tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post116296885865740974..comments2023-11-03T11:32:01.540+00:00Comments on Thought Experiments : The Blog: Scotty Beamed Up At LastBryan Appleyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08276787058430388582noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-1163109464432312142006-11-09T21:57:00.000+00:002006-11-09T21:57:00.000+00:00On the contrary, James, I am far from dispirited. ...On the contrary, James, I am far from dispirited. I have asked the universe a few questions but have received not a syllable in response. However, I am reconciled to the idea of my own obscurity for now. That is not to suggest I will keep quiet. I will keep asking the questions. That is what keeps me going. It's rather fun once you start. I did try to play the universe at its own game, but lost Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-1163098174217955882006-11-09T18:49:00.000+00:002006-11-09T18:49:00.000+00:00Neil, you could well be dispirited because of delu...Neil, you could well be dispirited because of deluded humanism or are you absolutely certain you're not?James Highamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14525082702330365464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-1163079526815445832006-11-09T13:38:00.000+00:002006-11-09T13:38:00.000+00:00Anonymous, I agree with you, though I wish you had...Anonymous, I agree with you, though I wish you had a more specific name.<BR/><BR/>Why do you suppose murder mysteries are so popular? Studying death is the closest we can get to knowing anything about life. And, in murder mysteries, the mystery of death (of the body, anyway) is always solved.<BR/><BR/>Which reminds me (I love tangents, esp. when I'm on my 4th cup of coffee and trying to hammer Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-1163075357541571872006-11-09T12:29:00.000+00:002006-11-09T12:29:00.000+00:00I'm not sure what you are getting at. Of course, d...I'm not sure what you are getting at. Of course, death is, er, important. Believe me, I take the whole death thing very seriously indeed. We could trade quotes till the cows come home (or don't come home: I do worry sometimes) but we are talking about nothing of any real consequence. Death is a backdrop, I agree with Bellow, but it should not cloud our reason. It should merely be seen as a limit Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-1163068010345947522006-11-09T10:26:00.000+00:002006-11-09T10:26:00.000+00:00Well there may be very little to say about death i...Well there may be very little to say about death itself, but, as Saul Bellow observed, it is 'the black backing of the mirror that allows us to see anything at all'. Which makes it pretty er important...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-1163021599124583742006-11-08T21:33:00.000+00:002006-11-08T21:33:00.000+00:00What humanism does is try to explain what is expla...What humanism does is try to explain what is explainable (oops! I felt a 'Rumsfeld' coming on just then) Life can be very satisfactorily explained and given meaning by the use of our reason. As for death, there is very little to say about it. The questions religion asks are not legitmate questions insofar as they cannot be answered. Humanism doesn't try to. Some people may find this dispiriting. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-1163017118844052572006-11-08T20:18:00.000+00:002006-11-08T20:18:00.000+00:00Brings to mind a cemetery in Geneva largely for th...Brings to mind a cemetery in Geneva largely for the artistically minded, civilised well-to-do etc if I remember rightly. Plenty of ornate ostentation there. I remember finally coming across in one quiet corner the most humble of humble gravestones which marked a very young child of Dostoevsky's. The most eloquent, moving spot in the cemetery. Kind of said all that needed to be said about man's Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-1163015508648060242006-11-08T19:51:00.000+00:002006-11-08T19:51:00.000+00:00Neil Forsyth is out of line. Maybe a Christian wo...Neil Forsyth is out of line. Maybe a Christian would like a Christian funeral and a humanist can have his devils' ritual if he so desires it.James Highamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14525082702330365464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-1163014374241586752006-11-08T19:32:00.001+00:002006-11-08T19:32:00.001+00:00Novelist Jim Crace explained that he wrote _Being ...Novelist Jim Crace explained that he wrote _Being Dead_ in response to his father's death:<BR/><BR/>"...I had buried my own father, who was also an atheist, a really good old fashioned political atheist, and he had asked for an appropriate funeral for him, which was no funeral at all. No guests. No announcement. No flowers. No eulogy. No hymns. God's sake, no hymns. And no collecting of the ashesAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-1163014342606553182006-11-08T19:32:00.000+00:002006-11-08T19:32:00.000+00:00The nice thing about a secular funeral is that the...The nice thing about a secular funeral is that there is no logical implication that the deceased individual may be suffering in purgatory, or may be in immortal danger of experiencing eternal suffering in hell, unless we pray for that individual. <BR/><BR/>Regarding funerals in space, there is a closely related category, in which one enlists with the army, then gets deployed to Iraq, and finally Gordon McCabehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09151162643523937086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-1163013902192281372006-11-08T19:25:00.000+00:002006-11-08T19:25:00.000+00:00I recently learned that the James Blunt song "good...I recently learned that the James Blunt song "goodbye my lover" is the most commonly played song at British funerals. If we are going to dispense with hymns can't we come up with something better than that?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-1163005799530181692006-11-08T17:09:00.000+00:002006-11-08T17:09:00.000+00:00At least it's a hypocrisy-drenched charade with a...At least it's a hypocrisy-drenched charade with a language at its disposal that can talk usefully about death - 'humanism', in my experience, has no such language or, indeed, appropriate forms, so has to make it up as it goes along - with, usually, embarrassing and dispiriting results.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-1163003939259072842006-11-08T16:38:00.000+00:002006-11-08T16:38:00.000+00:00I don't know about "God's earth", but here on this...I don't know about "God's earth", but here on this planet, a humanist funeral is infinitely more desireable than the hypocricy-drenched charade that passes for a so-called Christian burial. I know I'd rather end the way I mean to go on!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-1163002874861204652006-11-08T16:21:00.000+00:002006-11-08T16:21:00.000+00:00Good grief - who'd want to hurtle into space shoul...Good grief - who'd want to hurtle into space shoulder to shoulder with 179 other urns, or whatever they're packed in? And precisely what of Eugene Shoemaker is buried on the moon?<BR/>You're right about the rites and secularity of course - is there anything on God's earth more depressing than a 'humanist' funeral?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com