tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3020960402708303830.post6458281425683614523..comments2024-03-28T14:53:38.827-04:00Comments on BLCKDGRD: Every Tonal Difference, Every SoundUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3020960402708303830.post-46212122106815415572014-05-28T22:28:39.143-04:002014-05-28T22:28:39.143-04:00http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/28/eld...http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/28/elderly-suicides-reported-after-city-announces-phase-out-on-burials/?src=twrhp<br /><br />this story about chinese oldsters killing themselves because their coffins are being confiscated due to a government policy shows how important ideas of the afterlife can be <br /><br />they seem to think they will "live" in their coffins when they are buried in them, and so the physical characteristics of the coffins are very important<br /><br />the alternative, cremation, means total destruction - whereas burial in the precious coffin is seen as a kind of continued existence <br /><br />to avoid an eternity of nonexistence, they prefer to kill themselves now, when it is still possible to be buried in the coffin - if they wait until they die naturaly, by that time the coffin may have been taken away, and their bodies will be reduced to ashes<br /><br />a relative of mine was cremated just a few weeks ago - her obituary can be read at http://tinyurl.com/lqgzcunmistah charley, ph.d.https://www.blogger.com/profile/06303695341246058680noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3020960402708303830.post-57684163273030988852014-05-28T22:08:01.187-04:002014-05-28T22:08:01.187-04:00a couple of things i encountered in my reading tod...a couple of things i encountered in my reading today - <br /><br />from the chris floyd essay linked to above, titled 'building a lasting legacy of death' -<br /><br />"The bare, banal, widely accepted, shrugged-off realities of life in the American Imperium today would have been regarded, just a few years ago, as the wildest, most unbelievable fantasies of political paranoids. The president sits in the White House and draws up death lists. Robot-controlled missiles blow up people’s houses, killing hundreds of civilians each year. Not an eyelid is batted, scarcely a voice is raised in protest, except on the far-flung disregarded margins. This is the way the world is, and one must acknowledge that — <b>but sometimes, the cognitive dissonance hits you like a two-by-four upside the head.</b>"<br /><br />from a handout by christopher germer, ph.d. - a meditation to help manage compassion fatigue<br /><br /><i>Everyone is on his or her own life journey.<br />I am not the cause of this person’s suffering,<br />nor is it entirely within my power to make it go away,<br />even if I wish I could.<br />Moments like this are difficult to bear,<br />yet I may still try to help if I can.</i>mistah charley, ph.d.https://www.blogger.com/profile/06303695341246058680noreply@blogger.com