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general Fear of Death


rcollinz13

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True, fear of death is natural. Though recently, I'm seeing the pointlessness of fearing it because there's no way out of it. Well, for that rational in part, but maybe because I have occasional suicidal thought too :huh:. Hell, I've started to see beauty in death :dash:. Until  while ago, I thought death could be my greatest gift, and sometimes I wish I could have died in place of my parents, but things started to look up for me. I've mostly seen ugliness in life these last years, but now I have a chance to change it. I still NOT fear death despite that, I just wanna take the beauty of life with me before I pass away 

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I recommend watching this. Hank talks a lot about how you shouldn't fear death. It helped me when I watched it.

 

 

I don't fear dying because if nothing happens when you die, then your life, memories, conscious, etc are all meaningless and it's nothing you should fear not having...because, well, they never meant anything.

 

I don't actually believe that though; I'm pretty convinced death is not the end, so I don't think of it as an ultimate end to everything that has been important to me.

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 This might be in part due to just me being unhappy about my life in general too, but it's something I've struggled with since I was a kid.

Hey, you and me both, bro.

 

 

  Personally, I want to go to Equestria when I die. Probably not gonna happen, but I guess that just means I'll be even more excited if by some magical miracle it does. ^_^

Hear, hear!  No one would be happier than me if something like this happened.  I'm certainly not completely closed to the possibility of something after death; I just find it unlikely, as you said.  But the fact is that no one knows, and no one can know, which is why all visions of the afterlife are just made-up and speculative.

 

 

Living forever is a scarier concept to me than dying. Just imagine living forever and ever and knowing that in a billion years you'll still be here.

Yeah.  Most people don't get that.  Immortality has been a staple and sought after dream of humankind for thousands of years, and I can't understand how people fail to see how horrible that would be.  Imagine if you were completely immortal, not even needing food or oxygen or anything.  Everything crumbles and dies eventually.  Imagine just being here, alone with your thoughts in the vast emptiness of space, after the heat death of the universe, knowing that you'll just be there for all eternity.  That's the most terrifying thing imaginable.

 

I forgot about this the other day, but I should really leave this here (I'm sorry for always pushing the Sam Harris stuff on these forums, but I really do think he has some incredibly brilliant and useful things to say.  This one inspired me to make some changes and do things I wanted to, but was always too afraid to do:

 

 

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I used to have this problem. I now realise it inevitable, we're all going to die. We can whine about it or live what we have to the fullest. I think Richard Dawkins said it best:

 

“We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Arabia. Certainly, those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton. We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively exceeds the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds, it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here.We privileged few, who won the lottery of birth against all odds, how dare we whine at our inevitable return to that prior state from which the vast majority have never stirred?”
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Worrying about death, what comes after, when it will happen are all common worries that almost everyone thinks about at some point. My suggestion is to try becoming closer to God. It seems that these worries started appearing once you became disillusioned with God and religion. You were raised a Christian so you're probably familiar with what the Bible has to say. Reading it could perhaps calm your worries, or better yet join a study/reading group. I suggest that not just to gain a better understanding of what the Bible has to say but because being in a group such as that provides a good avenue to socialize and talk about certain topics that would otherwise be out of place among other groups(such as death/fear of/religion/etc). 

 

Regardless of what you do, I hope you come to terms with your worries and have a splendid day.  :)

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I'd much rather live forever, even if it does mean living a billion years and beyond. I see no point in ending your life on the note of, it's going to happen and I'm afraid of living for a long time, even if you outlast humanity itself. The future is an uncertain thing, the world could be destroyed and you'd keep on living, floating around in space, that's saying that you're immune to all forms of death no matter what it's. But does that mean you'd be living even when your body is no longer one? For example, you'd keep living even though you were digested by a shark, you'd only live as parts of yourself floating throughout the ocean only to be eaten further by smaller sea creatures. Nah, I would say give me my death at that point, I see no point in living if things went to that insane level.

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I'm not afraid of death. I see it as a new exciting adventure. What happens when I die? Where do I go? Do I go somewhere at all? Do I cease to exist? So many questions! And it's something unique as well! But if I am afraid of something, it is: a painful way to die. Afraid of pain. Like drowning, or burning alive... Ugh... Gives me shivers. But at the same time, I am morally prepared for the curse that is to live forever, or for a very long period of time. A thousand, a billion years, perhaps more... Immortality is a curse, but I would gladly take it.

