approach to cremation and the scattering of your ashes. It should be done with reverence and never just dumped in a hole like at the land fill.

How to go out in style
You need a plan that includes more than just your wishes to be cremated. After all, do you really want your ashes left in a closet somewhere or accidentally thrown into the trash bin? The plan start with your wish to be cremated and end with the location that you want your urn interred or your ashes spread on the ground.

Pick a crematorium
Step 1: Specify where you want your body cremated. Be sure to pick one that has a reputation for doing what they are contracted to do. You will need to buy some type of container or include the purchase of that container within the contract.

Executor
Step 2: Select a person who will pick up your ashes after the cremation. You would be surprised how many urns filled with ashes are left at the crematorium and forgotten about. Pick a family member or friend and they are the ones who have responsibility for your plan to go out in style. You need to discuss the whole plan with them and get their approval as an executor.

Memorial Service
Step 3: Decide on where you want to have your memorial service and what the theme will be for it. A lot of people select the theme that goes along with their final resting spot. While others will pick something that defines their life. A painter will show their art work or someone will show the crafts they made as a hobby. Be sure and provide a beverage to toast a life well lived which is a very important part of going out in style.

Spreading the Ashes
Step 4: Pick your spirit whisperer. A spirit whisperer is the person who will transport your ashes to their final resting spot. They will say a prayer, read a poem, or give a eulogy while returning you back to whence you came. Depending on where you have picked for your final resting spot, you need to pick someone capable of carrying out your instructions. This may or may not be your next of kin. You can hire someone to deposit your urn or spread your ashes in remote locations.

Final Resting Place
Step 5: Determine where you final resting place will be by searching for the most scenic place or a favorite place of yours that defined your life. A favorite vacation or a favorite fishing spot is selected by many. Some select a place they always wanted to visit but never had the chance.

If you can answer these 5 questions, write then down and discuss them with your family. Make your plan and reservations in advance. Provide the funding for the expenses and you will be all set to go out in style

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Ashes to the Moon

Having your ashes spread in space or sent to the Moon is not a cheaper alternative to the standard burial. The process of hiring a company to blast your remains into orbit using a rocket is not a green burial. It does however exist, and for those more interested in something unique for the spreading of ashes versus a green burial, we discuss the possibility here. Celestis is a company offering memorial space flights. Space services, Inc is the company behind the space flights and they have launched some celebrity ashes into space. For those of your concerned, Celestis states that they will not create more space debris by these launches of ashes into orbit.

If you want to go one step farther and have your ashes placed on the moon , they have teamed up with another company, Odyssey Moon , to do this starting at the end of 2009. Odyssey Moon is a company participating in the Google Lunar Xprize. The Google prize is for landing a robotic probe on the moon and completing prescribed missions. It is worth $30 million dollars. The Odyssey Moon corporation intends on carrying 1000 capsules full of ashes on their first lunar mission. The lunar lander will stay on the moon with all those capsules aboard. So it isn't exactly spreading your ashes but having them interred on the moon.

The fact that your relatives will be able to look up and know that a small part of you has made it to the moon is very alluring to some. Once we start regular supply service to the moon, having your ashes placed on the moon will be more mainstream. If we ever get the space elevator going, who knows what kind of services will be offered for those wanting to go out in style.

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Waking the Dead

As the story goes, a wake was a rowdy place to drink and dance so you could wake the dead and have them join the party. This is the origin of the saying: “you are making so much noise that you will wake the dead.” Just like the doctor who finally gives up on trying to resuscitate someone who heart quits beating, a wake has to end. At some point everyone would get tired and go home. The dead stays dead and everyone else is dead tired.

Another reason people tried to “wake the dead” was to be sure the dead person’s soul was alert and ready to transition to the afterlife. I think we all know someone who was never awake during life much less being awake after they died. For those of us that believe in the afterlife, I guess it was important to not sleep in your body and forget to go to the next stage in your journey.

A third reason was to appease the dead by having a party in their name. You never knew if this person was angry at dying and would seek revenge on the living. Showing them some love during the wake would keep them from coming back to haunt you as they do in the Ghost Whisperer TV show. This haunting thing has spawned a whole genre of movies but has never really been proven as a truth. However, without ghosts, zombies, and other undead creatures, Halloween would not be near as fun.

Finally, the fourth reason was actually to celebrate that someone had died. All of us have someone in our life that we wish would just go away. Some even think about how much better their life would be if that certain someone died. No one wants to talk about that possibility because it isn’t nice and they may just come back as a zombie and eat you. Most of us have enough enemies in this life without creating any new undead ones. So respect for the dead is very important.

