The Art of Dying: Discussion on C2C- Amazing!

Do not fear death Death is overly portrayed to be this awful thing. But if anything its a selfishness of the persons loved ones that portray it because they lost someone close to them. Preventing someone from dying should be one of the greatest sins. I'm not saying go out and put yourself in harms way or try to die. Just let it come naturally and when you die, drift towards the light.

reply to post by Gateway


I believe in both

I think there is definitely room for more than one mystery in this universe

and if there are extraterrestrials - I'm guessing they die too

my mom also saw "other" people in the room before she went

Originally posted by jvm222
Do not fear death

Death is overly portrayed to be this awful thing. But if anything its a selfishness of the persons loved ones that portray it because they lost someone close to them. Preventing someone from dying should be one of the greatest sins. I'm not saying go out and put yourself in harms way or try to die. Just let it come naturally and when you die, drift towards the light.

If we have no fear of death, it is much more difficult for other people to control us.
We cannot live truly free until we feel free to not live.

reply to post by Copernicus

Ppl fear death because most religions teach that if you do anything wrong you will be punished in the afterlife.

*Warning, Warning*

*Thread Drifting Off Topic Alert*

Pretty cool thread so far, but I find it curious that not more of you have commented on the research findings of particularly that so many are experiencing someone coming to take the dying "home".

Which WILL be you, yep you... no-no, don't try and hide... yeah YOU one day. No matter what your religion, No matter your color. No matter.

Is it a case of denial? Well....IS it?

Thought you were never going to have to deal with that awful uncle Joe again, did ya? *phew*. Well, according to this, old uncle Joe might just be the one introducing you to Heaven. Could be Aunt Scrappie, or Mama Hatred.

So somewhere, you better find love. And reconciliation.

Originally posted by Copernicus

Ive always felt that death is the vacation after a hard life of work.

I dont know why people fear death. Im afraid of any pain, sure, but dying in itself will be a very interesting experience.

Why do people fear death really? I cant come up with a good answer. Is it the unknown?


[edit on 21-9-2008 by Copernicus]

I know such a line has been stated time, and time again, but let us face the reality, We are ALWAYS scared of the Unknown. There are no two ways around it, even if you are the extremely adventurous type, you do harbor apprehension and fear of what lies ahead.

Also, through the "Unknown", there are MANY sub-divided and specific reasons, which are obviously dependent upon situations and upbringings. For instance, if you are dying from an attack (A Mugger Shoots you for instance), and you have loved ones with you, are you not concerned for how they will be protected when you die? If you have loved ones period, are you not worried about who will take care of them, and if this equation includes children, who will guide them through life? Another factor within the same scenario would be, how about the frustration and anger of dying at the hands of a fellow mortal human being? Including the same emotions which present themselves through this feeling, how about the idea that you could have done something differently in order to still be alive, or the idea that your killer may never be discovered, or he will still be roaming this Earth while you have had your life cut short? On top of all of this, what about some great plans you had in your life, plans to possibly improve the World around us? That great opportunity you were going to take to show your family some wonderful and lovely location on the Globe? The inherited knowledge you never had a chance to pass down? The wrongs you committed in your life, and the ones you never had a chance to rectify?

I feel that the fear of dying truly lends itself to the "Unknown", and through such the specifics are unique to each and every Earthbound soul.

I lost a friend a few years ago who was totally blind. He suffered a heart attack a few weeks before he passed away. When I visited him at home, he was smiling like I had never seen him before. Here was a blind guy, with two amputated legs, who was recovering from a massive heart attack.

I asked him why he was smiling. He replied that he had seen "the other side". Obviously, he had a near death experience. I also had one when I was very young, and it is still very vivid today. In any event, he described the welcoming light and the familiar scenario. He was told he would have to return to his body for a short while.

My friend described fully the scene in his hospital room when the doctors and nurses were trying to revive him with the paddles. He described the layout of the room, the clothes the people wore, the colors of their hair, the walls of the room to perfection. The doctors were shocked when he told them later of his experiences. The nurses were blown away because he described the cartoon characters printed on their scrubs. Remember, this was a totally blind man who had lost his sight years before nurses wore colorful scrub uniforms!

A few weeks later, he told me that he had decided to let go by not having any more kidney dialysis treatment. He had decided to pass on because he was in so much physical pain and just could not bear it anymore. He celebrated his birthday inviting his family and friends. We all knew what he had planned. He didn't have any more dialysis and a few days later, he passed on to the next life.

I can testify that he had absolutely no fear whatsoever. He had been looking forward to being without pain in his earthly body and was comfortable in the belief that he would be taken care of and be united with those who had preceeded him. I was told he died with a big smile on his face. He was ready and happy to go. We were all sad to lose him, but his family and friends understood his plight and were glad that he was free at last.

