Scared of death

[hurtchow]

I think that death freaks us out because we are so self-centred. We think we are so special because we can think, talk, form ideas and express them.

The thing to realize is that everyone is conscious, it's one of the only things that we all have in common (aside from biological matters). After one of us goes, someone else is born with the same abilities. We pass our knowlege down to future generations and our civilation continues to learn and grow.

One life is very insignificant, it's the big picture that matters. When I go, someone else will come along to take my place. I think the best thing we can do with our lives is make the world a better place for future generations.

Attitudes are contagious and good ideas spread. That's what I figure, anyways.

[JuntMonkey]

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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.

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Also, none of you exist and are just here to trick me and/or are figments of my imagination.

[Prodigy54321]

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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?

[/ QUOTE ]Mark Twain
"I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it."

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thank you

[Uglyowl]

Hurtchow,

I think you summed it up best, I was trying to put my thoughts into words and you did it better than I could.

If you put things in perspective of who you are and your importance in this world then the whole death thing becomes easier to deal with.

[catalyst]

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"I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it."

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[burningyen]

Man, weird timing, I just finished watching The Fountain.

[jjshabado]

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"I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it."

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This is so hollow from a personal point of view though. There can be nothing worse to me then just simply ceasing to exist. Those billions of years before I was born weren't inconveniencing to me, they just didn't exist to me. I don't like the idea of not existing after either.

However, I've come to accept the fact that the universe is WAY too complex for humans at this point in our existence to understand. For example, I read a good book about how physicists now believe that we live in a 10 dimensional universe. We have evidence that they exist, but humans just don't have the capacity to understand/visual what those dimensions look like. The fact that we live our lives throughout time may be a peculiarity to our species. Time may be something much more complicated and so our perceived linear birth-life-death may not be all that we think it is. So I hold hope that existence/consciousness isn't over at death, and if it is... well damn.

[Alobar]

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So I hold hope that existence/consciousness isn't over at death, and if it is... well damn.

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Yeah, I hold the same hope. Obviously our knowledge of the very thing of existence and the universe is probably laughable compared to what the Truth of it is. So I have some small glimmer of hope that death is not the end of me.

But the very nature of who I am, must be dramatically changed if this persistence does indeed exist. My self and my identity and all my thoughts and beliefs and what makes me me, is so tied up by the measure of time, that to lose the concept of time, would so drastically alter me that even if I do persist im still changed so much im not me, so im not actually persisting (not sure that makes sense). Because it is absolutely impossible for our human mind to comprehend infinity, and thats exactly how long I want to go on for. So something has to give.

[funkymunky]

Pretty good discussion going on here. I think we all have these sorts of thoughts, and, while our mortality isn't maybe the warmest thought that can cross our minds, we all know it'll happen to all of us one day.

I remember thinking constantly about death since I was around 14-15. For the longest time, I thought in terms of how much time I had left. To be honest, during some quiet times, I still do.

With life experience, I have dealt with death on a few occasions, as we all do. The most disturbing was the suicide of a friend. Nothing hits home like when one of your peer group dies (to clarify, my parents are thankfully both still with us, so I haven't experienced that)

Like you, I think once it's over, it's all over. I don't think I'll be coming back in any way, shape or form. I don't think there is any particular point or meaning to life - I think we're all here to spend our brief moment. To that end, I try to enjoy life for what it is - a whole bunch of relative monotony, interrupted by flashes of excitement, joy, and sadness.

I'm in my thirties. I could swear it was just yesterday I was that frightened 15 year old.

Earlier today, I blew bubbles with my daughter. We watched and listened to the geese as they started their journey south. Then we played in the leaves as we raked.

It was a good day.

Can't wait for tomorrow!

[Hiiiiiiii]

Something that is even more intriguing to think about is if the human race is a disease/virus or not? Think about it; our species natural instincts are to procreate and protect our species. And then what do we do?

Destroy the planet that sustains our life and anything that is weaker than us. If something gets in our way, we develop technology (or/and evolve) to be able to destroy it. Even things we have always had control over we have developed a more efficient way of doing so.

Think about how a virus works (AIDS for instance) then think about the human race. Are you ever going to be happy to be alive again? Are you going to have kids and contribute to the virus? Are you going to kill people because you are sick of it spreading?