Dead Serious #030 (MP3-14.1 MB- 41.04min)
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This is a huge topic and in order to give you some valuable information it will be explored in two parts.

DON”T TUNE OUT…………….yes, this may be a bit confronting for some of you, but putting your head in the sand won’t prepare you for the inevitibility of experiencing the death of someone you love!

This episode looks at how we incorporate ritual into care of people in the hours after their death. How do we prepare the deceased person for the realtives and friends to see? How does this preparation vary among different cultures and spiritual backgrounds? I share with you my personal experiences of preparing both the person who has died and the family and friends for a “viewing”.

We explore the whole concept of ceremony. Why do we have funerals? Where does this tradition originate? How soon after the person has died do they need to be buried or cremated? What influence does culture and religion have on this?

Even what seems like a simple task…………….chosing a coffin, can be an enormous task for a grieving family…………….what are your choices? We look at how caskets and coffins have become expressions of the essence of the person they contain.

We also look at how funerals can vary in their form and content, from the extremely structured, traditional ceremony to the informal, relaxed approach, such as the “surfer’s circle”. The important issue being that the funeral reflects the life of the person and enables the grieving people who attend to have a meaningful experience of saying “goodbye” and the ritual that is chosen will influence this.

What are the religious and legislative rules that govern funerals and burial? How can you have CHOICE about the form of the funeral you have? Can you prearrange your own funeral??? I HAVE and I encourage you to think about this.

You may think that you don’t need to know all of this stuff right now……………..but, where would you start if someone you loved died tomorrow?

As I have said before………..the best way to prepare yourself for the inevitibility of death is to inform yourself………..you can’t predict when you will be in the position of having to arrange a funeral for someone you love, but if you know how to go about it………….that’s a start!

Music generously provided by Mike Schulze.

Don’t forget to tune in next week for Part 2 ………….WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE FUNERAL SERVICE?

This entry was posted on Friday, March 17th, 2006 at 4:17 am and is filed under Podcast. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.