Interesting topic. In my opinion I would love to know how much time I have left. One of my biggest problems in life has always been procrastination and not really being able to instinctively know what "tempo" I should live my life at. This would at least give me a true idea of what's possible and whether or not I should rob a bank, go back to school, get a mcjob, or score a huge chunk of * and ride around on a moped raping people with shotgun. If I found out I only had a very short window to live I'd go crazy trying to get as much pleasure as possible. But if I had a long life ahead of me I'd feel much better as right now I'm feeling totally rock bottom and suicidal and then I'd know whether it would be worth it to live through the pain and try and fix my life. It would give me hope that I wasn't gonna knock myself off and therefore I'd have to give it a real gritty effort.

As far as would knowing bother me, how could it? Uncertainty is worse for me. It would be a relief either way.

I prefer to view it like this..
We are all dying. And we know this as a fact.
It matters not if there is a week left in your life or forty years.
Live it.
Just live everyday as if it's the last.
If you don't, you might as well be dead already.

I would definitely like to know. I wonder, though, when would be the best time to find out?

Would I prefer to be told now or wait until a year or a few months before it was going to happen? (Assuming, of course, it's not next week).

It would certainly make planning my finances a lot easier if I knew now.

I don't think the knowledge would make any difference to the way I live. I'd just keep trying to attain my goals and if there's something I couldn't manage, I'll have another go next time. I believe in re-incarnation, but if I just drop off the perch and cease to exist I won't be too disappointed.


The bigger question for me is do I want to know how it'll happen? I find that a lot harder to answer.

To PikyPiky - I heard it's possible to tell your date of death from your horoscope too, but it might be hard to find someone who'd tell you. I've been keenly interested in astrology for years, but haven't found out how to work it out yet.

[edit on 15-7-2008 by berenike]

Hi Karl

I don't think I want to know. I have things left I want to try, things to do, and events I'd like to be here for (i.e. grandkids). If I knew I had a limited amount of time to get it all in, I'm one of those anxious people who would be freaked out; "NOOO! I can't possibly get it right in that short a time!"

I think working on one's spirituality is a good thing to include as often as you can sneak it into the schedule, if believing in something is part of your view. In my little world, it's one of the things that keeps me going when I'm having one of those days where "I don't want to do this anymore..." Know what I mean?

Thanks for such an interesting question.

I don't think I would want to know when I would die. It would cause too much anxiety for me to worry about such a thing. The world goes round because people don't usually think about their death. If people know the time of their death, I can see a lot of depressed people. Life wouldn't be the same.

I think that I would rather not know...

For me, knowing would be a curse. I'm also an over-analyzer & and over-thinker. I would be so caught up with counting down the days - that I would probably give myself a heart-attack from being so concerned with it, and stressed out.

Although - it might make some things easier... I would know how much time I had to do all the things I want to do, and perhaps, It would make me more adept to living in the moment, and less to living in the future - I'm a constant planner... Rarely do I not have a plan...

Maybe this question is a sign that perhaps I need to be more spontaneous anyway - without even knowing when Death is coming knocking...

- Carrot

I would want to know.

Why? Because, it gives me time to enjoy life. At this stage I'm studying to become a Game Designer and I plan on reaching that point at age 25. If, I knew I was going to die before that were to happen...I'd not even bother. I'd still learn it and practice it because it makes my happy, but I won't put so much time into it. I've cut many things out of my life to acquire that goal more quickly, but if I know that goal will never come to pass...I will do other things I love doing. I used to read the Encyclopedia all the time, make music, write songs, play games, but most of that time is now spent studying, and working. I'd cut the work out of my life entirely and make money from my graphic design that I do every now and then, and spend most of my time ding the things I used to.

Originally posted by krill
id want to know, i dont fear death i came to the realization and eventual love with the fact that i will die. i look forward to it realy but i dont want to speed it up by commiting suicide. i would like to know simply so that i could prepare things ahead of time like getting my wife ready to move on after i die. i know that if she dies i allready decided that ill live with the remaining time i have with out a love intrest. id rather be alone and fondly remember my angel and what she means to me then seek out a new relationship. but id like her to be able to make her choices about moving on knowing that i love her more than iv ever loved any one and that i just want her to be happy no matter what. id also like to know so i have a chance to go see my family and have one last family meal with them. i dont fear dying i welcome it when ever it comes. but knowing the circumstances and time would be nice.