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Yeah, I'll admit of having a crippling fear of death myself.

 

But mostly because life seems too short. There's so much to do, and never enough time to do it.

 

This has made me somewhat cynical and bitter at times, and I sometimes approach the topic with a morbid sense of humour. I imagine some people feel the same way. In the end, what meaning is there to your life but what it means to you?

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Death isn't really a thing that scares me, it just weirds me out a little.

I guess I could say that I'm more afraid of leaving behind the people in my life and the things I was doing.

 

It sure would suck if I did die prematurely, without really experiencing life. One thing I've considered is reincarnation- I'll be able to live another life to the fullest. I could have already lived several lives. Do I know for certain that reincarnation is true? No, but it's an interesting and reassuring thing to think about. I find more comfort in that than in a heaven of some sort.

 

I guess a lot of people are afraid of the uncertainties during and immediately after death. I think of those uncertainties as an opportunity. It's an experience that we're all going to face later on. It's not a thing that I alone am going to experience alone- millions have died before me, and millions will die after me.

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I am, for all intents and purposes, an atheist (don't believe in the existence of the Christian god or gods, don't believe that there's a biblical heaven waiting for me postmortem, stuff like that).  I don't, however, believe in nonexistence; neither in regard to personal existence nor universal existence.  Either there's something there (in some form or another) or there eventually will be; perhaps when the next Big Bang comes along.

 

I also believe in love; perhaps more strongly than I believe in anything else.  I figure that I'll eat bacon regularly, exercise minimally, and still live till my late fifties or early sixties (when I'll likely have a fatal heart attack), and then I (the part of me that's really me) will go off to be, permanently, with the woman I love.  That's what I feel, what I want, and what I know.

 

So, while I don't have a death-wish (and am not especially fond of physical pain), I've come to worry far less about death in recent years than I did in the past.  Oddly enough, death scared me a hell of a lot more when I was a child; a child who was told about god and heaven and thought they had to pray, emotionally and in earnest, every night to keep terrible things from happening.  If I've a "religion," it's love; works way better for me.

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As someone who's had two instances that could have easily resulted in death, I'm not really all that scared by it.

 

The first time was about 7 years ago. I was on a freeway going 70 and a deer jumped out. I decided to swerve to the right. The problem was that there was a gravel shoulder and I didn't know that. Sooo.. my car ended up sliding sideways on the shoulder (still at close to 70) and the edge of the guardrail was coming towards me. What was so weird is that I just thought "Wonderful" in a sarcastic way and crossed my arms and closed my eyes because of the impending airbag and broken glass. So I hear the initial smash and then this weird ca-crunch ca-crunch ca-crunch noise and a pop sound. I open my eyes wondering what the hell the sound was and I see the left and right side of the roof where the sun visors are moving with each ca-crunch noise. The car was flipping/rolling. What happened was that the edge of the guardrail hit behind the driver's side front tire and catapulted the car in the air and it spun airborne and then rolled on the ground. The car landed upright and I remembered to make sure it was off and I tried the driver's door and it wouldn't open. Next thing I know I'm outside the car. I know I got out the passenger side but have no memory of doing it. I was angry/pissed and noticed that I felt weird so I checked to make sure my arms and legs were OK. I noticed my head had a big bump on the top left side and realized that's what the pop sound was that I heard during the accident. I didn't feel it when it happened though. Luckily I was fine and got more than I paid for the car from insurance. No ticket and my insurance cost stayed what it had been too.

 

My second "could've died" experience was at my cottage about 4 years ago. I was on this huge party raft thing that some neighbors had and luckily hadn't had any alcohol. I had my inner tube raft partially on the side of the huge raft. All of the sudden some wind starts and starts blowing my raft. I decide to swim after it. THEN THE PROBLEMS START. It starts going faster. Then the problem is that the water is now 10 feet deep. I start getting tired. I try to stop and just tread water but I can't catch my breath and am too tired. NOW I HAVE TO GET TO THE RAFT. I keep swimming and tiring and the raft is going farther and then this horrifyingly peaceful thought comes across my mind to just stop. Realizing how bad that thought was I pretty much got an extreme sense of NOPE and pretty much felt like Big MAC here from the Dungeons and Discords episode.

