Religion Let's Talk About Death

Morbid

Cadet
Hi all,

So I'm giving a talk at one of the Universities here entitled "Lets Talk About Death". If I can, let me run it past you and see what y'all think. (I should preface by saying it's to a class of seniors who are finishing up their health-care-related degrees, everything from dentistry to morticians)

"Good morning! My name is Alton and it's an absolute pleasure to be here. I want to welcome all of you to the health care industry. I'm not your typical "health care" professional, because I am a Mortician. I've been involved with the industry since I wase nine. My grandfather owned the funeral home that I now own. I spent my summers growing up learning how to care for the dead and their families. I've been invited to talk to all of you about, well, death.

My grandfather used to tell me two things: the first being that "we mustn't fear death, for it is natural. It is the next step in life. For what is alive, must die." And at the tender age of nine, I had no idea what he was talking about. Then when I was twelve, my best friend in the World was killed in a car accident. After my time of grieving I finally understood what my grandfather was telling me. Death is part of the circle of life. That stuck with me a long time. I think in the funeral industry, we have a different understanding of death, because we see it every day.

And in reality, all of us in this room, including those of you going into the funeral industry or medical examiners, etc, all care for the living. All of us. Uncle Bob doesn't care what color his suit is when he comes to the funeral home. Nor does Aunt Sally care if her dress is on backwards. So why do we go through the effort? For the living. The dead that come to the funeral home are usually followed by loved ones, friends, and family. So we go through the effort to care for the living.

The other thing that my grandfather told me was that death will come for all of us, and it will come on its time, not ours. We don't have a choice in the matter. All of us in this room will at some point face death in our careers or in our personal life. A friend, a coworker, a patient. And for those of you who have the task of trying to ward off death, I admire you. For your task is greater than you know. Do your best, and worry not if someone doesn't make it. Because death comes on its terms and time, not ours.

Everyone in the World has at least one thing in common: our time on this Earth is finite. But I don't want you to be afraid of death. But rather, I want you to be prepared for death. Both of someone you know, and your own. I want you to have the maturity in your fields of work to know that at some point, no matter your efforts, you will loose a patient. I want you to do your best, and take comfort in the knowledge that you did your best. I also want you to have the maturity to tell yourself "I am mortal. I will someday die. What do I want done?" It's a tough conversation to have with yourselves, but I highly recommend it. Have the maturity to sit down and write out a plan of action for your death.

This plan can be as broad or as specific as you like. Mine is thirty pages long and outlines everything down to the last detail. Doing this will help you, and it will help your loved ones. Then give it to a handful or two of people you trust. Update it every so often.

But most importantly, I want you to have the courage to live. To go skydiving, to do crazy things you're afraid of. Because ultimately, death will come.

Thank you."
 
Its okay, kinda short but effective for the message you are trying to give.

Death is the end of the living process not a process in itself. We exist because we are alive. Death is the end of that existence. Its all gone. Everything that makes us alive is no longer functioning. No pain, no pleasure; no memories, hopes or dreams; you don't know you are dead because there is no you. Everything ends. Its not blackness, its nothing. There is no assessment because there is nothing functioning that can make an assessment.

As for my wishes for when I die, I don't care. I'll be dead. Nothing will affect me because I will not be able to process anything. My brain will not be firing any synapse at all. The only thing that will exist is my dead body and the memories of me that are in the minds of those still alive.

Years ago I experienced a near death period where I had to be revived during an ambulance ride away from a car accident. I remember seeing myself floating over my body, no pain, no stress and a sense of emptiness. When I was revived I remember the rush of pain and the feeling of senses. For the longest time I tried to understand what I experienced and I realized that I was not truly dead. I was clinically dead but my brain still had oxygen and was functioning. The euphoria I experienced was my brain frantically trying to jumpstart my body. It was firing all different types of memory synapse to try to jump start me. Had I continued to be starved for oxygen and my brain had stopped firing synapse I would not be here to write these words.

The closest thing I have experienced to true death is the time I was put under for surgery. I felt nothing, thought nothing, dreamed nothing and did not exist until I slowly awoke. I have no memory of that time while I was under. Utter nothingness. I don't fear death, I anticipate it. Real death is forever, there is no waking up. I once thought seriously about suicide. I didn't go thru with it because I know it is a forever choice. Once dead, its over, no redo.

People fear death because they don't know what to expect. They fear death because they expect certain things to happen. They fear death because they don't want to let go of life. They can't grasp the idea that everything stops. They think they will miss life, they think they will experience after-life. Well, in death there are no delusions. Everything is not clear. There is no you to experience anything.

BTW, when I die the flying monkeys and monsters will be released, You have been warned.
 
Thanks for the reply, Tom! It's short because of the sake I only have twentyish minutes to present my topic and with audience interruptions it's right on the marker. There's another speaker after me, then there's an open-forum Q&A session.
 
