Entry tags:
Essay: Soul Composting
Soul Composting
Summary: “In many cultures, both ancient and modern, three types of dead are almost always presumed to be dangerously restless: those who have no received funeral rites (ataphoi), the untimely or prematurely dead (aōroi), and those who have died violently (biaiothanatoi). The reason that ataphoi are restless seems fairly obvious: no longer among the living, they are not yet in their proper place within the realm of the dead either; they linger at the border in between or move back and forth without peace. The remedy for problems caused by this sort of dead seems obvious as well: performance of proper funeral rites usually does the trick. Both the problems and the remedies connected with the violently dead and the untimely dead are more complex, however..." --Johnston's Restless Dead: Encounters between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece, pg. 127
Series: Essay
Word Count: 3000 words
Notes: This personal essay won the LiberaPay/Patreon poll this month! It’s about our personal inner workings, death-cycle, and religious practice, and it is written in spiritual terms more than psychological. (If you prefer a psychological discussion of similar territory, see our Memory Work Essays.) It is not intended to be a guide or of general use, though if you do find it helpful, that’s great. Please do not make this into a Star-Bellied Sneetches thing, for the love of all that is dead and holy. Be aware, this essay is about death and heartbreak, and includes some of the writing/art our ghosts have made, which you may find intense! This essay also owes a debt to Yes to Life: In Spite of Everything, by Viktor Frankl.
In LB land, being dead and being a ghost aren’t the same. All ghosts are dead, but not all dead people become ghosts.
( Death! )
Summary: “In many cultures, both ancient and modern, three types of dead are almost always presumed to be dangerously restless: those who have no received funeral rites (ataphoi), the untimely or prematurely dead (aōroi), and those who have died violently (biaiothanatoi). The reason that ataphoi are restless seems fairly obvious: no longer among the living, they are not yet in their proper place within the realm of the dead either; they linger at the border in between or move back and forth without peace. The remedy for problems caused by this sort of dead seems obvious as well: performance of proper funeral rites usually does the trick. Both the problems and the remedies connected with the violently dead and the untimely dead are more complex, however..." --Johnston's Restless Dead: Encounters between the Living and the Dead in Ancient Greece, pg. 127
Series: Essay
Word Count: 3000 words
Notes: This personal essay won the LiberaPay/Patreon poll this month! It’s about our personal inner workings, death-cycle, and religious practice, and it is written in spiritual terms more than psychological. (If you prefer a psychological discussion of similar territory, see our Memory Work Essays.) It is not intended to be a guide or of general use, though if you do find it helpful, that’s great. Please do not make this into a Star-Bellied Sneetches thing, for the love of all that is dead and holy. Be aware, this essay is about death and heartbreak, and includes some of the writing/art our ghosts have made, which you may find intense! This essay also owes a debt to Yes to Life: In Spite of Everything, by Viktor Frankl.
In LB land, being dead and being a ghost aren’t the same. All ghosts are dead, but not all dead people become ghosts.
( Death! )