You hit the nail on the head. I feel exactly the same way. I have no fear of dying - I find it incredibly exciting in fact. I would, however, not commit suicide as I feel that that would just deny me the chance to experience more (whether troubles and strife or joy and happiness) in my lifetime. I would certainly like to be able to prepare my family for my passing if I knew when it would be. At the moment, they all think I'm a little loony for not being scared of dying. I would not change how I live my life at all as I try to live each day to the best of my spiritual ability, whether at work, at home or out and about. I can hardly wait to find out where to or what will happen after I pass but I worry terribly that my family won't deal with it as well.

I had a couple of attempts made on my life,that i only survived because i knew it was coming. So i guess it was helpful in a way,but knowing when,and how,and everything else. Is a huge burden to carry around with you. So no,I wouldn't like to know when I'm going to die.

Originally posted by Astyanax

Father of Jesus, love's reward,
What rapture will it be,
Prostrate before Thy throne to lie
And gaze and gaze on thee!

But of course, you're referring to something even more profound: the infamous Problem of Evil. Here it is in a slightly different form, one that the argument from Original Sin cannot sensibly dispose of: what kind of God creates ichneumon wasps and viruses? Clearly not a good one.

If heaven means spending eternity in the company of such a being, one must hope profoundly that death really is the end.

Your quote of this hymn was a great reminder of something.

One of the notions that most people don't explore when considering the problem of evil is the notion of the God centered universe.

When we naturally assume that God must be loving if he is a perfect being we are really making it about ourselves. This omnipotent creator is all about our existence. This is really an idea of a human centered universe.

The idea of a God centered universe is horrifying to me. The idea that their may be a perfect being with omnipotence and in his perfect wisdom saw fit to create a whole planet of creatures to worship him and keep the temple fires burning in his honor. In this view, evil and misery are not just part of the plan but they are used to keep people afraid and worshipping. Instead of God being about our existence, we are about god's existence. This notion terrifies me.

Sorry if this is a bit off topic OP, but I think it pertains to the knowing the time of your own death issue, as thinking about these concepts have greatly shaped my own answer to that question.

I don't want to know, and I think that was the original design. Now, with modern medicine we are given time frames, but even those are sometimes wrong.
I don't want my doctor telling me I am going to die, and I don't think they should tell their patients that unless they ask to know.
My doctor could tell me I have two years, and I could be hit by that car on the way home.
I don't even like knowing I have a doctor's appointment months from now.
I wouldn't want to change how I live because of a pressure to do so. I don't want to change how I live, because I want to find that out by living it. If I was going to die in two weeks, I would still want to sleep in, get up and have my coffee, and leisurely walk to my computer and read ATS until my daughter woke up. If I knew, I would be rushing around trying to do everything I wouldn't have done otherwise. I think the living is in the comfortable zone of doing things at your own pace. Ideas for living come out of daily living. I spend time on my patio, and I think what would make my patio better? So I envision it, it takes time, I decide I want plants, I figure out what kind, I go to the nursery and enjoyably talk to the owner about plants, I bring them home and leisurely plant them in the yard. Would I have done all that if I knew I was going to die? No. Who cares if my patio looks nice? I won't be here to enjoy it. I wouldn't have talked to the nursery lady. I probably wouldn't be sitting on my patio. I would be getting everything ready. For what? If I love people, they should already know, cuz I tell them. I show them.
I already know how I want to live my life, because I am doing it. Day by day. Do I want to change how I live my life, yes. Do I have things I still want to do, yes. I think even 97 year olds still have things they would like to do.

Ahh...I wish it were that easy, yes or no. What if you know you're not the only one that's going to die that day? People can often die together -- car wrecks, natural disaster, and so on.

The most powerful dream I ever had regarded my own death...but I wasn't the only one that died. The nature of the event that caused the death wasn't something that I could prevent. I could maybe personally avoid it, however.

Things are starting to line up like they did in the dream. I want to ignore it, but I'm remembering dreams that have come "true" before...maybe all just meaningless coincidences. I'm hoping so. Unfortunately, that sort of thing is unknowable and I'm still left to deal with the present. It's all in the possibilities. Fear isn't always rational.

I don't want to die.

I don't want any of the others to die.

That's scary. But the scariest thing is that I won't be here with everyone in a week; I'll be moving away for several months. But with the way things have been happening, and as quickly as they have, a potential event has been "forecasted" in my mind. Maybe it'll happen, maybe it won't. But maybe worse than it happening at all would be if it DOES but that I'm not here when it occurs, I'm safe far away, meanwhile everyone I saw die DOES die and then I'm all alone.

To me that would be worse than death. Strange that here I am, hoping with every fiber of my being that if it does happen, that I'll still be here to get caught up in it. Stupid dreams. I wish we never had them.


[edit on 5-8-2008 by Siblin]