Firefighter here. I was reflecting on a fatality I attended recently. My thoughts wandered to how a body looks like it is ‘just matter’ in a way that a living thing does not, even when sleeping. Previously I assumed this observation was just something to do with traumatic death, but this person seemed to have died peacefully and the same, ‘absence’ of something was obvious.
I’m not a religious person, but it made me wonder if there actually is something that ‘leaves’ when someone dies (beyond the obvious breathing, pulse etc).
I’m not looking for a ‘my holy book says’, kind of discussion here, but rather a reflection on the direct, lived experiences of people who see death regularly.
Imagine coming upon a lot of delicious-looking mushrooms, a couple of which are in the hands and mouth of a dead person. Being faster to realize the person is dead, and to flee, than the time it takes to take and eat the mushrooms, is why you’ll live to reproduce. Same for the dead animals around that fresh-looking water hole.
