atheists, when you die....?

Question

what kind of ceremony do you want?
I want something far away from any church, probably be cremated, something kind of long, and the people I care about have a nice time remembering not just crying all the time, then maybe thrown away in a place I like, you?

Answer 1

Diamonds it is then!

Answer 2

This is what an aunt of mine wanted. she wanted to be cremated, and before that to be covered in white lilies and to have her favourite music played, and part of her ashes put near her mother, part thrown into a river in a beautiful landscape (she actually chose the place). It was creepy, nobody was happy but all were sort of gloomy and petrified. I was terrified. For me, it was just like she had been cremated in a Nazi camp: no prayer, no respect. They put the body into the fire and and kept it there until burned to ashes. Otherwise, in a traditional Orthodox Christian funeral there are prayers for the forgiveness of sins, for the eternal memory of the reposed and, generally, a general atmosphere of hope. People cry, but they feel better afterwards and, when sharing a memorial meal, they share happy memories, and those who cope better comfort those who are grieving (usually the spouse and children).

I realize this is outside your question. I was simply struck by the similarity between your "last wish" and my aunt's. And she got it all wrong, which you might want to consider.

Answer 3

Is the materialistic philosophy of this Europe, so much praised by contemporary agnostics and atheists, a philosophy to be admired? Are these people wooers of the spirit? Nay, they have drowned that capacity and are out of touch with the kingdom of reality. Is this an enviable goal to which humanity may aspire? Is this a system of philosophy through which people may become glorified? No, by God, the philosophy of glory needs no scholastic curriculum.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 140)

When man dies, his relation with the body ceases. The sun is reflected in the mirror; the mirror reflects the light and brilliancy of the sun, but the sun does not reside in the mirror. It does not enter nor come out of the mirror, nevertheless one sees it in the mirror, so the soul reflects itself in the body. If the mirror be broken the sun does not die. The body is the temporary mirror; the spiritual soul suffers no change, no more than the sun does remaining eternally in its own station. Even as in the world of dreams when all the physical faculties are in abeyance and the soul travels in all realms seeing, hearing, speaking, so when the physical body decomposes, the soul is not affected.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 128)

Briefly the law for the burial of the dead states that it is forbidden
to carry the body for more than one hour's journey from
the place of death; that the body should be wrapped in a
shroud of silk or cotton, and on its finger should be placed a
ring bearing the inscription "I came forth from God, and return
unto Him, detached from all save Him, holding fast to His Name, the
Merciful, the Compassionate"; and that the coffin should be of
crystal, stone or hard fine wood. A specific Prayer for the Dead
is ordained, to be said before interment (see note II). It has been
explained by 'Abdu'l-Bahá and the Guardian that this law 63 

prohibits cremation of the dead. The formal prayer and the
ring are meant to be used for those who have attained the age
of maturity. (p. 46)

Answer 4

I want to donate my body to science. That way, I'd be contributing to research and/or education and my body would be put to positive use and not wasted.

If the folks who knew me want to have some sort of ceremony, that's their business.

RE having ashes thrown in a place one likes: why should the place where the ashes are thrown make any difference? Once you're dead, your consciousness has ceased to exist. Nothing that can appreciate where the ashes were thrown will exist.

I notice that you've already gotten one threat of violent punishment from a believer in the Judeo-Christian concept of hell (akband). The aggressive intolerance and violence of those people never ceases to amaze me.

Answer 5

I'm all for a no embalming, buried in that cemertery outside of Russel Gulch, Colorado that has a straight shot of the divide and couldn't be more lovely, and a large party in the fashion of wakes, where everyone remembers me fondly, drinks themselves silly and goes home feeling better.

My mom in law wants something similar - a wake style party, but on a boat as her ashes are cast out over the sea where she loved to go diving.

Answer 6

I'd like to donate my body to an organization that could use it to teach about science and medicine. Maybe donate an organ or two. If those can't be done, I'll settle for cremation and burial at sea or something.

Answer 7

As noted earlier, donated to science. I think that's the only possible logical answer. By an atheist standpoint, once you're dead, you have no conciousness, do not exist. You don't care what happens to your body, because you're dead, and there is no longer a "you" to care. Might as well let it go to something that might someday prevent others from the same fate.

Answer 8

I don't care where it is. My memorial is not for me as much as it is for the people who love me.

I would like a song to be played. I would like my loved ones to speak what they feel. Of course, only if they want to.

The only thing I insist on is that I be cremated. I see no point in taking up land in death that could be enjoyed by the living.

Answer 9

I want to be shot into space. Failing that, I'll take cremation. I don't really want to be buried in the ground.

Answer 10

I don't know. I am an organ donar so what ever is left they can put in a bag for all I care, as long as the good stuff gets were it needs to go.

Answer 11

If i really died, the most thing i want to know is whether is there a lots of people will cry for me.. If lots that mean while i living i was role as a important character to them... that mean i never waste my time in life.