I really think that if folks had a better understanding of what happens in cremation, embalmed entombment and unembalmed burial that we would see a massive societal shift towards unembalmed burial.
Cremation, in particular, is a nasty bit of business. Those 'ashes' aren't actually ashes: they're bone meal.
The morticians I know would never be cremated, nor wish their loved ones to be (I don't know all the morticians in the world, of course: no doubt there are many who would be fine with it).
The corpse is roasted, the fat melting (a fire hazard with extremely fat people), the charred and finally most of the organic compounds evaporate, leaving behind the skeleton, medical devices and any other such detritus (e.g. shrapnel). The furnace is then opened and the bones are raked out; an attendant removes anything which could damage the grinder and grinds the bones into meal (it's great for roses!).
> If it is that, why does it bother you?
Grinding a human being into dust doesn't bother you?
> Grinding a human being into dust doesn't bother you?
For one, that is not an answer. For the other, no it doesn't. The brain is shut down. All that's left is cells which individually may still have some life, but are bound to die quickly anyhow. And particularly after being burned they're all guaranteed to be dead, so the grinding does not harm any living being anymore.
Does the grinding bother you more than the burning?
Cremation, in particular, is a nasty bit of business. Those 'ashes' aren't actually ashes: they're bone meal.
The morticians I know would never be cremated, nor wish their loved ones to be (I don't know all the morticians in the world, of course: no doubt there are many who would be fine with it).