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Our time spent roaming this great planet is
relatively short when you consider how much time we will spend
buried underground or resting in an urn. Outside of the
obituaries, though, we don't like to think about death much.
It's kind of odd that life gets so much press when death is so
much more mysterious.
Much of our lives are spent trying to cheat death
(for a little while at least). Just think of all the safety
precautions, diets and literature available today to help us
live as long as humanly possible. Yet 30 years ago you could ride around
town lying in
the back of a station wagon with no seat belt to secure you and
breathing in a cloud of smoke your parents created.
I predict that in the very near future we will be
wearing crash helmets in our cars, getting periodic body scans
and harvesting replacement organs for when ours need to be
retired. The last time I checked noone has cheated death.
Not the best singer, strongest athlete, best speaker or leader,
not me or you.
What if you were to learn that death was not the
end, that death was just the beginning. What then? Would
we still feel the same about the death penalty or feel sad when
a love one passes away? Maybe, these feelings would turn
to jealousy, maybe one could laugh at how silly it was to take
life so seriously.
You may think this is morbid or a turnoff and
that's your prerogative. This page is dedicated to a
celebration of death. It is in no way meant to offend
those who are dead and reading this site.
 The Day for the Dead
On the Day of the Dead or DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS,
the dead return home to rejoin the living in a celebration which originated in
Mexico prior to the arrival of the Spaniards in the 15th
century.
The Day of the Dead is a holiday that may be
viewed as bizarre to tourists that don't understand its origins. Death held
a significant place in the rituals of Mexico's ancient
civilizations. Among the Aztecs, for example, it was considered
a blessing to die in childbirth, battle or human sacrifice, for
these assured the victim a desirable place in the
afterlife.
After the Spanish conquest, priests attempted
to Christianize the celebration by moving it to correspond with
All Saints’ Day. Consequently, the modern
festival occurs on the first two days of November and combines
elements of both Aztec and Christian custom.
As part of the celebration children who died
are remembered with toys and colorful balloons adorning their
graves. Adults are remembered with displays of their photograph, favorite
food and drinks and any personal belongings on a hand made
alter.
Other symbols include skull-shaped candies and sweets, marzipan death figures
and Paper Mache skeletons and skulls.
This may all seem somewhat morbid to those who
are not part of that culture. But, for Mexicans who believe in
the life/death/rebirth continuum, it's all very natural. this is
not to say that they treat death lightly. They don't. It's just
that they recognize it, mock it, even defy it. Death is part of
life and, as such, it's representative of the Mexican spirit and
tradition which says: "Don't take anything lying down - even
death!"
Are You Betting on Death?
Celebrity Death Pools have
become the latest rage. I've been doing the death pool gig for
the last few years and just recently starting getting the knack
of it (i.e scoring points). I cheered loudly when I scored my
first points ever. It's all about research no matter how
obscure. The betting is really not the point in my case, just
the fun associated with predicting the future and keeping track
of the impermanent nature of all of our lives. My goal in
life is to one day make it onto someone's death pool.
Here are a few interesting
links to keep up on death.
Dead or
Alive?
check on the status of your
favorite celebrities past and present.
You Bet
Their Life
My death pool of choice.
I'm having a terrible year and more celebrities are living
because of that.
Fortean Times
Contains news of the weird, which typically
includes a bizarre death or two.
 Check out my story
A Day for the Dead - Now get on with your
life! I wrote this after being
disappointed by a friends funeral arrangements. I
expected it to be an extension of his personality, a
celebration, something entirely different. This was my
way of dealing with it. |
"Quotes on Death"
"Why fear death?
It is the most beautiful adventure in life"
~Charles Frohman,
before the sinking of the Lusitania
"Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die
having left undone"
~Pablo Picasso
"Don't grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another
form."
~The Rumi
"Death is simply a shedding of the physical body like the
butterfly shedding its cocoon. It is a transition to a higher
state of consciousness where you continue to perceive, to
understand, to laugh, and to be able to grow."
~Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
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Death Clock
Check out the death clock
and determine how much time you have left ticking.
Reflection on
Death
Imagine what it would be like
to be dead. What would you regret having left unsaid or
done? Many of us don't really live a life until we are
faced with death. What if you walked off the curb and were
suddenly hit by a bus, your life cut short unexpectedly?
As you walk through the day think about all the ways you
could die unexpectedly. Imagine that death is right behind
you at every moment.
That evening go to a silent
place and reflect on how the experience of death might
change your life. Visualize what it's like to no longer
exist. Think about all the thoughts, experiences and
valuables that you must leave behind. Ask yourself whether
you have had a "full" life up to this point. Ask yourself,
what are you willing to die for. Ask yourself, would
you still plan to do the same things tomorrow if you knew
you would die in the next week, month or year?
Don't try to over
intellectualize or use logic as part of this reflection.
Study death at an emotional level and ask yourself how you
feel.
Just imagine how peaceful it
would be to deal with death today and to truly live a life
where you can finally let go and be yourself, be happy. Take
what you may learn and begin to reprioritize what is
important in your life.
Weird NJ Growing up in New Jersey I just knew that
there was something strange going on. Weird NJ focuses
much on places that are long since abandoned and for the most
part dead. Check out Weird
NJ and you'll
understand that places fade and die just like people. You may
even have more or less respect for the place they call the Garden State.
Take
My Life, Please!
Every year, 30,000 Americans kill
themselves. Many of these people are diagnosed as being
clinically depressed, but that doesn't explain why they
commit suicide. There are still plenty of people out there
suffering from depression that will never try to take their
own lives. So what drives people to suicide? Is it a weak
mind or personality? I suppose we can slice open their
brains and take a closer look inside. Perhaps we would
find high levels of serotonin; an inability to control or
regulate moods. That's the problem with people who are
alive, we try to find the best answer for everything based
upon the facts presented at the time.
I think all this research is only
compelling to those who are still alive. What I mean is if
we knew for certain what was on the other side of life,
suicide would not be as much of a mystery and might be
viewed differently.
If suicide accelerated the process of
rebirth or just simply stopped some personal suffering, why
is it such a bad thing? It takes a lot of personal
courage to take your own life; to open a door that you have
no idea of what's behind. You could also say it's
completely selfish in terms of the lives left behind to
carry on and deal with the pain and grieving.
And how many people
commit suicide, by living dangerously or by not taking
prescribe life sustaining medications? I doubt these
people are reported as suicides. Perhaps you know of
one or two of these cases. I do.
The
Dash Between the Dates
After you pass on your
life is reduced to the dash between the dates on your
tombstone. This being the case, make sure that the dash
really matters. Looking at the average life span of 75
years the average person will spend their life as follows.
-
24 years sleeping
-
10 years working
-
6 years watching TV
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3 years in school
-
2 years getting dressed
-
2 years in their car
-
2 years on the computer
-
1 year waiting in line
-
8 months on the phone
-
6 months tying shoes
-
3 months opening mail
All this time accounted
for, try to make an attempt to make a difference with the
remaining 24 years of your life.
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