CONTACT CAROLINE
facebook
rss
tumblr
twitter
goodreads
youtube

  • Home
  • Write Away Blog
  • Books
    • Books
    • Trompe l’Oeil
    • Heart Land
    • Gothic Spring
    • Ballet Noir
    • Book Excerpts
  • Video Interviews
  • Press
    • News
    • Print Interviews
    • Plays
    • Ballet Noir in the Press
    • Trompe l’Oeil In The Press
    • Gothic Spring In The Press
    • Heart Land Reviews
  • Contact
  • About
  • Resources
    • Writer Resources
    • Favorite Blogs
    • Favorite Artists



Ashes To Ashes

Apr 21, 2014
by Caroline Miller
cultural sensitivity surrounding death, life without an afterlife
4 Comments

Recently, I met with a financial planner to update arrangements for my final years. I must say, preparing to exit life requires more paperwork than coming into it. Happily, I passed inspection on all points but one: I’d left no instructions for the disposal of my ashes.

 I admit, I’d given the matter no thought and in all innocence, I asked my advisor if the funeral home where I’d made arrangements to be cremated wasn’t obligated to dispose of them.

 The man’s pained expression told me what I’d said came as a shock. I’m sorry for that. Living alone, as I do, I’d forgotten the cultural sensitivity that surrounds death. I mean no disrespect to anyone, but I do not share a belief in the soul or an afterlife. What’s more, I suspect we might lead better lives if we disabused ourselves of notions about heaven and hell.

 Eliminate the promise of an afterlife and we might be required to respect the here and now. One advantage is that we’d see the folly of blowing up this man’s synagogue in retribution for that man’s plundered mosque. We might even learn to look upon ourselves as kin to our neighbors – frail creatures of an epoch, sharing a stitch in time which, like an amniotic fluid, makes us one.

 Without the notion of a soul, we might also see that we are kin to every living creature on the planet and like them we enjoy an existence that is rare and beautiful and fleeting.

 If we fixed our attention upon the present, if we understood that a moment is all we have, I suspect we’d see the wisdom of working together to make a heaven on this earth.

cremation ashes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Courtesy of www.tranquilitycremation.com)

 

 

Social Share
4 Comments
  1. Bill Whitlatch April 21, 2014 at 10:20 am Reply
    Agreed!
    • Caroline Miller April 21, 2014 at 10:28 am Reply
      You're a man of very few words, Bill. Fortunately for me they are the right ones. Thanks for stopping by to register your opinion.
  2. tuna cole April 22, 2014 at 8:18 pm Reply
    Well, said, Caroline!
    • Caroline Miller April 23, 2014 at 7:28 am Reply
      Happy that you approve, Tuna. Thank you.

Leave a Reply to Caroline Miller Cancel reply

*
*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published four novels

  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

Subscribe to Caroline’s Blog


 

Archives

Categories

YouTube-logo-inline2 To access and subscribe to my videos on YouTube, Click Here and click the Subscribe button.

Banner art “The Receptive” by Charlie White of Charlie White Studio

Web Admin: ThinPATH Systems, Inc
support@tp-sys.com

Subscribe to Caroline's Blog


 

Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Sitemap | Privacy Notice

AUDIO & VIDEO VAULT

View archives of Caroline’s audio and videos interviews.


Copyright © Books by Caroline Miller