A Sense of Doubt blog post #2843 - Death Series #002 - Exposure - Towers of Silence - an honorable end

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/zoroastrian-towers-of-silence

A Sense of Doubt blog post #2843 - Death Series #002 - Exposure - Towers of Silence - an honorable end 

Thinking about how I want my body disposed of: not this way.

Though I am curious about learning more about the Zoroastrians. My college religion classes were a long time ago.

When my mother died, I photo/video documented her corpse and the funeral home personnel wheeling her away.

I did not want to let go.

I did not want her to be dead, to be gone.

I rarely, almost never, look at those pictures.

I have never shown those pictures or videos to anyone.

I have not posted those photos or videos on this blog, EXCEPT for the picture of her empty chair and a picture of her hands with her wedding ring still on.

Bodies are garbage.

The person we love is gone.

Though garbage has some uses remaining.

THE DEATH SERIES - POST #002 OF 10

In a series of ten posts over 12-13 days, I am presenting a fact a day about death from the book I am reading titled Advice for Future Corpses by Sallie Tisdale. I hope the thought provoking facts that I share will enrich your life as much as they have enriched mine.

LOW POWER MODE: I sometimes put the blog in what I call LOW POWER MODE. If you see this note, the blog is operating like a sleeping computer, maintaining static memory, but making no new computations. If I am in low power mode, it's because I do not have time to do much that's inventive, original, or even substantive on the blog. This means I am posting straight shares, limited content posts, reprints, often something qualifying for the THAT ONE THING category and other easy to make posts to keep me daily. That's the deal. Thanks for reading.


EXPOSURE

"Other cultures consider exposure to be an honorable end. Traditional Tibetans practice what is called sky burial: the body is chopped into pieces and laid out for carrion eaters. The Zoroastrians place their dead bodies in a round raised structure known as a Tower of Silence. The thick, high walls are intended to protect the body from being degraded by water and fire. The bodies are laid on a rim inside, open to the air and the scavenger birds that perch on the walls. When they are reduced to a skeleton, attendants push the bones into the pit in the center" (Tisdale 164).

Work Cited

Tisdale, Sallie. Advice for Future Corpses (And Those Who Love Them): A Practical Perspective on Death and Dying. Gallery Books, Simon and Schuster, 2018.

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2211.30 - 10:10

- Days ago = 2707 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.