Life and Cemetery Essay

The cemetery that I visited was the Benedictine University Cemetery. It is a cemetery on campus where all of the reverends, pastors, and important religious idols affiliated with the school, are buried. The cemetery has a path that runs through the middle of it and it leads up to a statue of Jesus Christ on the cross. This is not a grave, but more a religious centerpiece that the eyes can focus on. Around the centerpiece are many rows of crosses. In front of those crosses are head stones in the ground of the deceased. I wondered if the people who had crosses were more important religiously than those who do not have crosses. To really take in everything the cemetery has to offer though, I used all five of my senses. One of the best ways to really understand what something is is to investigate it using all of your five senses. This is exactly what I did. I looked at all of my surroundings, smelled, tasted the air (more imaginative), touch, and hear what my environment has to offer. What do you see when you walk into a cemetery? Do the images that you see help you perceive and feel something specific? As I walked into the cemetery, I saw rows upon rows of crosses. Jesus Christ is the center piece of the cemetery. When I walked in, I walked underneath a row of coniferous pine trees. I actually found this very interesting; because if you think about it, coniferous pine trees, in a sense â€Å"don’t die†. They live throughout the winter and the summer; an all year round. Can this be a symbol of the human soul living past the point of the body dying? That was the only type of shrubbery that I saw in the cemetery, besides the fake flowers, which also live longer than normal flowers. A cemetery is a place of deep thought and transition. It was interesting to see the birds swoop in and out of the trees without a care in the world while death surrounds them in every which way. Then my mind started to drift off again. Why do humans bury their dead? I know it is to commemorate the dead, but can’t that be done in a manner that doesn’t in a sense, ‘waste less land’? Now I am not trying to be disrespectful in any sense at all, but once the body is dead, why keep it? If you think about it, cemeteries use so much land for the dead. I feel like we are celebrating death, even though the whole meaning behind a cemetery is for remembrance. Honestly, when I drive by a cemetery, I am filled with grief. When in a cemetery, death is upon us. Even in the light, a dark stage inhabits a bright time. I think the most discrete way to investigate a cemetery is the stop and smell your surroundings. What does your nose take in? When I visited, I took in the smell of fresh pine, from the coniferous pines. I took a deep breath and felt very relaxed. Am I supposed to be feeling so relaxed in a cemetery? Doesn’t relaxation go against everything that a cemetery stands for? Wouldn’t one think that you would smell death? Well this is what I thought. But I guess I was wrong. I think that the ‘smell of death’ is more something that you get from horror movies. Plus, it all might just be in our minds when someone states, ‘that smells like death’. What would death taste like? The question should be more like, who would want to taste death? I’m pretty sure that everyone would have to agree with that statement. Others would say it might taste like something rotten, or moldy. I think I am going to have to agree with the statement saying that no one wants to taste death. Most everyone has heard the saying, â€Å"the touch of death†. Well, what does it feel like to touch death? Is it physically touching the deceased, or having death touch you in a sense? Having touched the deceased is indeed touching death, but does it have a meaning behind it? I believe that just being in the presence of death is overwhelming. It takes you to a place that you don’t normally go. You start to worry about family members and ultimately, changing the way that you live your day to day life. You start thinking about not seeing loved ones again, and you treat people with more respect. I think that people realize their selfish behavior when death touches them. I know that this is what happened to me when I went to a funeral; and it wasn’t even for one of my family members. The weird thing is that these are the feelings that I had when I was in the cemetery. Being in the cemetery I felt very relaxed and had I questions and feelings that completely contradicted everything that I felt at the funeral. Sound is a strong sense. Not that they aren’t all, but sound influences reactions in a shocking manner. It can scare you, startle you, or even soothe you. The birds swooping in and out of the trees, chirping, were very relaxing sounds. The swoosh of the wind blowing the trees back and fourth clams you. Other than the birds and the sound of the wind, the cemetery was motionless, and soundless. It was calming and eerie at the same exact time. The most impressive thing about the Benedictine University Cemetery was the massive statue of Jesus Christ that was the centerpiece of the area. The statue towered over the cemetery. The overwhelming size of the statue made you think that there were things out there that were more important than you, or your life. Maybe, I thought, the idea of the statue is to make people stop and take a moment out of their lives to think about the lives of others. It is impressive to think that an intimate object could make you stop your busy life to think about the deceased. I