He was an inspiring man in his mid fifties. It was a privilege knowing him and being his friend until the end.

Years ago my grandfather had a major emergency heart surgery. He was pronounced dead atleast twice. I remember him telling me a story later that he saw his brother & maybe father pulling him one way (which could be described as hell) & his mother pulling him the other way (heaven). He said he wasn't ready to go & lived another 10 years.

reply to post by Anonymous ATS
I am an ICU nurse, and have attended many people at the time of their deaths. Some have been peaceful, some have been what can only be described as horrible. I have heard patients talk to their dead relatives on many occaisions, only to see that patient pass on within a few hours. I have experienced patients who where having bad experiences and who became quite frightened just before their deaths.
In this day and time, we frequently keep people sedated as they near death, usually at the request of the families, because they don't want their loved ones to "suffer." I personally feel that we would see a great many more of the reactions described in the other posts if we moved away from from keeping people knocked out all the time.
It is very disconcerting to some of the nurses I have worked with when an 86 year old patient talks to his/her mama, and then dies. And in case you are wondering, most nurses chart it as "hallucinations." I just document what the patient says, and if no family is available, I stay with them. I have always tried to be there with the patient, so they don't have to die alone. And I have held many hands until the last breath was gone. I've never seen any lights come from the body or to the body. But I will say this, to those who have never been there at the time. You can't see leave, but you know when the soul has left the body.

reply to post by amongus
Just because some people see dead relatives as they near their own death does not mean there isn't a "Master Plan." Perhaps these people are sent to "help with the transition." Doesn't necessarily mean they are hanging around waiting.
Something tells me that we have jobs and a purpose in the next life, just like we do in this one.

Originally posted by corusso
I remember him telling me a story later that he saw his brother & maybe father pulling him one way (which could be described as hell) & his mother pulling him the other way (heaven). He said he wasn't ready to go & lived another 10 years.

So which way did he choose?... Or which way was he taken? He said he wasn't ready to die? Or wasn't ready to goto hell or heaven?

reply to post by TrueAmerican


Well.

IMHO.

These beings that are friends and family, are not really friends and family.

I think it's God (for lack of a better word)...

I believe when you die, your soul goes through a sort of tribulation which determines if you ascend or if you reincarnate. If you reincarnate then you live another life, as another distinct individual, and hopefully experience what you need to in order to transcend. If you break the cycle of reincarnation, then I believe you transcend and reunite with the original origin and source of existence. You become one with the One. Your true 'home', your true 'Self'. You merge your Self with all Selfs. As was always meant to be.

What I mean by all that, is that I believe these 'loved ones' that visit you on your death bed, is actually God itself, but manifested in a personal way, to help the dying and to test the dying. I believe this is just part of the process of reincarnation/transcension.

I am a pantheist (everything is an illusion from the one mind). As such, I am not at all sure individual souls always stay individual. I do believe people are greeted by loved ones as they approach death, but are those loved ones really the individual souls of those who passed? And does it even matter?

On a side note, some people in this thread really seem to see death as a happy ending to a fairy tale. The death part itself may usually be fine, but what leads UP TO IT can be quite horrible. Some people may enjoy the process of “helping others to die” but I don’t think that means a natural death should be obligatory.

A few months ago I went through a surgery possible nasty cancer diagnosis thing, and while discussing the matter with my religious sister she was telling me in so many words how “it would be important for her to do the right thing and care for me if things got ugly”. Having done a lot of reading and having realized just HOW ugly things would get (really bad, ovarian cancer) I quickly realized that I would not be party to that whole natural death business and if I denied others the opportunity to “help me and in the process deal with their own mortality issues” that was just too bad.

The reality of those situations can be quite ugly, the articles written on the topic were amazingly sanitized, but with the net one can find lots of REAL people that are going through it and the true gruesome details and actual causes of death were shocking and nightmarish (mostly due to the treatments and surgeries they chose to undergo to delay the inevitable).

reply to post by TrueAmerican


sorry about that -

I'll add that my mom saw her mother minutes before she went

I am of the very strong impression that we will remain single in a personal sense and collective at the same time, the same way God and angels are. This is the reason though drawn to certain eastern practices, I do not agree with their ultimate melting pot and loss of individual existence. We go through a large learning curve, that takes us unending amounts of time to complete. Our souls evolve. I remember one of my past lives, and get strong impressions of lives before that time that was very long ago, as well times since. Many times I thought different things were true, and even believed as the Course of Miracle suggests that reality is a poor illusion we have created, a shared dream. Every time I am led by dreams, and nudges in other published materials, and sometimes just the knowlege being their subtly. After the time it takes to reach the stage that takes us home, so to speak, away from possible incarnations, we exist. Its not as though our Creator simply makes us go through pain and suffering and learn love and connections only to, after graduation, dispell us. I'm more of a gnostic Christian, with a mixture of new age ideas, and am attracted especially to the native spiritual writings and myths, such as Hopi. My main point, is my faith is one I am led to and I don't follow authoritative guides, but ask questions in my heart, pray, meditate and go only where I feel led.