 

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That somehow immediately made me swim harder. I made it to the raft and couldn't catch my breath for like 3 minutes. I had never been so exhausted in my life. I looked back towards shore and had to be at least 1/4 mile out. Not a good time.

 

Am I scared of death itself? Not really, but I'd rather stay alive. I definitely wouldn't want to burn to death, be smashed/squished to death, get radiation poisoning/exposure, get some horrible disease, or get eaten alive by a bear or something though.

Edited by Cirrus.
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I fear death. Mostly, I fear the moment of dying itself. I'm not too worried about what happens afterwards because I'm one of those people who gleefully warp quantum physics to say that I'll be back at some point. But what I fear far more than my own death is the death of the people I love most. If I die, that's that. I won't be stuck with the aftermath. But if my girlfriend were to die, that would hurt me for years to come.

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Do people fear death or do they fear dying a painful death? I'm sure most people will agree there's little to no reason to be afraid of death; it's going to happen. I think people who say they fear death actually mean they fear dying painfully or slowly, which is completely fair, I also wouldn't like to drown or be scorched to death. But the concept itself of dying; the end of living shouldn't be feared. Nothing happens. If you believe in an afterlife you can believe that you'll go to an afterlife. Or if you're atheist you can be content in knowing nothing happens. You won't know you're dead because you're dead. What's there to be afraid of? At that point you can't be afraid.

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Death shouldn't be something people should be worried about since it takes us all in the end. I think it's how people will act when they face death that scares some people and/or how they will die. I've already accepted the fact that I can die any day and I will accept it since I've already been faced with my own mortality on multiple occasions and wasn't afraid.

 

I've also accepted the fact I'll probably be dead before the age of 50. Lol!

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I have this condition. Just not being conscious one day scares me, but I'm actually more afraid of ending up alone with nothing to live for

It won't happen like that, you will know when you're about to die, but you have to realise that you won't be able to think anymore, nothing will exist, nor your past, present or your future self. Everything will dissapear, and that's nothing but good, trust me, you'll just stop caring and it won't be anywhere near as scary, it's just a reflex-thinking thingy I guess... Just think about it more. That's how it helps me out atleast :D

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It won't happen like that, you will know when you're about to die, but you have to realise that you won't be able to think anymore, nothing will exist, nor your past, present or your future self. Everything will dissapear, and that's nothing but good, trust me, you'll just stop caring and it won't be anywhere near as scary, it's just a reflex-thinking thingy I guess... Just think about it more. That's how it helps me out atleast :D

You're actually describing everything I fear about death. Thanks for trying though

Edited by bronislav84
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Death is inevitable and I've grown to accept that. I previously feared death, but as time goes on, you learn that it's going to happen sooner or later, so you may as well make the most of life before the end occurs.

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I have a child.  The thing about having a child is, it's strange how much your perspective on death subtly changes.  On one hand, you want to be around so that the child grows up safely, so you do more to avoid death in order to make sure that they will avoid death.  But in addition to that, it's also comforting to know that a part of you survives on in them, and their children, and so on.  It's like a strange form of immortality that I find is more comforting than actual immortality.

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You're actually describing everything I fear about death. Thanks for trying though

Sorry, the difference of the way someone thinks about certain things is sometimes so huge, I sometimes forget about it, my bad..

Edited by Guest
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It's not death itself, it's what's /after/ death that I'm fearful about, and frankly I don't know whas worse; nothingness, or that something else might happen...

Edited by 95-Wolf
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I am going to be honest. I do have a fear of death, but a painful death, and I want to die old. I don't want to die young and I want to live a long life, I want to die of old age and nothing else. I want to see myself have children, my grandchildren, and after a while, then die knowing that they are settled and my time has come. 

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I'm not afraid of death, I'm afraid of living. 

I mean this in a totally serious way. There's so much more that can happen, and sometimes it's hard in my mind to justify why it's worth finding out what it is. I don't really like surprises anymore. I've become a killjoy :\

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