I am afraid of death. And I am afraid of dying.

I guess I've never really been afraid of dying. I just have a different outlook on it.

I don't believe in any afterlife, certainly not a Heaven or Hell. I don't have any concerns about what happens to my immortal soul, or reuniting with people, or being rewarded for being the kind of good person I'm supposed to be.

While I do fear certain -types- of death, as in the method of dying, I don't actually fear death. I look forward to the day, hopefully a long time from now, where I no longer have to wake. Whether it be abrupt or slow, one day I will come to a point where nothing matters anymore. I won't even know it happened.

No more weariness, pain or sadness. No more joy or love either, but I've experienced the wide range of human emotion plenty of times now I have a child, I've had a good relationship with my family and friends.

Basically, dying is just the end. I can't conceptualize it, because I know there's nothing after. That comforts me, frankly. That when the day comes, I just won't have to worry, or think, or exist, ever again.

Whatever my achievements, the monuments of my failures, all of it will cease to matter to me; which means the time I have now, what I do while I'm aware of it and what I do to ensure the future for those after me, are all that matters.

Death? I can wait, but I'm not gonna spend even a moment worrying about it.

droid56:

Death is freaking scary.

I'd stay away from it if I were you, but unfortunately you can't, death is stalking you (and everybody else) everyday. Doesn't matter if you think you are close to some mythical God, won't make a blind bit of difference, when it's your time, death will still lay its claws upon you; the countdown has already begun, and your clock is ticking away every second of it.

Can death be sleep, when life is but a dream,
And scenes of bliss pass as a phantom by?
The transient pleasures as a vision seem,
And yet we think the greatest pain's to die.

From "On Death" by John Keats

Keats believed life continued after death, but of course...it doesn't. Death isn't even the last process of life, rot and decay is, or the fire of cremation. Your choice is either putrefaction or ashes. Personally, I'll take the fire route, and have myself scattered to the whim of the wind.

No sense in worrying over something you cannot control. Just live your life the best way you can without harming anyone else, and live as long as you can without fret.

I've said this before and wasn't the first to think it and i haven't read this whole thread, but.....

You have been dead before. Before you were born. Its not a new place, you've been there forever. Your Grandfathers before you were scared too and now they are the same part of the same forever. If you ever been under anesthetic for operation before it's probably just like that, the nothing in between inhaling the gas and waking up. There is no activity.

If any of the above information is wrong and i see too much evidence of the afterlife, only then will i be very afraid. When i go i want to be fully gone and fully unaware.

"Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome" Isaac Asimov

Being dead is no different than before you were born. Do not fear it, EMBRACE it. Embrace it for it is a part of you. I do not believe in death however, and it would be to difficult to explain but I will try:

0 1 0.... ? .... 1!

In other words(ugh, non numbered explanation), if you dead was and then become dead again... who or what says nothing can become something again? I can be 0 twice but only 1 once? Off, on, off? ON.

reply to post by dlbott

Ask Bruce how that worked out for him. Lol

It worked out great. I don't think you understood the meaning of that quote.

Your argument against God is ludicrous, do you hear yourself.

Excuse me? Did I present my argument??

The evidence and proof comes through faith my friend

Faith is distinguished from evidence. Hence 'take a leap of faith'. What you're saying is have faith even though I don't have the evidence. No. I won't do that. I am not going to believe in your religion, or any others (that you also reject), just because you claim that faith will save me….without any evidence.

Look around you. You see God all around you. Life is amazing, look at the universe and nature and all the amazement everywhere around you. Man if you can't see a higher power, god, at work all around you something is wrong.

I go back and forth between atheism and deism. I am not against contemplating the metaphysical arguments for a prime mover. First cause. Alpha and Omega. All that jazz.. I do 'look around', and I am amazed. It's one thing to have belief in a creator, it would be entirely something else for me to then believe, as the religious do, that I know the mind of that god. Again, not something I will convince myself of without evidence. Reading a random holy book that says my soul is saved if I accept Jesus into my heart, or that 'ill get virgins after I die, just doesn't cut it for me.

You do understand there is more to you than just your body and your mind, you have a spirit, a soul. You have to feel it.

Don't presume that there is no magic in my life simply because I don't have your particular religious faith. There is much meaning in my life. Lots. Through love, art, companionship, family, my animal friends. Through the amazement of nature in all its glory. As you said, the Universe. All that brings me the knowledge life is more than just MY mind and body.

How funny. I can't wait for death to happen. Or should I say for this boring illusion, dream to end.

reply to post by Gyo01

In other words(ugh, non numbered explanation), if you dead was and then become dead again... who or what says nothing can become something again? I can be 0 twice but only 1 once? Off, on, off? ON.

Not sure if I follow but if the physical Universe is eternal, and its ability to create is as well, then I imagine given an infinite amount of time you would be bound to 'become again'. Over an over.

