Memory is the Sine Quo Non

Memory is the sine qua non of mental and emotional development. The Universal Memorial Homesite recognizes and maintains the fundamental utility of ancient ancestor worship, memorial rites and ceremonies. Memorial events satisfy complex emotional needs including the need to live a meaningful life and therefore a meaningful identity. Human beings have striven for some form of objective immortality or continuous social and personal identity, either in this world or in the next, ever since the first person set down a symbol for his or her identity or that of the group he or she identified with - woman is most often credited with the invention of writing. We who presently live would not have a valuable present or future as human beings without the memory of those who have passed before us and without our expectations for those who live after we are gone. We would have no civilization to speak of without our reverence for the departed, without the memory of their lives and deeds, without any hopes for the future continuation of our living project. Indeed, the tendency to mourn the dead and celebrate their lives is one of the most notable factors of early human development. Memorial events serve the spiritual of all people regardless of their faith or philosophy. The secular-minded Confucians of the later Confucian period duly noted that it is logically absurd to insist that the deceased still live; but to claim that they do not live hurts the feelings of those who want them to be alive; therefore this compromise or golden mean is observed: observe the rituals, acting as if they do live, not to prolong the mourning but to celebrate life.