Er.....
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I'm getting a cult like vibe here, um just saying.....;)
 
You talk about the death of the Physical body that is here in our existence, but make no mention of the Soul and what happens beyond that. In my learning on this subject, once the mortal body dies, the soul is set free and ascends out of this existence and passes on. I have seen a person die, and watched that light that every living person has in their eyes fade. Then the body was covered, and for a while nothing happened. I was with a friend as his mother passed away from cancer, I was there in the room. As we stood there alone, we watched as the sheet that covered his mother lifted of the body and kept the shape of the body it was covered and lifted up to the ceiling. Once it touched the ceiling, it dropped to the floor. Thinking back I remember as it lifted up there seem to be a mass of milky clear like energy in the shape of the body under the sheet that seem to disappear as the sheet hit the ceiling. All I can say to that is that was the Soul leaving the physical body and it ascended out of our living existence. Now I should say that these are my own beliefs and I am not trying to make anyone believe in my own beliefs on this subject. I still think that something should be stated about the Soul.
 
I will say this it is my believe that when the mortal body dies, that the soul leaves the body and ascended out of our living existence and into the between state. It is my believe that it is this in-between state that ghosts get stuck for what ever reason. They are not ready to move on and forget the connection to the world of the living and get stuck. They watch and interact with the world of the living, and get stuck in this in-between state.

Now I believe what should happen, is as the soul leaves the physical realm and pass through the between realm they should ascend up to the beyond realm. Now it is my believe that each living person is a shard of a Over-Soul. Thus there are many over-souls that keep sending shards of themselves back to the Physical realm to live many different lives to learn specific things and then they return to the Over-Soul to merge and share all that shards experiences from that lives existence. Each shard's life is to experience of answer specific happenings, and then when the shard passes on they then ascend and merge back into the over-soul. Some might refer to this as reincarnation, but it is slightly different in regards to the Over-soul.

There are many Over-souls, and there are many shards (life-times) that live for each Over-soul. Each life/shard lives it's own existence and no Over-soul has more than one shard of it's own in the physical life plane at the same time. All shards of the same Over-Soul are linked together and some can sense the connection and scope. I have been told by multiple people with the ability that I am a extremely old soul and that I am tired of the Life/Death cycle.

When I was born, the doctor and nurse that delivered me were both family friends and were there at my birth. I was told by my mother/father, doctor and wife (husband and wife team) that when I was born I had grey eyes, and after I was cleaned off I did not cry. As the doctor was holding me to examine me, they stated they all heard a voice come out of me and it said ..."Oh no I live again!"...he slapped me in the butt and I cried and acted as normal from then on. My eye color also changed to brown. I was born normal time and weight with no issues or nothing wrong with my health or that of my mother's.

Through out my life I have remembered different elements of different lives and that usually leads me into some encounter of some sort. Also certain people I "click" with instantly, and others I just know to stay away from. My inner "voice" seems to guide me very well, but I will tell you that I mostly can help others but not myself. So for me I have a strong sense of "faith" that is very deep, and it has served me very well to guide me throughout my life. This is the way I cope and get through encounters and seems to work for me.
 
Well, anyone can believe anything they want.
What some call a soul I call a process of living.
You can't take a dead sperm and a dead egg and combine them to make a living being.
At which point does the soul from the mother and the soul from the father end and a new soul emerges?

Is it conception?
The moment of fertilization?
The initial cell split of the zygote?
Birth?

Since the zygote carries life from both the father and the mother is the soul of the zygote individual or a combination?

Do people in vegetative comas that are brain dead lose their soul?
What happens when a coma victim wakes up? Did their soul suddenly find its way back to their body?

What about amputee victims?
When someone loses a leg or an arm do they lose part of their soul?
What about a heart transplant? Does someone else get someone else's soul?

What if you have a car accident and lose your memory?
Is that amnesia victim soulless?

What people call a soul is the synaptic patterns in the brain that allows
people to sense themselves and their surroundings.
Many will tell you it is in the center of the body.
Others will tell you the soul resides in the heart.
We are animals. We are strange animals but animals all the same.
What makes humans so different from other animals is that we can
fathom the past, the present and the future.
We are able to learn from the past to make changes in the present that affect the future.
A body is a complex machine of sensors and actuators controlled by a central computer called a brain.
Our brains are complex folds of meat that have axons and dendrites that carry chemical signals to gaps with different receptors. Those gaps are called synapse. Every time a synapse fires it logs a chemical 'photo' that is cataloged and stored. We call that storage, memory.
To have memory, oxygenated blood is needed to the cells that produce the chemicals that fire in the synapse. Live cells are required for the axons and dendrites to function.
In death, there is no live cells and without live cells to carry and fire synapse no memory and no storage of memory photos. There is no activity. The living process ends.
No memories.
No sensors.
No actuators.

What others call a soul, I just call life.
 
Tom your welcome to believe as you so wish. It is your choice to believe as so, and stick with science fact as your God. If that makes you happy and fills your life, then believe as you may. I on the other hand believe in something different. I don't state that either opinion is a correct point of view, but rather I stated in my posts what my opinion is. You have stated what your opinion is. Now it is to the other readers to read what we both have had to say, and make up their own mind as to what is true for themselves. As I stated when I first started the thread, for all to keep a open mind and join in and make your own opinion.
 
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