life and death

i have been thinking a lot about these things lately
mostly because of my pregnancy, and the recent illness that befell my 84 year old grandmother (she's totally fine now, but was convinced that she was dying...)
and then today i read this article that was very moving
i had forgotten about the book "sky burial" that i read several years ago, (forgot everything about it, except that i liked it) until the term came up again in the article.
a sky burial refers to a practice originated in tibet which involves leaving a corpse out in the open (typically cut in certain places) to be exposed to the elements, and especially to animals, which help put your remains back into the life cycle.
i like this idea very much. i like the idea of a cycle...all the parts working together to make the whole machine run.