Death is overrated. Yea you will die. I will die. Sowhat? Is it scary? Well, I gotta tell ya - the thought itself is a hundred times more scary than the actual event when it happens; that I can guarantee for you brother. The marketing for death has blown it out of proportion. You see death everywhere. You hear about it in the news, in your family, in the movies. Heck, I dare you to name one movie where death is not mentioned somewhere in it if not explicitly happening in front of your eyes. All the crying, the rituals, the ceremonies. This ongoing and ever-evolving marketing campaign is what gave death its mysterious halo. It's just that people who die never come back to tell us how easy it was. I bet that there are things in life that you and I and everybody has been through that hurts a hundred times more than the actual overrated process of death. I am sure that losing your mom to cancer and living with the memory of her suffering for the rest of your life is worse than dying. Starving to death, getting tortured or watching someone you love getting tortured, watching starving children in Africa feeling completely unable to help them while watching those who are able to help them on TV making billions of dollars for rubbing their asses against poles. That's worse than death.

But, again, why go so far? I bet that thinking about death all the time and being paranoid about is in fact much much worse than the process of dying itself. How long does it take to die anyway? 30 seconds? You already spent them reading my post. They're gone. So, even the "un-imaginable pain" you're fearing, by now, it's gone.

Moral of the story? Take a chill pill and enjoy life. The coming days until the day you die, you can choose to make them full of ideas of death, or free of them. At the end of the tunnel, is the same exact destination. So, at least while you're at it, enjoy it. It's like going on a road trip and choosing whether you wanna grab some snacks to munch on, music that will help you enjoy your trip, or, just going without those things. In both cases, you're getting to your destination anyways. In one of them you're enjoying your time way more than in the other... and that choice - you make. You can CHOOSE to live happily.

reply to post by droid56


It kinda sucks, but when my mother died, who I loved and still love dearly, I thought to myself that it would suck even more if we lived forever in this form as it is, everything would grow stale and it would become a nightmare of sorts. It's a part of life. If so, maybe death has no real meaning, because it's a part of life, and therefore doesn't contain life. It's scary though no doubt about it, even to be released into the spiritual Reality from which there's no turning back.

We all have to do it. It's probably almost as important how we die as how we live. I would like to do it courageously and with a certain grace if I can.

Take solice in the face that trillions (or more) of creatures have been born, lived and all died before you. It's a natural part of our existance and while it may not be something to look forward to, you're going to have it happen to you someday. Being afraid, worried, or any other negative emotions on the subject of dying does nothing but lessens the quality of your life.

Ergo - why worry about something that's going to happen, and you have no control over?

If you fear death means your life doesn't suck enough

Ask yourself "What happens when I go to sleep?"

Well you got your answer. Death is going to sleep the only difference is when you will be on the other side you will feel more awake and alive than right now. There is no such thing as death, not breathing on and on. Is just transition from a state to another. Once you swim more into the idea and read some eastern philosophy you will understand that your fear should not exist is like being scared of going to sleep or drinking water, you are scared of something that can not harm you.....

This is going to sound somewhat nihilistic, but I have never feared death. I simply don't care. There is absolutely nothing I can do about it. I have faced it several times in my life -- far more than most people I have ever known.

I fear pain -- I'm not mad. But not death. It is what it is. And no matter what I do, it's coming.

Is there anything after that? No idea. I'm an agnostic who sees no evidence that any religious explanation of an afterlife has any basis in fact whatsoever.

I don't want death: I have a good life. But I do not fear it. I won't give it the satisfaction...

are we just talking about dying or the way we die?

dying is no biggie. slipping into death...(there is no pain, you are receding, a ship smoke on the horizon...)

the way we die, is another matter. use your imagination.

i am more afraid of dying in a slow horrific way, than dying.

reply to post by droid56

It' funny, I am the opposite. I'm not afraid of dying (although I don't want to linger) but there is a calm to me in thinking of it. I am a Christian and I do believe a creator of 'all things' made us and everything else and I think the creator has plans for his creations that go beyond this life.
The scary part to me is reading about the horrible things people do to others in the world today.
I hope you find piece and can get over feeling that death is horrible and think of it as a possible new beginning without pain or fears.

reply to post by Lucid Lunacy


Yeah, you summed it pretty well. It's always when I get to thinking about it too hard that sets off my really bad panic attacks. Panic attacks make me feel like I am croaking, can't breathe, so keeps getting worse and worse until I pop a tranq to jar it out of the cycle. Hate that stuff, I wish I could believe in some afterlife stuff, would make it a lot easier I think.

reply to post by TheAlmo


that makes sense.

The more we 'prolong' the life to prevent 'death', the more scarier the thought of death will be.

peace.

'___' will soon cure every worry you have about death

tsingtao i am more afraid of dying in a slow horrific way, than dying.

Agreed. I had to watch someone burn to death once, and despite my best efforts, could not stop it. I sustained burns myself in the process...

Not the way I would want to go. It haunts me.

If I found out I had terminal something, I would do the math on the timeline, and when that time came, find a nice spot while I was still in control of the matter, and that would be that.