walked up to the statue and just stared. I was in awe. I looked at what surrounded it and saw numerous head stones. I read the head stone and saw that they were for pastors and fathers from the school. The names on the head stones were names that I have seen before. They were the names that the dormitories were named after. These people must have done something very amazing to still be recognized many years later. That notion in itself is very impressive indeed. This can be related to what we are learning in class with Aquinas. He asks the question, â€Å"If we are not just pure spirits, what are we after death? † (Aquinas). Well, the soul retains its identity when it separated from the body. It is the relationship to the body that individualizes the soul. The soul has a transcendental relationship to the body. This means that the relationship goes beyond time and space. I think that this relationship, the transcendental relationship between the soul and the body begins when the body ends. This relationship continues and is celebrated in a cemetery. The soul continues on after the body has passed away. Another question that Aquinas answers is the ever important, â€Å"Is the human soul incorruptible? † (Aquinas). Yes, the human soul is immortal, and incorruptible. It will live forever, past the life of the body. Man has a natural desire for immortality; and though it may not happen with the matter or body, it will happen with the soul. The soul is not composed of matter it is a pure act, without matter. I think that a cemetery is a way to get people who visit to think about these things. A cemetery is supposed to be a reassurance about a loved one that is lost. They are still alive, just not in body form. When I think about this now, I wonder why I never thought about this before. Now that I think about it, it makes me think about why a cemetery is actually a relaxing place to be. When you put the pieces of the puzzle together, it all makes sense. After my visit to the cemetery, it opened my eyes to a new way to view the way life is lived. This experience was very uplifting. At first, I wasn’t so sure why a visit to the cemetery would give me any benefit. I guess that I was wrong. I have contradicting thoughts about the cemetery, for example, I feel that it is a waste of a large amount of land and I also think that it is a relaxing place to go. The weird thing is that both of these statements are true. We could build a place that is relaxing, that maybe isn’t so large that still serves the same function that a cemetery does. If one were to make a pros and cons list, a cemetery will serve more pros then cons. The only way that I realized this is with this assignment. But with the assignment, I understand what I am supposed to get out of life better than what I did before my visit. Before my visit to the cemetery I believed that you were just supposed to live a long happy life, and that was about it. Be happy everyday, and enjoy life as it is handed to you. I didn’t really think twice about what was going to happen after my life is over. But, after my visit to the cemetery, my thoughts staggered in a whole new direction. I started to think long term, and how I would feel when my time came to ‘go’. Sure, you are supposed to live your life to the fullest, but is that the only thing you are supposed to think about? What about your soul? What about that connection? These are the questions that ran through my mind after my visit to the cemetery. From this experience I think that I can honestly say that I have delved deeper into the meaning of life. When looking around the cemetery, I started to think about all the people that have come and gone through and that all that are still here, the deceased. What can death tell us about the individual? Is it just what is written on the head stones? Or is it something more? I think death gives us a glance upon the individual as a whole. Although it is hard to know all of the accomplishments that someone has achieved if you didn’t know them or one of their family members. I think that it is interesting that the people that are buried in the Benedictine University cemetery are people of stature. But eventually it won’t matter what or who you were, because all of our bodies are going to end up the same way. Our souls do not have a hierarchy, but it seems that our bodies do. This is another point that death helped me recognize. Overall, what does the meaning of life mean? Is it just a cycle that happens to everyone? Born then gone again? I’m sure society doesn’t see it like that. Birth is viewed as a beautiful thing, a miracle. But death is horrible. Something that is tragic. But I think that death is thought of as horrible because of the many misconceptions that surround it. The soul is immortal, so the only thing that is dying is the house that connects the soul and the body. We still live on past our body expiration date, but I don’t think that everyone realizes this. It is important that we shed light on these ideas about death so that it isn’t seen as such a horrible thing. It is sad yes, but horrible in every sense? No, not at all. Life is important, but the opposite end, death, is just as important. I think that we must understand death to understand life. Both go hand in hand and everyone in this world experiences both life and death, whether they are positive or negative. There are pros and cons for everything and both must be looked at in order to maintain a healthy state of mind when experiencing either one.