My Thoughts On Death...Care to share yours?

Quoted it before and I'll quote it again, because you people have no interesting thoughts concening death.

"To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. - Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd."

-Shakespeare

reply to post by djr33222

because you people have no interesting thoughts concening death.

That's a little shallow, I think.

You claim 'you people' (I'm assuming you mean everyone that has shared their thoughts ) 'have no interesting thoughts concerning death'.

It may be really easy for you to come up in here, and pass your judgement on the intimate thoughts of other concerning a pretty personal topic and then post the words of someone else.

The topic is: 'My Thoughts On Death...Care to share yours?' You didn't share yours. Instead, you discounted everyone else's and chose to hide behind a long dead author, rather than expose your own thoughts.

No brownies for you.

reply to post by djr33222


Not to be rude...unlike yourself...we did post our own thoughts and not the thoughts and writings of someone else.... Hmm and we are the uninteresting ones?

Sure, I have some opinions concerning personal experiences. You have not shared yours... if you have any to begin with.

Check my previous posts maybe.

But perhaps I'm asuming things about people I don't even know.

[edit on 22-7-2009 by djr33222]

reply to post by KSPigpen


Reading your words is Like looking into the mirror and rereading my own words a few years ago so I can relate to your inner thoughts.

Although I do Not relate to myself as a religious person I have many years ago started studying the ancient Christian writings.

Here is a quote that I can relate to and agree with that stated me on my quest for understanding.

Its from The Gospel of Thomas !
but please understand, it is Not my intention to push religion....

1. And He said,

“Whoever finds the interpretation
of these sayings
will Not experience death.”


2. Jesus said,

“Let him who seeks.
continue seeking.
until he finds.

When he finds,
he will become troubled.

When he becomes troubled,
he will be astonished,
and he will rule over The All.”

So keep searching with sincerity and Honesty, and at the appropriate time, when you least expect it, All will be relieved to you...

Not by humankind, but by that, which All has been Created through!

I now have grand children, that I love as you love your own, and have almost passed through this experience.

When your time comes to move on, what you expect to happen, shall Not happen, and what you least expect, shall happen!

What has Created this world is way beyond, what any human can understand.

In my experience of death, I have mentioned in this thread, can Not be described in human terms, but I can honestly say, thank God I am Not in Control, and I long to return to The Place Of Life I have come From...

But I only experience this program, of this Tiny little Universe, because of My Love, for what has Created All things, and What which has been Created!

Yes I know All the Opposites exist in this experience, or more correctly this program, and humankind is unable to comprehend, what this world is really about, judging it, in ignorance...

But when you discover the real reason, for this tiny little world, you will never feel the same again, but will look on All, with Love and Understanding without wanting anything at all.....

reply to post by The Matrix Traveller


I wanted to take a moment and thank you! Thank you for sharing your story and doing so with honesty and wisdom! I too love the Gospel of Thomas.

I wouldnt recomend it but you can take '___' to find out what its like to die. Its what you brain releases intyo your blood stream just before you snuff it that stops you freaking out.

I have enjoyed reading everyones thoughts here and my own thoughts on death are a little different than some. I have experienced death and i can honestly say its nothing to fear. I think the thing to fear in relation to death is how you might die and not the reality of not being here anymore.
My own belief is that of christianity and that i will be judged by god one day. I do not believe in a instant heaven after we die. I read the bible and believe in the interpretation that we die and we lay until judgement and then we are called. My own experience with death was one of peace and release. I was not afraid as it was happening and i knew it was happening.
The short of it is that i am a ekg tech and i was at work one day and my heart decided to slow down and stop. What we call bradycardia. I felt it i knew what was going on and what was going to happen. I told the charge nurse very calmly that my heart was about to stop and i was bradycardic. My tone evidently didnt seem excited and so she thought i was kidding until she saw me turning pale. They went to get the BP machine and by the time they go to me i had been holding my fingers on my carotid feeling my heartbeat go lower and lower and i felt the last one. I somehow remained concious the whole time until the last one. I felt it and my last words to her was "thats it". thats the last i remember. When i awoke i had the feeling like i had been resting but not a normal rest. A rest i didnt want to wake up from. A peaceful feeling unlike anything i have ever felt. I wanted to stay in that forever. The hard part was coming back and i can only share this as a feeling i had. I cant make anyone know what that felt like except to try and tell those who need to hear it that its ok. Its very ok. There is no pain in death only in dying. Once death has taken you and the body becomes still its wonderful. The funny thing is i didnt know this while i was gone but was only aware when my body started back up again. The knowledge of being perfectly still became clear once i was back and could feel my heart beating again. I now know what both feel like and i am not afraid of when it comes again.I do not want to leave either. I love being alive and experiencing things and being with those i love and having one more memory, one more day of anything. Yet i know when it comes i accept it and i pray for more but i dont get anxiety anymore thinking of dying. I am at peace with it.

