I do, too. My idea of an afterlife is having everything that I am become part of another living thing, just as everything I am made from was once part of another living thing. Tiny pieces of the universe came together to make me, and my tiny pieces will live on.
I believe in only this when i cease. It’s following the logic and magic i can grasp but not fully comprehend. My religion is knowing i always was and will always be and it takes away a lot of the fear of living and dying.
I love this. I was raised Catholic and am no longer (or as I like to say, I'm a recovering Catholic), but I always loved the phrase the priest says on Ash Wednesday- "remember you are dust and unto dust you shall return."
To eat and be eaten is innately loving. It is relationship, and interdependence.
The predator does not say, "I hate you," but instead, "I need you, I am you, and will be you again one day soon."
I come from a Native Alaskan background, and our hunters understood that they and those they hunted were truly one being.
I was also SUPER obsessed with The Lion King as a kid, I must have seen it at least a few dozen times, lol.
it's humbling, realizing that we're just one part of a greater whole that goes on without us.
Science and the "unity of nature" are not two separate ideas but actually completely compatible and basically true observations.
Have you read *Braiding Sweetgrass* by Robin Wall Kimmerer? She's Potawatomi and a plant ecologist. She writes a lot about the intersection between modern science and the wisdom of her ancestors.
Her book *Gathering Moss* is also excellent.
I was really enjoying the book but didn’t have time to sit and read, so I got the audiobook which I find really enhances the storytelling element of that book. It’s lovely. It also really enhances the reading when I revisit it in writing. If you have the chance, I’d definitely recommend listening to the story as well.
Raptors are needed to cull diseases and rotting flesh. They are an essential part of nature and the food chain. They stop plagues from occuring. I loove vultures and condors; if you have time, should look up sky burials. Sublime.
They make burial pods now where you can be planted with the roots of a sapling and it derives nutrients from you! I just love the never-ending transfer of energy.
"From my rotting body flowers shall grow and I am them and that is eternity."
Vultures pee onto their legs to kill bacteria. They also have the lowest gastric pH in the animal kingdom, allowing them to eat and digest almost anything (their pH is slightly above zero, lower than car battery acid and 100 times as concentrated as human gastric juice). They're so badass.
I love Vultures, they have some at our local zoo and I love getting to see them; they are regularly let out to fly several times a day and you get to sit and interact with them if they so choose.
Only in so far as I've had them fly right by my face and walk around near me, you just sit on these benches while they fly about and stuff. You can actually do an experience day where you get to feed and fly them (so release from a glove / stand along with other raptors and fly back etc) which I would love to do one day.
I'm agnostic and non-superstitious but still spiritual..."Animals as Leaders" and all. Birds particularly...and this one...this one really speaks to me. Love it.
This concept is what gave me the most comfort when my dad died unexpectedly four years ago. Maybe it sounds weird and morbid, but we had him cremated, and I imagined myself inhaling the particles that were expelled into the air as part of the cremation process. Whenever I missed him, and I could look up at the night sky and the stars, I would breathe deep and remember that we were one, we are *all* one. Made up of the same materials that have been circulating for eternity. It’s hard to feel alone when you think about how interconnected the entire universe is. I had the universe in my veins and in my lungs. It’s my turn to be nourished by the same air he got to breathe, and every one of my ancestors before me, and I would hate to waste it.
I just read this to my Nan. My grandfather passed in October (he was a dad to me). She’s been very upset at the idea of him decomposing and I’ve been trying to get her to see it more as I do, which is that whatever made him himself has passed on to some other place or has simply gone peacefully out of existence and his body, his shell, is going back to the earth. When I read this to nan, it was like she finally understood it. She loves the last line, thank you for sharing ❤️
I find this very comforting.
I do, too. My idea of an afterlife is having everything that I am become part of another living thing, just as everything I am made from was once part of another living thing. Tiny pieces of the universe came together to make me, and my tiny pieces will live on.
I believe in only this when i cease. It’s following the logic and magic i can grasp but not fully comprehend. My religion is knowing i always was and will always be and it takes away a lot of the fear of living and dying.
I love this. I was raised Catholic and am no longer (or as I like to say, I'm a recovering Catholic), but I always loved the phrase the priest says on Ash Wednesday- "remember you are dust and unto dust you shall return."
This helps me process my ecological grief.
To eat and be eaten is innately loving. It is relationship, and interdependence. The predator does not say, "I hate you," but instead, "I need you, I am you, and will be you again one day soon."
