week five_for the dead or for the alive

Death may has complex meanings in different cultures and situations, but being dead just equals to the stop of human organic operation to a person. All the functions of a body cease sooner or later, without the conscious or so called spirit, a person comes to his or her end and finally turns into a "thing", a stuff. The gone people themselves, if there is no such "another world" or things like soul or ghost, surely cannot feel anything about how their bodies are treated (Though profaning bodies shouldn't be forgiven still. Not because bodies used to be people, but for the behavior itself).

Just like the cases of designing crematories and mortuaries, these places are traditionally considered to be built for dead bodies, but due to many complex reasons, the feelings of people working or visiting there should be taken into consideration. So when we talk about how we treat dead people and their bodies, we are in fact talk about our believes, thought and attitudes. It is kind of reflection of peoples' mind and culture background.

Maybe, we preserve bodies just because we want to pursue ever lasting lives; we cremating bodies just because we fear concepts of getting rotten and hope to cleanse ominous things. Other than results of rational thinking, what we to ceased lives are more likely to be following our wishful thinking.

[photo of Chuck Palahniuk] In his Exodus, Chuck Palahniuk talked about the people's emotion tied on human as well as simulants of human. Things don't think, perhaps it's we that are bordering ourselves.