Scared of death - Page 3

Xibalba · #1 10-14-2007, 08:44 PM

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Sometimes I cry from the sheer terror and fear of it, and other times I go for a run until I collapse from exhaustion. I always feel way better after the latter than the former.

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What's paradoxical here is that you have to engage in an activity that would, by all means, be considered a manifestation of a psychological death drive to temporarily forget the feelings of dread and anxiety caused by thinking of death. It'd be the same if your response was heavy drinking, drugs drugs drugs, or random one night stand. By trying to obliterate all those thoughts you are actually engaging in precisely what you, at least consciously, claim to fear the most.

I've responded to those thoughts by either signing up to everything I possibly can in order to get overkilled, having self-destructive weekends or focusing all my thoughts on an obsessive goal, whether it is finish writing X, get good at poker or get random girl that suits this purpose. Thing is, it's philosophically complex, because all those are expressions of not wanting to "be", which is allegedly the main problem with conceiving death as the non-existence of self.

I'm not completely sure yet whether the actual root of this is fear of death or of actually living as the person you think yourself to be.

RustedCorpse · #2 10-14-2007, 09:03 PM

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I have the EXACT same thoughts.

Sometimes I cry from the sheer terror and fear of it, and other times I go for a run until I collapse from exhaustion. I always feel way better after the latter than the former.

Sometimes it helps to pet my dog too. The blissful happiness about life and the complete lack of a deeper self consciousness she has, oddly comforts me.

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I'm pretty much on this page of my life now.

I've been going through these same thoughts for the last couple years, having come from a religious background, then realizing that I don't really "believe" it, and coming to terms with all that brings.

I enjoy a lot of Buddhist thoughts on this, not the real supernatural stuff, but the very basic concept of appreciating the moment. I find myself trying to be more aware of each instant in and of itself.

This also has made me a more humane person I think as well. I tend to look at everyone just having this brief microscopic moment in reality, so if it doesn't hurt me why not do what I can to make theirs a little better.

But some nights it just makes me drink.

AlexM · #3 10-14-2007, 08:39 PM

Learn to play chess.

Prodigy54321 · #4 10-14-2007, 09:07 PM

I've heard a quote before...but I can't remember the exact wording or who said it...it was something like...

"I'm not afraid of death. I was dead for a long time before I was born and I wasn't the slightest bit inconvenienced by it."

anyone know who said something like this?

tdarko · #5 10-14-2007, 10:13 PM

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I enjoy a lot of Buddhist thoughts on this, not the real supernatural stuff, but the very basic concept of appreciating the moment. I find myself trying to be more aware of each instant in and of itself.

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I have been reading this thread and feeling kind of sorry for some of the people that have sheer terror about death. I am not Buddhist and naturally have come to the conclusion to appreciate the moment and be aware of each instant. I can't control certain things in my life such as afterlife or death or whatever entails but I can control each moment.

I say this b/c I was afraid of death for a period in my life, for a lot of reasons mentioned in this thread. Then something happened in my life that snapped some perspective into me and made me realize that worrying doesn't really enhance my life in any way (I did my best to exclude a Van Wilder quote there).

The DaveR · #6 10-14-2007, 10:15 PM

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I enjoy a lot of Buddhist thoughts on this, not the real supernatural stuff, but the very basic concept of appreciating the moment. I find myself trying to be more aware of each instant in and of itself.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have been reading this thread and feeling kind of sorry for some of the people that have sheer terror about death. I am not Buddhist and naturally have come to the conclusion to appreciate the moment and be aware of each instant. I can't control certain things in my life such as afterlife or death or whatever entails but I can control each moment.

I say this b/c I was afraid of death for a period in my life, for a lot of reasons mentioned in this thread. Then something happened in my life that snapped some perspective into me and made me realize that worrying doesn't really enhance my life in any way (I did my best to exclude a Van Wilder quote there).

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t, Similar for me. Coping is easier as I get older but the latent dread is always there and sometimes it's overwhelming.

tdarko · #7 10-14-2007, 10:22 PM

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Coping is easier as I get older but the latent dread is always there and sometimes it's overwhelming.

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I think this right here is the crux of this thread as well the situation. Also, a huge reason for religion.

Kimbell175113 · #8 10-14-2007, 10:25 PM

I don't like the "I was dead before I was born" stuff. It's fine in a glib way, like that famous quote, but (imo) it stops you from getting to the truth, which is that before you were born there was no you. After you die, you aren't dead, because there is no you.

As Metric said in my earlier linked post, you only exist within a certain area of space-time, and birth and death are just some of the boundaries. I never lived in China, the same way I never lived in 1927, the same way I never lived on Mars, the same way I never lived in 3011.

Hiiiiiiii · #9 10-14-2007, 10:28 PM

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I don't like the "I was dead before I was born" stuff. It's fine in a glib way, like that famous quote, but (imo) it stops you from getting to the truth, which is that before you were born there was no you. After you die, you aren't dead, because there is no you.

As Metric said in my earlier linked post, you only exist within a certain area of space-time, and birth and death are just some of the boundaries. I never lived in China, the same way I never lived in 1927, the same way I never lived on Mars, the same way I never lived in 3011.

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IMO, you were always alive. Life is all you have ever known so it is everything to you. There is no before and there is no after.

Badger · #10 10-15-2007, 01:39 AM

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As Metric said in my earlier linked post, you only exist within a certain area of space-time, and birth and death are just some of the boundaries. I never lived in China, the same way I never lived in 1927, the same way I never lived on Mars, the same way I never lived in 3011.

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This reminds me of Slaughter House 5. Are you a Tralfamadorian, or whatever they were called?

They were an alien race that, if I recall correctly, travel through time in a similar manner to the way we can walk across the room. Time was just another dimension that they could pass through at will. Good book.

I've experienced similar fears, but I tend not to reason through them, they just subside after a while. It seems like a fairly normal and unavoidable idea. But you can't do anything about it anyways, so what's it matter?