This is a beautiful idea: a funeral urn with a tree growing in it.
My family already has a tradition of cremation, with ashes spread on a particular hill at the farm. It is a deeply personal connection with the land I grew up on, and if my family is willing, I would like any part of me that is not used for transplants or other practical purpose to be cremated and put there.
But this … this seems to take the whole idea one step further. Beautiful. Simple.
It connects directly to the idea of cycles, of transformation. It provides the most beautiful kind of monument to a loved one; one that will itself cycle in time, back to the earth.
The website selling the urns prices them at $225. (I’m guessing that’s US dollars.)
I’m torn – I think an idea like this should be congratulated, rewarded.
On the other hand, what would make it even more personal, even more meaningful, would be to make the urn myself before I die. Or for my loved ones to make it. And to select a tree that reflects my own identity and the identity of the land it will grow in. (Spruce? Maple? Birch? I’ll have to think about that.)
That’s the problem with great ideas. They spawn more great ideas, without end.
Friendly Humanist 
2014/09/10 at 23:17 |
This is a neat idea! But you’re right…it would be neat to make it yourself. Kind of reminds me of people who plan out their funerals, so that when they pass away their loved ones don’t have as much to do and then just get to focus on that person 🙂