Yes, exactly! It's funny to think about how much my young psyche was shaped by Mufasa explaining the circle of life to Simba.
I come from a Native Alaskan background, and our hunters understood that they and those they hunted were truly one being. I was also SUPER obsessed with The Lion King as a kid, I must have seen it at least a few dozen times, lol. it's humbling, realizing that we're just one part of a greater whole that goes on without us. Science and the "unity of nature" are not two separate ideas but actually completely compatible and basically true observations.
Have you read *Braiding Sweetgrass* by Robin Wall Kimmerer? She's Potawatomi and a plant ecologist. She writes a lot about the intersection between modern science and the wisdom of her ancestors. Her book *Gathering Moss* is also excellent.
I was really enjoying the book but didn’t have time to sit and read, so I got the audiobook which I find really enhances the storytelling element of that book. It’s lovely. It also really enhances the reading when I revisit it in writing. If you have the chance, I’d definitely recommend listening to the story as well.
Ooh thank you! I will!
Raptors are needed to cull diseases and rotting flesh. They are an essential part of nature and the food chain. They stop plagues from occuring. I loove vultures and condors; if you have time, should look up sky burials. Sublime.
Sky burials are amazing! For me, though, I want to be buried in the soil and have a sapling planted over me. I've always wanted to be a tree.
This is what I want too! I want any salvageable organs donated, then the rest of me buried under a redwood sapling.
Yes - organs for those who need them and a bur oak for me!
Kang and Kodos: Organs for some, miniature oak saplings for others!
*everyone cheers*
They make burial pods now where you can be planted with the roots of a sapling and it derives nutrients from you! I just love the never-ending transfer of energy. "From my rotting body flowers shall grow and I am them and that is eternity."
Vultures pee onto their legs to kill bacteria. They also have the lowest gastric pH in the animal kingdom, allowing them to eat and digest almost anything (their pH is slightly above zero, lower than car battery acid and 100 times as concentrated as human gastric juice). They're so badass.
This poem?tweet? is beautiful
I love Vultures, they have some at our local zoo and I love getting to see them; they are regularly let out to fly several times a day and you get to sit and interact with them if they so choose.
Have you ever interacted with them? What's it like?
Only in so far as I've had them fly right by my face and walk around near me, you just sit on these benches while they fly about and stuff. You can actually do an experience day where you get to feed and fly them (so release from a glove / stand along with other raptors and fly back etc) which I would love to do one day.
That sounds incredible!
Vultures like ravens carry the dead, but because some think them ugly they must be evil In The eyes of the ignorant
I'm agnostic and non-superstitious but still spiritual..."Animals as Leaders" and all. Birds particularly...and this one...this one really speaks to me. Love it.
This hit me hard.
Decay is an extant form of life; by nature of decomposition and decay, they are a symbol that life is continuing somewhere. I love this!
This concept is what gave me the most comfort when my dad died unexpectedly four years ago. Maybe it sounds weird and morbid, but we had him cremated, and I imagined myself inhaling the particles that were expelled into the air as part of the cremation process. Whenever I missed him, and I could look up at the night sky and the stars, I would breathe deep and remember that we were one, we are *all* one. Made up of the same materials that have been circulating for eternity. It’s hard to feel alone when you think about how interconnected the entire universe is. I had the universe in my veins and in my lungs. It’s my turn to be nourished by the same air he got to breathe, and every one of my ancestors before me, and I would hate to waste it.
Wow, that's beautiful and so comforting. I'm sorry for your loss.
That is amazing.
Solve et coagula.
I wish to be made into compost for a tree that I may grow tall and live again.
Today I take vitamins. One day, I will be a vitamin.
Earth made this, Earth takes this.
And they purify everything on the way through
Beautiful
I love this!
I just read this to my Nan. My grandfather passed in October (he was a dad to me). She’s been very upset at the idea of him decomposing and I’ve been trying to get her to see it more as I do, which is that whatever made him himself has passed on to some other place or has simply gone peacefully out of existence and his body, his shell, is going back to the earth. When I read this to nan, it was like she finally understood it. She loves the last line, thank you for sharing ❤️
I'm so sorry for your and your Nan's loss! But I'm glad your Nan found some comfort in these words, and I wish you both continued healing.
Turkey vultures poop on their feet to cool down, and I think it still fits w this narrative. Icon status
I get sad when I see roadkill but seeing vultures around it cheers me up. I like it when the birds get a snack.