I just finished watching The Way recommended to me by my mom. It stars Martin Sheen as a grieving father on the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. His son has just past away on the pilgrimage and Sheen embarks on it scattering his sons ashes along the way. It's a great film, emotionally complex and life affirming. It got me thinking about death, not in a morbid way but what kind of ritual I would like after my own passing.
When I was a child I fantasized about my own funeral, not out of any suicidal desire but because I was enamored with the attention. I liked the idea of a group of people being sad that I wasn't there and saying nice things about me, telling stories that maybe I had forgotten. As I grew older and went to a number of funerals my macabre fixation with post-mortem praise faded.
Now I'm more interested in the ritual. I doubt what happens to your body matters much to your spirit after death, but if something lingers it should linger in the right place and in the right way. Ideally I'd like to have a viking funeral. Put me in a boat, light me on fire, and push me out into the middle of a lake. That's not feasible and probably against the law.
I'd like to be cremated. I'd like a couple friends and family members to take a road trip up to The Badlands and scatter my ashes while the sun sets.
"I hope the end is joyful, and I hope never to return." -Frida Kahlo
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