Why You Want a Physicist to Speak at Your Funeral

You Want a Physicist to Speak at Your Funeral

A physicist can provide non-religious perspective on a death. For those who want a funeral or memorial service without any mention of religion, you may find this reading to be helpful. It comes from a transcript of a speech given by writer and performer Aaron Freeman on NPR News’ “All Things Considered.”

You want a physicist to speak at your funeral. You want the physicist to talk to your grieving family about the conservation of energy, so they will understand that your energy has not died.

You want the physicist to remind your sobbing mother about the first law of thermodynamics; that no energy is created in the universe and none is destroyed. You want your mother to know that all your energy, every vibration, every BTU of heat, every wave of every particle that was her beloved child remains with her in this world. You want the physicist to tell your weeping father that amid the energies of the cosmos, you gave as good as you got.

And at one point, you’d hope that the physicist would step down from the pulpit and walk to your brokenhearted spouse there in the pew and tell him that all the photons that ever bounced off your face, all the particles whose paths were interrupted by your smile, by the touch of your hair, hundreds of trillions of particles, have raced off you like children, their ways forever changed by you.

And as your widow rocks in the arms of a loving family, may the physicist let her know that all the photons that bounced from you were gathered in the particle detectors that are her eyes, that those photons created within her constellations of electromagnetically charged neurons whose energy will go on forever.

And the physicist will remind the congregation of how much of all our energy is given off as heat. There may be a few fanning themselves with their programs as he says it. And he will tell them that the warmth that flowed through you in life is still here, still part of all that we are, even as we who mourn continue in the heat of our own lives.

And you’ll want the physicist to explain to those who loved you that they need not have faith; indeed, they should not have faith. Let them know that they can measure, that scientists have measured precisely the conservation of energy and found it accurate, verifiable and consistent across space and time. You can hope your family will examine the evidence and satisfy themselves that the science is sound and that they’ll be comforted to know your energy is still around.

According to the law of the conservation of energy, not a bit of you is gone. You’re just less orderly. Amen.

Other Readings

You can find other appropriate readings for funerals and memorial services in Gail Rubin’s books, A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die and Hail and Farewell: Cremation Ceremonies, Templates and Tips.

Gail Rubin, Certified Thanatologist and The Doyenne of Death®, is a pioneering death educator and Certified Funeral Celebrant. If you are looking for a celebrant in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Gail can help you create a meaningful, memorable “good goodbye.” Contact information here.

Need a cremation urn or cremation jewelry? Check out the Memorial Store from A Good Goodbye.