reply to post by fizzy1


Wow thanks, Fizzy. :0 That was a most excellent contribution. I'll believe you about the peaceful thing a little later.

I believe that death is simply the beginning of REAL LIFE.

We are always saddened by the death of our loved ones. This is a natural human trait. This emotion is deeply ingrained in our hearts.

Therefore we mourn the loss of our loved ones at the funeral.

But when you come to think of it, funerals are not really for the departed. Funerals are for those who are left behind. There is no doubt in my mind that the "deceased" wonders why those who are left behind are saddened, when he or she is in such a blissful state. Those who did not experience death are the ones that are to be mourned for. He or she is sending an urgent message that death was not the end of life.

Death is not the end of life. Far from it. It is only the begining of REAL LIFE, the ultimate reality. Death is simply the door through which we enter the real, true eternal life. Words will be inadequate to describe this eternal bliss to come immediately upon death. This is why we need not fear death at all. The new life after death is the ultimate reality, not the superficial, temporal, limited existence we have here in this physical world.
In other words, this world we are living in is almost like an illusion. It's not real, in the sense that this is not the ultimate reality.

We must face this fact: that DEATH actually BEGINS THE MOMENT WE ARE BORN. It's a slow process. The moment we are born we are immersed into this physical world and begin to experience sickness and disease and finally we die a physical death. For some it could be very short. For others death may come in an unexpected way before sickness and disease take over. We all have an appointed time for death. This thought sounds rather morbid but let's face it. This is a fact.

Therefore, to the best of our ability, we MUST live these precious few moments of life to the fullest possible and take time to enjoy it while we can.
We must continually thank "God" (or the "Creator", or the "Designer" or whatever you may describe "Him" to be, to the best of our "finite" mind) for giving us this precious physical life, even though it's a short life.

We must not hate ourselves but love ourselves for who God created us to be. But more than that, we must LOVE OTHERS more than ourselves and do good to others. This is the golden rule. We must also continue to have total FAITH (or unconditional "TRUST" or "RELIANCE") in God and live the way He would want us to live.

This may sound strange, but since we are all taking the journey to death, the most important time in our life, therefore, is NOW. The past cannot be repeated. What happened even a few seconds ago cannot be repeated. It's gone.

The past is history. We have the PAST, PRESENT and the FUTURE. Our finite mind cannot see the FUTURE. This is why the most important period of our life is NOW, this very minute, this very second!!

We need to thank "God" (or the "Creator", or the "Designer" or whatever you may describe "Him" to be, to the best of our "finite" mind) for giving us the opportunity to be here, even for a short time. We need to thank "God" EVERY SINGLE DAY for giving us this precious life to live. We need to thank "God" for EVERY NEW BREATH that we can continue to breathe while on earth, even if we may be so sick in bed and are faced with death. Yes, many times we may feel that it is extremely difficult to do, but we must try. We must continue to count our blessings EVERY DAY.

By the way, there are no such things as "coincidences" in our lives, if we fully trust in the "Creator". There may be a reason for everything that happened so far in our personal lives. Moreover, we do make many mistakes and made bad decisions. There's no turning back the clock to change the events that happened in our lives. We can only learn from the past mistakes and ask for forgiveness for our mistakes.

