What are your thoughts on death?

Hello everyone. Just thought I would touch on a touchy subject here, death. What's your philosophy? Do you fear it? Do you welcome it? etc....

Personally, I believe in God. I follow no organized religion. I have no fear of death and sometimes, to be quite honest, I welcome it.

Life can be very stressful. I do a lot of excercising. I run (8 miles yesterday), I bike on road and off, I work out, etc....and try to eat right most of the time. I will have to admit, there are times when I'm out on a run or out in the desert on my mountain bike where I actually fantasize about having a heart attack and saying goodbye to this place and moving on to the next.....I look at it as an end to the stress of this existence. Sometimes this fantasy makes me push harder than I normally would and really test my limits.....

Don't get me wrong, I have a good life. I have a wonderful wife and we want for nothing. So maybe this doesn't make sense? or maybe it does. All of your thoughts would be appreciated.


Yesterday was the US Olympic Marathon trials and a 28 year old runner died after 5 miles. The guy was obviously in great shape. I haven't heard what the cause of death was yet, but here's a piece of the story:

November 3, 2007

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ryan Hall won the U.S. Olympic trials for the marathon on Saturday to claim a berth for the 2008 Beijing Games in a race marred by the death of distance champion Ryan Shay.

The 28-year-old Shay, a four-times national champion on the roads, collapsed after passing the five-mile mark of the race. He was taken to hospital by ambulance where he was pronounced dead, race officials said.

source: www.boston.com...

It can happen anytime, anywhere.....

[edit on 4-11-2007 by Excitable_Boy]

this is hard for me to answer.
death is about the only thing i am afraid of. i can feel it creeping up on me. i don't believe any of the fantastic things that are supposed to happen to you after you die actually happen.

it is hard for me to fathom...i do not want my wife and child to be without me....
i truly do not want to die but in a twisted way, it will be a relief from this bitch i know called life.

We don't know what comes after. If the human soul is eternal, then there is something after, there has to be. Reincarnate, a higher plane, heaven, hell, I really don't know obviously...I'm kinda partial to the reincarnation aspect myself.

It's not something I'm quite ready to explore just now, however...

As hard as life is, and as much as I'm looking forward to getting rest with the long dirt nap at the end, I'm of the opinion that this is all we get so we'd better do the best we can with it while we have it, because as EB said, there's no knowing when your number is up.

There's nothing else. This is the only thing there is any evidence of at all. Better make the most of it, just in case the whole sky fairy thing is a put-on.

I embrace death. It's ultimately relative to life. We know from the time we reach consciousness of our own life that we will also too, die like the bugs we're squishing. Nothing to fear but fear itself, and like MajorMalfunction am anticipating the "dirtnap."

Im with Peter Pan on this one.

His war cry while going into battle with Captian Hook was " To death the ultimate adventure"

Wasn't it Mark Antony in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar who said:

"Death, a necessary end, will come when it will come."

In order for us to have a beginning, we need to have an end.....Death is part of life. You can't have life without death...something like that...

So, let's dance

I like this poem a lot:

Death Be Not Proud

by John Donne
(1572-1631)
DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

reply to post by Excitable_Boy


Death - it's like a sllooowww blink. One minute on this side - the next 'over there'. WONDERFUL

I don't like the idea of possible pain during the transit. And it pains me to think of leaving my kids and parents behind. But to die and continue our journy of eternity - an awsome thought.

I've decided i'm going to cheat death

and stay around to populate the Earth.

Too bad the rest of you are leaving....

reply to post by Excitable_Boy


Well, I was raised Christian, and was taught the whole afterlife thing, heaven and hell. I no longer consider myself Christian, I refer to myself as an agnostic. I no longer believe in a "God," an "afterlife", i.e. heaven and hell. As for what might happen after death, your guess is as good as mine. I would be very surprised to "be judged by the Almighty at heavens gate" after I die.
I am not afraid of death, and will one day welcome it, but I dont expect to burn in hell, or see my grandparents in heaven either.
But thats just my opinion.