Life After Death

I have never quite understood the idea behind elaborate funerals. For different times and culture, elaborate takes on a different meaning. For the ancient Egyptian Pharaohs, it means spending their lifetime (and many more of the others) building a pyramid just to house his dead body. As with most ancient royalties, life sacrifice is quite common and these "graves" are generally more spectacular than the normal living human being's home. Modern days, in our metropolitan cities, elaborate probably means not getting cremented but buried, when living humans are running out of spaces to live.

I think the body's life after death is meant to return to nature, to become soil again, to return the favour to mother nature, to support life, for trees to grow on. Perhaps before that, since everyone before us has made us who we are today, perhaps we can contribute our finale to the future generation. Scientist discover electricity, scientist after them discover nuclear power. Pharmacist before concocted herbal remedies, pharmacist after them concocted drugs. We may not be scientist or pharmacist or medics etc, but our finale can still be contributed towards the future:

Donating body for research:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/life-after-death-donating-your-body-for-research-1623676.html

Donating body tissue for research:
http://www.hta.gov.uk/donations/howtodonateyourtissueforresearch.cfm

There is of course, the chance to donate organs to save lifes as well!