Many times we question "God" (or the "Creator" or "Designer" or whatever you may call "Him", to the best of our "finite" mind) why certain things, especially "bad things", happen in our lives.

But we must bear in mind that God never wishes "bad things" in our lives. God never creates "bad things". God is not the creator of evil.

Often times we have tragic moments in our lives which are beyond our doing. At the time of the tragic event, we tend to question God and even complain to Him why the tragedy happened. But later on, as the years go by, we come to a point and realize that had it not been for that tragedy in the past that I would not be here where I am, not only physically, mentally but above all and most importantly, spiritually. We didn't see it right then before.
As they say, "all things work out for the good for those who love and trust Him".

Lastly, together with this thought, we can rest assured that God answers ALL our sincere prayers.

There are only three ways that "God" answers our prayers. That is: YES, NO or NOT NOW.

When we ask God for a certain thing:

1) God can respond and say "YES". "You will get your wish right away".

2) God can respond and say "NO". (God knows exactly what is good for you. When God says "NO", He will give you an alternative to your request. He will say "NO, but I will give you something that is even better for you, and you will know the reason why later on, in due time".

and finally,

3) God can respond and say "YES, but not now, you will just have to wait patiently and then it will be granted. Now is not the right time, but it will be granted at the most appropriate time for you."

THIS IS GUARANTEED !!

Norio Hayakawa
www.myspace.com...

reply to post by djr33222


Oh the arrogance...
We humbly bow to your immense and perfected ideals since we have no interesting thoughts...
Since you seem to know it all bub, care to share? Please put us in our place...

You know what forget it. Flaunt your arrogance somewhere else please. The rest of us are actually involved in "discussing" something.

Death used to concern me. Sometimes it horrified me. I used to think it was imminent. Now I don't even think of it. I have made it a point never to factor death in as a posibility to anything. Even if I had to jump off a tall bridge, all other scenarios come first.

Thought of death is a waste of time. In my opinion, if you don't let it concern you, you don't have to worry about all this end of the world crap. As much as dying with dignity is cool, there are better things to worry(or not worry) about.

You can't really take life too seriously, ya know? Ignorance is bad and all, but so is fearing. Sometimes you just have to not care so much. Things are just a little more friendly that way, when you don't jump to some outrageous judgment about something or someone.

I have something to share:

Earlier today, my little brother (39) called me and he was crying...his very best friend since elementary school died this morning on his way to work. He had pulled off to the side of the road and called 911. He told them he was having terrible chest pains that something wasn't right and to please hurry he then called his wife...he was dead when they got there. He had been at my brothers house the night before and had hugged him when he left... he was 38 and left behind a wife, a 16 year old son and 6 year old daughter.
We never know when death will come for us or how and this is a perfect example....

I can give you my thoughts on death at least in a very interesting and basic way. When someone dies we see the after effects of the body. We all associate that same decomposing effects to our own mortality and that I think frightens most people. I tend not to think about what happens to my body afterwards coz it wouldnt matter to me (I be dead) So therefore anything ritual involving my body is for the living only and not exactly for me. So who is me? Or more exact who am I ? "I" is universal I can do this I can do that etc. the fact that "I" am a self aware being is universal in the human mind of everyone.
Now how you remember past experiences and how you been nurtured and also the dna makeup of you body determines you personality. So when you goto sleep and wake up there is continuity and for you time goes ever forward. However what will happen when you wake up one morning with total amnesia. You dont know who you are no memories nothing. Who are you then? For all intent and purposes the person who you was the night before has gone, you can even goto onto say that the person died even though the body is alive. From the time you wake up with the amnesia it would like being born again because you will have to do it all over again.
So if you think of death as a type of amnesia it makes more sense as you goto bed one night only to wake up as a newborn baby...

Death is the end.

This life is all you have.

Live long, live well.

reply to post by wookiee


Do yo know what This is ???

Originally posted by N3krostatic
We don't know and won't until we die.

