You're looking at Less Wrong's discussion board. This includes all posts, including those that haven't been promoted to the front page yet. For more information, see About Less Wrong.

SGrouchy comments on Solstice 2015: What Memes May Come (Part II - Atheism, Rationality and Death) - Less Wrong Discussion

7 Post author: Raemon 07 November 2015 10:23PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (19)

You are viewing a single comment's thread.

Comment author: SGrouchy 08 November 2015 08:39:58PM *  5 points [-]

Robert Frost's"Nothing Gold Can Stay" seems like the obvious choice.

1) It is so popular that the majority of people already at least sorta-know it, and a significant percentage could already recite it from memory.

2) It has a cadence that makes it easy to recite in unison.

3) It's simple.

4) It isn't specific to atheism/ doesn't exclude anybody.

5) It faces death rather than rages against it. Funerals probably aren't the best time to rage against death. That's sorta counterproductive to the acceptance that funerals are supposed to provide that helps people move on with their lives in a functioning manner.

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.