Yes. Anthropologists have sometimes concluded that a function of funerals is to motivate the deceased to "let go", to not hang around and cause trouble because of resentments of various sorts. That may be so, but I suspect that in most cases the major function is to help the living "let go" of the deceased.
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JLNobody
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Wed 14 Sep, 2011 08:05 pm
@Cyracuz,
Yes. Anthropologists have sometimes concluded that a function of funerals is to motivate the deceased to "let go", to not hang around and cause trouble because of resentments of various sorts. That may be so, but I suspect that in most cases the major function is to help the living "let go" of the deceased.
I am continually surprised at how many people actually believe in ghosts and spirits. I mean really believe, as in that the ghosts of people they have known are real to them, and it is as natural for them to be haunting as it is for living people to breathe... There are many totally unfounded fancies people tend to embrace as reality based purely on an emotional craving for it to be so...
So I do not think JL's comment is hard to accept.
what, havent you seen ghost busters?
but i do agree with you. death is the ultimate unknown, and, well, people fear the unknown to the point that they have to make it known, even if it is just what THEY made up
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ossobuco
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Wed 14 Sep, 2011 09:26 pm
@Cyracuz,
You can tell what post of JL's (whom I respect strongly but am not the same as) I was referring to, by clicking on the small light username at the top of a post. Maybe you understand that, Cyracuz, and I'm telling you what you already know.
Full of what? I hope it's something good.
But I can't take credit; it's a general conclusion of Anthropology. I've never seen a funeral in which the attendees appear to be avoiding a haunting. But it makes sense as a possibility.
It may even be--if I may speculate further--that sometimes funerals function to prevent revenge on the part of the deceased, and that the fear of that imagined eventuality (for which the funeral may serve as a prophylactic of sorts) reflects guilt on the part of survivors. There's even the possibility of "survivor's guilt." I do think that we have to consider possible motivations on the part of the living because funerals are (nearly) cultural universals.
Well, that's a bowl of soup I'll look at tomorrow.
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JLNobody
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Wed 14 Sep, 2011 10:45 pm
@ossobuco,
Yes, another possible function of funerals is to remind people that despite their loss there are still many people available as sources of love and support (Like you I'm thinking of our friend, Diane, right now). The funeral serves to at least partially fill a gap?
Well, I couldn't begin to generalize on all of the loss. Just that I don't like to see loss immediately abstracted. Talk about denial.
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Cyracuz
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Thu 15 Sep, 2011 04:39 am
@ossobuco,
Oh, sorry ossobuco... I just automatically assumed your reply was to the previous post. Sometimes I forget to click the reply link. Thanks for the reminder
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blueveinedthrobber
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Thu 15 Sep, 2011 09:37 am
The less I fear retribution the more I consider death a comforting friend.
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JLNobody
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Thu 15 Sep, 2011 11:22 am
I always say that when I die I will become both Nothing and Everything. This morning I woke up thinking that it's dumb to think anything about death. I'll live forever, my subjective forever. After I die I will never have been. No problem.
Oh,now it's coming back, the feeling that I've always been and will always be--not my individual ego but the Universe itself (whatever that can be called--God? Brahman? Ultimate Reality?).
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JLNobody
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Thu 15 Sep, 2011 11:30 am
@JLNobody,
Oh,now it's coming back, the feeling that I've always been and will always be--not my individual ego but the Universe itself (whatever that can be called--God? Brahman? Ultimate Reality?).