Showing respect and honoring the dead person is what we think the wake should be about. Use a theme that matches the important things is that person’s life. At the wake, you can party loud enough to wake the dead, but keep in mind that it is about remembering a life well lived. It is a life that deserves to go out of this world in style.

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Top places to spread your ashes

Grand Canyon: courtesy of pdphoto.org

According to Unspun on Amazon, the most popular place to have your ashes spread is the ocean. If you haven’t heard of Unspun, it is a community to rank lists. Four of the top five places people pick are in the ocean. The only other place picked in the top 5 is space. Of all the places on land, not leaving the Earth, the Grand Canyon was number one, followed closely by the beach, your own backyard, and Hawaii. If you want to vote, you can see the whole list here. According to Cremation associations, water is the most popular place to scatter ashes but places on land are also growing in popularity.

Places to spread your ashes can be grouped according to the 3 basic areas: Land, Air, and Sea. The most popular way to spread your ashes at sea is to charter a boat and spread the ashes along with other members of your group. Using an airplane to spread your ashes is the most popular way in the air. This is also a charter with less people on board to witness the spreading since it is done in a small airplane. The most popular spot on land to spread your ashes is at a national park but is followed closely by many diverse places. The places on land that people select vary according to their life style.

What we see most about these places is not enough creativity. We think you can do much better at picking a great place to go out in style. Don’t just join the crowd and jump off the nearest canyon or into the nearest ocean. We know all you individuals out there have some great places that you have visited while you are alive. All those great places that made you long to be there and never go home. So it is time to break away from the crowd and select somewhere that makes you the leader instead of the follower. Let us know what you chose and we will put it here on PyreFyre.

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Last Years, Last Days, Last Thoughts, Last Plays

As you get older, you watch the lives end for people you love and people who have been a part of your life as long as you can remember. So goes the process for each of us as deaths slips quietly closer and closer to our door. We are just too busy living to notice until we wake up one day and start counting the years left instead of the years we have lived on this Earth. Our thoughts turn to what may be after death and a shadow of doubt blankets our vision of the afterlife. Finally, we can see a world that does not include us ever again. We will depart and leave it to those left behind. That is the one true thing we can all count on to happen in the end.

How we handle the next few years will say a lot about our true beliefs and personality. Will you go quietly into the night expecting to wake up in a Heavenly place or will you go kicking and screaming like a child afraid of what lies in the dark? It is our belief here at PyreFyre that you feel a closer affinity with the afterlife, as you get closer to your departure date. Although none of us know that day, our soul senses something coming on the horizon with our earthly attachment seeming a lot weaker. It feels almost like you could have an out of body experience at anytime. Your soul begins to understand that it is separate from the body.

In the end, we want to leave a legacy, feel comfortable about what happens next, and go out in style. Here at PyreFyre, we just concern ourselves with going out in style. We do understand that to go out in style you must certainly feel comfortable with what happens next. While it is certainly appropriate to feel apprehension about the afterlife, those that feel like going out kicking and screaming should find another site to express that fear. So think about those last plays. Have some fun, enjoy the things you meant to do years ago, and get set to experience wonders not seen before.

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About Pyrefyre

I started this blog to highlight the fact that by 2010 we should see 1/3 of the people in the US select cremation. Some will still prefer internment and others will end up in someone’s home. In this blog, we are looking for green ways to spread those ashes in our favorite place here on the earth. In addition to spreading the ashes, we want to see more of you celebrate the life of the deceased and not have such a somber time. It is time to see that person in their best light and not made up and stuffed in a box.

It is important that you leave your family instructions on how you would like them to handle your body and service after death. There are books available where you can just fill in the details. Don’t wait until tomorrow because you just never know when the grim reaper will arrive. There are a few details that need to be decided besides the actual cremation. We will discuss them to help you decide on your personal plan.

We will be looking for the most creative ways to honor the dead in new green burials. Ways that touch a memory within our life and convince us that this is the way we want to go into the next realm. Let us not forget that the celebration of our life is for the ones we leave behind. Select something that helps them remember what your life was really all about. Green funerals and memorial parks or select a part of God’s country to have your ashes scattered. Don’t settle for going 6 feet under with the same old expensive funeral. Save money, save space, and save the planet. Punctuate your life will a big exclamation point. Go out in style!

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