Very well said. I understand everyone has their own belief and their reasoning for it. That goes without saying. I began freaking out about death 4-5 years ago. I would actually have an overwhelming sense of fear that would make me heart race when I would think about it.

But, since I've been dwelling on death for about the last 4-5 years I've actually become quite numb to it all. I still don't know what I believe i.e. nothing/something? Why isn't this something we can just know? Why does EVERYTHING have to be such a mystery?

I'll end my ramblings here.

[edit on 03/12/2009 by thinkingAhead]

Only that which created "me" can destroy "me". Its kind of interesting to think that my energy is immortal until the universe itself says otherwise. While it may not always be in sentient form, it will be reassigned elsewhere indefinitely.

The deep reason why our culture finds it necessary to deny death is that death puts the lie to the agenda of our narrowly-conceived selves.
Contemplation and integrated awareness of death reveals the unreality, or the conditional reality, of the discrete and separate self.

Because the self that we define as our bodies, our names, our knowledge, our possessions, our self-image, and our stories—Alan Watts' "skin-encapsulated egos"—did not exist before we were born and will cease to exist when we die, that self is unreal, impermanent; along with it, the dualism of self and environment is unreal as well. It is no accident that every spiritual tradition that I know of has practices consisting of the contemplation of death. That is also why a close brush with death is so transforming: we stop worrying about the trivial concerns of life and walk in the knowledge, as one near-death survivor put it, that "only love is real." When death exposes the impermanence and conditional reality of the self as we know it, all of the behaviors based on its aggrandizement no longer make sense. Society as we know it is based upon these behaviors; hence society's need to euphemize, hide, and deny death.

www.ascentofhumanity.com...

[edit on 24-7-2009 by pai mei]

reply to post by thinkingAhead

Why isn't this something we can just know? Why does EVERYTHING have to be such a mystery?

It is humanity that chooses to make a Mystery out of LIFE...

Life is Life and Death is Death. They are Opposites.

The Body is Dead but The Life known also as Awareness or Consciousness is Alive.

When we know our real Identity we know Love as All is contained in Love.

But the Flesh does Not know Love.

Only the True Self knows Love.

from The Gospel of Thomas...

Quote:-

56. Jesus said,
“Whoever has come
to understand the World

has found only a corpse,

and whoever has found
a corpse
is superior to the World.”

And.....

Quote:-

“We came from The Light,
the place where The Light
came into being
on Its own accord
and established Itself
and became manifest
through their Image.”

If they say to you,
“Is it you?”

say,

“We are its children,
and we are the elect
of The Living Father.”

If they ask you,

“What is the sign
of your Father in you?”

say to them,

“It is Movement and Repose.”

Having experienced Death, I returned from The "Light", as a Witness of The Light, and shall return home again, at the appointed time.

While I am in the World, I pass on the Knowledge, of where I have come From, that is The Place of LIFE.

But will the Flesh listen, to those who having withdrawn, from this world and returned ???

Or will they still listen and trust, learning from those which do Not know the Place of LIFE having No Memory, or even knowing The Place of LIFE ???

What are known as near death experiences, are different than withdrawing from the world then returning to tell the story.

There is Nothing at all, to fear, as something far, far, greater than flesh, is in Control, which humankind is unable to experience being flesh.

Only Life experiences Love!

Is your Flesh Aware of You ???

Or is it You, (Life, Awareness, Consciousness or "The True Mind") that is Aware of Your Flesh?

So One is Living (Awareness, Consciousness or The True Mind).

And The Flesh is already Dead, Not being Aware of anything at all.

So I do Not know what you mean by Death ???

I only Know The Place of LIFE as well as the Experience I am having.

But when I was in the Light I became One with The Light, knowing All things, but Not by thought, as Thought is of the Brain, being only a Decoder/Encoder, between That which is Alive and The Earth and Universe being the Experience.

LIFE is Eternal and The experience of The Earth and Universe is temporary..

But LIFE does Not Die, and Can't Die, or it would Not be LIFE...

[edit on 24-7-2009 by The Matrix Traveller]