When we die, our loved ones most definately are there. Close family and friends, angels and guides. My great grandfather was shown the beautiful gardens by his daughter that had died from TB, for several days before he died. He spoke of this to all those surrounding him, and he died with his family and in great peace. Many people feel their loved ones presence while living, frequently, but often through difficulties.

If you bake a cake and that cake fails, who is responsible ? The cake ?

If you're big enough to accept responsibility for making a failed cake, do you really believe God (by whatever name you prefer) won't be big enough to accept responsibility for those who failed to make the grade in life ?

Did you make yourself ?
Did your children or your parents ?

We're just links in a chain. Most of what we 'are' was inherited. Bad tempered people are born, most often. Devious people are born that way. I know a man who's described even by his own family as a 'useless drunk and user'. And they claim he's almost identical in these respects to his father's elder brother.

Now, if God (or whomever you believe is responsible for our existence) created a level playing field and created us all equal in every respect, then possibly there might be some justification for murderers, rapists, 'evil' types etc. being consigned to 'hell'.

But God did not create us equal. There's no level playing field. And no sane or remotely just creator would reject people based on how they got through life. If anything, I'd expect God to be more compassionate and accepting of those who inherited poor genes or who had difficult lives.

Put yourself in God's place. He sees billions of children, in the same way you can observe groups of children at a child-care centre. Some are angelic and some are little horrors. Do you reject the noisy, problem children ? Would you consign them to a hellish section of the child-care centre because some of them pulled others hair, or poked others in the eye or bit them or stole their toys ?

No, of course you wouldn't. And nor would or should the creator of the billions of less than perfect childlike creatures who infest this planet.

So why not apply this sort of common-sense logic to life and the afterlife, and forget all the horror stories about 'hell' ?

Life is no picnic, not for anyone. It's a hard job. No-one asked for it. It was imposed on them. When seen in that light, every person who's ever lived deserves a medal.

Organised religion seeks to control. And a large part of that control is terror .. terror of this 'hell' that religions seem to spend so much time focusing on. They also programme people to fear God, rather than love God. They use 'satan' in the same way as some women use ' you wait until your father gets home' to keep kids in line.

Take satan and hell out of the picture and people wouldn't fear death. Death is as natural as birth. God has to take responsibility for the good and bad 'cakes'. Satan is an invention. Religion loves satan more than God. Without Satan, religion would be superfluous .. people would neither need nor tolerate religions. Gee, imagine, a world without religion being used as a tool by virtually every US politician at election time and when they want to start a War for Profit. Politics loves religion because religion gives power to politicians and keeps the Sheepies in line. And in order to do that effectively, religion keeps your mind on hell and the debil as a means of scaring you into obedience and compliance.

If you can take responsibility for your own mistakes, expect no less from God.

If all is blackness after death .. well, you're used to that anyway, seeing as you spend a third of your life in blackness/sleep.

And if there's a pleasant afterlife .. then it's a bonus.

Originally posted by Dock6
If all is blackness after death .. well, you're used to that anyway, seeing as you spend a third of your life in blackness/sleep.

Not the quite the same!

The dream world experience means soooo much to me

reply to post by TrueAmerican


Actually, he mentioned that religious beliefs DID play a part in these experiences. How much of a part he did not say.

It was, however, a very interesting show.

Originally posted by Orion1660
Actually, he mentioned that religious beliefs DID play a part in these experiences. How much of a part he did not say.

It was, however, a very interesting show.

I got more of the impression that most did see family or someone come to get them in the study, but then again I typed the OP from memory of hearing the show, and I was half asleep when I heard it.

But either way, the point is that these experiences are happening to so many people, and in such a similar way. So either some chemical is being tripped in the brain causing hallucinations in all these people, or there is some kind of existence after death.

In the case of deaths suffered violently, this probably all happens very quickly, and probably with the severing of the astral cord at death.

Originally posted by Orion1660
Actually, he mentioned that religious beliefs DID play a part in these experiences. How much of a part he did not say.

From what I have read religious beliefs don't play into it NEARLY as much as people would expect. I would expect a bunch of them to say they see Jesus, but that rarely happens.

Though I have also read (mostly on the nursing site) that some people see dark scary beings hanging around, or black dogs moving in and out from under their beds (dogs that scare them, not familiar animals), that is odd because those visions happen around the time that others see their loved ones. So they do seem to be connected somehow.

[edit on 26-9-2008 by Sonya610]