Daffy,

I'm too busy living to overly concern myself with dying; but I do concern myself with not being a burden to others, either in living or in dying - either during or after death.

Life is a gift, a responsibility and a challenge - and it is the manner in which we address the challenge and the responsibility which defines us. Death is just an end; and what, if anything, may come after is only a possibility - of nothing, of a new beginning, of an awareness, or merely recycling. We need to concern ourselves with now, this minute, this duty, this responsibility.

In my view, this responsibility extends beyond our immediate precincts of work, family, friends and community, to awareness and concern for and with the wider framework of humanity, of humankind, of Earth, nature, toil and future. We, all of humanity, have capacity, obligations and limitations, and, as with the butterfly flapping its wings on the far side of the planet, what we do and what we contribute has meaning and has consequences.

The best way to prepare for death is not to fear it, not to welcome it, but to always be ready for it.

Squeers,

I can just see you enjoying a cool, dry, astringent white (with your foie gras) with an aroma vaguely hinting of dark soil, of summer blossoms and green fruit, evoking images of Roman hills and grand marble structures. Life can scarcely get better. (But I suspect Geraldine could equally well appreciate a grand aged Cabernet or a sound but modest 'vin ordinaire'.)

Daffy, for a moment I thought you were human, but your last post assures me you are an armchair bigot. My mistake.

Daffy writes

'claims which are intrinsically offensive to all'

I don't find their claims offensive. They are wrong and can only be accepted by those blinded by dogma like secularist. Wrong yes, just like evolutionist who are blinded by dogma and pseudo science, offensive, no especially as Islam claims also to be the only true way. Jesus and the Scriptures clearly outline the way to salvation and none of the above fits the bill.

Squeers,

"...pre-masticated, institutional thinking..."

Well, yes, indeed. Since when did MSM engage in anything truly radical?

Radical is for underground coffee rooms and movements that grow out of hardship, disaffection, comradeship and the sharing of intellectual and philosophical opinion.

Perhaps the likes of Geraldine Doogue at least presses us to examine life from within the paradigm of our institutional reality. And even if rhetoric of a more radical nature found it's way into the mainstream - it is only talk. Most people balk when it comes to changing their state, especially when they're reliant on an institutional apparatus as the framework around which they entwine their lives.

In a way Geraldine Doogue I feel sorry for you.I was raised in the Catholic system and after many years am totally free from this oppressive system.

You don't need a religious organisation to reach some sort of spiritual enlightment.Religion has always been about controlling people.Their organisations always become more important than any concept of a "supreme being".

It is knowledge and the seeking of truth which gives us freedom and a better life.This is my religion.Religious dogma is mostly oppressive and serves the purposes of a few elites within that system.

The concept of god matters not to me.Most good people do the best they can and help other people without notions of an after life.That is true fidelity and courage which most religions cannot offer.

Fortunately or unfortunately I just see Geralidine as deluded.

The characters of our narratives have become so familiar to us that we tend to simply view our ancestors as us, separated only by time. I have watched the siege of Troy, the burning of the library of Alexandria and Gladiatorial games all carried out with clipped British accents as though everyone living in the past 10,000 years spoke the queen’s English. What happens in the reshaping of history through our narrative lens is, if you will, a cultural-morphic personification.

We attribute to our ancient cultures to our own cosmologies and create a linear relationship between our cultures. Now I am not saying that we are not the descendents of the ancients that preceded us and that they have not had a powerful influence upon us. What I am saying is that we distort our ability to truly empathise and understand the humanity of those who preceded us and in doing so we distort our ability to understand our own position in history and relationship to those that will follow us.

The truth is that the ancients were radically different cultures than ours. The stories they told about themselves are not the same as the ones we tell about them. Though we can only reconstruct their worlds now using what facts we know, it is important that we work to empathise with their reality as best we can so that we might understand our own more fully.

Religion remains a rock for those unfamiliar with a finite residence in time, as they say "Birth is a death sentence".

Arjay, i am in agreement with you on this one.