03 February 2009

Part of the cycle

Where does the soul go? When does it go? Is there a soul to depart? What connects and coordinates those entropy-loving neurons, cells, molecules?

This young creature only got to grow as large as Guthrie, our dog. Must have been hit on the road above and then dropped down to the trail.

Maybe the saddest part is that there may possibly be a cycle for this soul, but there is no cycle for the body. Some city worker will pick this adolescent deer up, throw it in a plastic bag and then in a truck. It'll eventually make it's way to some stratum in a landfill to be compressed into a jelly, never to decompose properly and become food for carrion beasts, worms, and microbes. Not to be born into new life for eons, perhaps.

Well, maybe we'll start mining the landfills sooner than later, speeding up the process.

I suppose the cycle is still there. We just screw it up for a while, as is typical.

4 comments:

Steph said...

Dan actually found this company that will take the carbon from your cremated ashes and turn them into a diamond for your family. We thought that was kind of cool. Though completely not the natural cycle of things I know. Well not in that amount of time. But kinda cool nonetheless.

heltones said...

That's pretty cool. It might be energy intensive, but it's really only sequestering the carbon. The other nutrients and whatnot get burned/evaporated off and eventually precipitate back to the ground or react with something in the air. Much better than putting it in a landfill...

Anonymous said...

Even though I'm an avid hunter, I don't like to see this happen to animals. I've always wondered about what happens to animals after they die. I believe they are highly valued by our creator, but do they trot around in heaven with us? If this is the case I may find myself being pursued by a herd of critters who want to speak with me when I arrive there one day.

heltones said...

If I remember right, Todd, you eat the deer you hunt for. Feeding your family in this isn't really much different than a deer taken down by a wolf. We're all taken from this life sooner than we'd like (more or less), so it seems like either every soul in heaven (or whatever each person believes) is either super angry or is peaceful in acceptance. I think the super angry argument makes for a less than heavenly heaven experience, so I'm guessing it's the latter. In any case, we'll all find out eventually. :)