Have your remains turned into a diamond when you die - yes or no?

gregory

You could donate it to the Body Farm, then. They do just that, in order to record the scientific data on decomposing bodies :)
OOH ! I wonder if there is one in the UK....
 

danieljuk

if I was doing this I would want to be turned into glitter! is that possible? :D but I am a bit like DUNZer and want to be buried complete, even though that is really hard to do now around this area (due to space / cost reasons). I kind of want a Pharaoh burial with a sarcophagus and buried with my smart phone and tarot cards around me! :D Maybe cat guards!

The Diamond is a little creepy! It's so sad when we lose someone that we love but we have to heal and for it to become less raw. We won't ever forget them or the memories but the heart heals. But I don't know how you can heal when you have them on you all the time? I know some pet owners who have lost a pet and keep some ashes in a little vial on a necklace all the time, like a pendant. There is something unhealthy for me about that, you have to let their physical form go! It's okay I think to think they are around you in the spiritual sense and to have a necklace or something to remind you of them to wear. But it's different to have a actual sort of manifestation of their presence. It makes it hard to let go, because that form has to fall away to the earth. A friend once told me that the funeral and the body going in to the earth or being scattered, is so important for the grieving process. It's a goodbye!

Another part of this is that many people have beliefs and superstitions that many Diamonds are unlucky or cursed. There is some famous Diamonds who have just bought bad luck to the owner like the infamous Hope Diamond (now safely in the Smithsonian Institution). There is something about how valuable Diamonds are and yet they bring owners misery. That puts me off them as well!
 

Padma

That's a really valid point, Danieljuk, about letting things go, and how the ceremonies after death allow us to do that, as you point out!

In regard to diamonds being seen as unlucky, I have always wondered why they are chosen to represent love and marriage. Diamonds are said to draw negativity away from the user and into themselves, but unless you cleanse them nightly, they hold that energy - they don't release or shatter it, like other stones do - and thus keep it on or near you.

I would still worry about ending up in a pawn shop somewhere, or being owned by some unpleasant stranger, or lost down the pipes, as Earthair said, if I were the diamond! :p

(or worse yet - trapped for eternity inside a crystal cave, like Merlin!)
 

Barleywine

This has some rather ghoulish implications:

Admiring Friend: "That's a lovely engagement ring?"

Beaming Bride: "Yes, it's my husband's grandfather. I feel sooo honored!"

On the related topic, my wife's father has an above-ground crypt (basically a drawer in a wall). We say he wasn't so much "planted" as "binned."
 

BrightEye

I don't like the thought of this. I find it creepy. When I die, I want to go back to the earth in whatever fashion is convenient for those left behind. Ashes scattered in the sea or traditional burial all fine with me as long as I'm not made to linger in this world, especially not as a piece of jewellery or decoration. Same with those who will go before me.
 

Padma

This has some rather ghoulish implications:

Admiring Friend: "That's a lovely engagement ring?"

Beaming Bride: "Yes, it's my husband's grandfather. I feel sooo honored!"

On the related topic, my wife's father has an above-ground crypt (basically a drawer in a wall). We say he wasn't so much "planted" as "binned."

:laugh: Scary, but true! (re engagement ring)

My parents also have a wall niche, holding their urns of ashes. It's overlooking a river in a lovely and quiet place in the countryside. We call it their "country estate" :)
 

Padma

OOH ! I wonder if there is one in the UK....

Not yet, but you could always go to Australia, if the U.S. doesn't appeal! ;)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...dy-farms-human-remains-decompose-science.html

RiverRunsDeep said:
Has anyone read "Stiff" by Mary Roach? It is an interesting take on what happens to bodies that are donated to science. Interesting, but irreverently and sidesplittingly hilarious!

I read Patricia McConnell's fictional mystery on the topic, but this sounds good! :)
 

gregory

Not yet, but you could always go to Australia, if the U.S. doesn't appeal! ;)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...dy-farms-human-remains-decompose-science.html
There are small problems and a LOT of money involved in exporting a body. But I'd go for one of those in whichever country I die in, unless my daughter got very upset...

I've read a book about cadavers - not sure which, and it's on the other side of the pond just now.

ETA googled. I recognise the COVER ! Yes,my mother kindly gave me Stiff for Christmas once. I love it !
 

earthair

First of all, when you're dead, you're dead. You won't care.

Second of all (which means I guess I DO care!), I would much rather be recycled by nature, fertilize a tree or something, rather than be separated from everything as an impervious rock. Unless that's what nature has planned for my remains.

Actually, I don't know how to achieve the end of becoming fertilizer in this day and age. I guess cremation is the best choice? Because if you're buried, there is preserving fluid and water-tight vaults and such? Is that right? I guess I'm going to have to research this before I go. Which is kind of ironic--I have to go to special efforts to make sure the most natural thing happens! Of course, I understand that you can't just ask your family to throw your body out in the back yard and leave it there until it disintegrates . . .

I've researched this for a family member who for religious reasons won't be buried with any metal or in a non biodegradable product, and it's possible to have a hand woven willow casket or even 100 recycled cardboard with tree seeds inside!
 

celticnoodle

I saw this and thought it was interesting for this particular sub forum to discuss. It's a company that will take your cremated ashes and turn them into a diamond (or multiple diamonds) for your loved ones to wear.

What do you think of this? Would you want to be turned into a diamond? Would you want to wear a diamond that was made from the carbon atoms of your loved one?

Also, it made me think...what once living things carbon atoms are in my diamond ring? Does the energy of a crystal come from what path the atoms took to get in there?

It's such a weird thought I don't know what I think.

http://www.algordanza.com/en/

I haven't read through every post here, but I actually like this idea. I've heard of this a few years ago, when the daughter found about it. So, I told her that if I go before her, (and hope I do), to go ahead and have part of me made into jewels--one for her and one for each of the grandkids.

We still have the ashes of my husband's parents and brother. If we had the extra monies--I'd consider it with their ashes as well. But, we don't, so I won't.

BUT! IF WE HIT THE MILLION $$$ LOTTERY.................:D