ever feel stressed about death?

[SturmDolch]

I'm more stressed about life up until death.

Let's look at it this way. By the time I'm done school, I'll be 22-23. I'll most likely have a kid before I'm 30. Then maybe another. Say the kid stays with me that long, too. That means I'll be taking care of a kid till I'm 60. Now I'm too old to do anything fun anymore.

Plus, consider that I'll be working throughout. I won't have free time until I retire, and then I might go senile or get dementia! That's freaking scary.

 

[Gaz6231]

Wow, another thread full of Christmas cheer and jollity.

Death is an inevitability, and fearing the inevitable is pointless.

 

[[.redacted]]

We say that life is important - that's the point. We say whether anything is important.

Of course the most meaningful thing possible is going to be meaning itself. That's the logical conclusion, not something arbitrary. I didn't say consciousness was inherently "signficant" by your definition, but it is a prerequisite for meaning's existence. The relations consciousness creates within the world allow us to grasp the idea of significance. If the universe loses it's meaning to us, and we're the only ones that can comprehend meaning, what is left?

Why does everything have to be measured in physical change? What does that matter? Do you want to rewrite the laws of the universe? What would that prove? What is so important about "change"?

This is where the whole conversation loops back round to the original question:

It doesn't matter whether or not we attach arbitrary significance to the 'meaning' we give things, or indeed whether we physically change something.

The real root of the insignificance of the human being lies in the fact that, as far as we know, there is no ultimate goal by which to judge our relative worth. We have made them all up, and when we're gone, so are they.

Life is purely for us to make our own gaols, succeed or fail, and then die. I cannot see the meaning, and hence significance, behind any of that.

Who says we can't have an ultimate goal? Maybe we just haven't discovered it yet - or maybe we'll set it ourselves (which doesn't necessarily make it arbitrary). Furthermore, why must we have a specific goal to have worth?

If you need others to give your life significance, we have every other human being that will ever live, and possibly sentient alien life. As long as one sentient being lives, our lives are potentially significant. Again, if we all suddenly cease to be, that would indeed bring us to meaninglessness, but before that - we can give significance to ourselves by relating to the world and eachother in myriad ways.

Those are still all goals we have made ourselves, not an overriding goal.

If we have yet to discover one (which we have, if one even exists), the same sentiment I suggested earlier still applies in full.

 

[TWRule]

Those are still all goals we have made ourselves, not an overriding goal.

If we have yet to discover one (which we have, if one even exists), the same sentiment I suggested earlier still applies in full.

But what does that mean to have an "overriding" goal. A goal is an intention, in other words a structure of consciousness - so without sentient life, there is no such thing as a goal.

If you are referring to a purpose, like a function we must serve; that presupposes that we were designed for a specific purpose, which means we had to be designed by someone or something: essentially a God. If you don't believe in some sort of intelligent creator, it seems inconsistent to believe that we have a pre-defined purpose that we don't chose for ourselves.

 

[baddude1337]

I fear dying a horrible agonizing death, but I am more curious about death than I am afriad. I really want to know what happens when you do. Do you just see nothing? Everything is black and silent?

 

[lolmanxe]

i think ill be able to stall death by being a brain donor. hopefully ill get a girl body.

 

[[.redacted]]

Those are still all goals we have made ourselves, not an overriding goal.

If we have yet to discover one (which we have, if one even exists), the same sentiment I suggested earlier still applies in full.

But what does that mean to have an "overriding" goal. A goal is an intention, in other words a structure of consciousness - so without sentient life, there is no such thing as a goal.

If you are referring to a purpose, like a function we must serve; that presupposes that we were designed for a specific purpose, which means we had to be designed by someone or something: essentially a God. If you don't believe in some sort of intelligent creator, it seems inconsistent to believe that we have a pre-defined purpose that we don't chose for ourselves.

I'm saying that exactly the lack of such a predefined purpose is what makes our lives so meaningless, we have nothing to achieve that isn't of our own creation.

It's just depressing.

 

[DanielBrown]

Not really, I'm more at the side of embracing death rather than not fearing it. Though while I'm still around I might aswell play lots and lots of video games!
When my time arrives I'll probably change my mind and get scared shitless.

 

[DemonicVixen]

Sometimes I fear death. I dont want to leave the ones I love. I dont want to think what might happen to my animals when there is no-one to take care of them.

I can cry myself to sleep everynight, or burst into tears randomly if i think about it enough.

However, there are times when I do not fear death. Usually these are times of great depression when i feel death is so much better. But i end up getting turned away from this idea.

 

[Instinct Blues]

Dying doesn't really scare me that much because I'm young and don't expect to meet my own end for many years. On the other not accomplishing all I want to before I meet my maker is what scares me.

 

[Blue_vision]

As long as you're faithful to your religion you don't have to fear death.

No.

I agree that it may be way of coping with the fear of death, and that it may be effective at that job - but religion should never utilise the tactic of telling people that they're screwed if they don't believe.

That's just wrong.

First argument in this general topic that I agree with. Between people saying that you'll go to hell if you don't believe in the faith of the day, and those saying that faith is bullshit, it's hard to state a middle ground. This is mine: faith's a fine thing to have, but it should be something personal that you don't force on to others. So can we end the stupid religion debate and get on with our lives.

And I wouldn't say I feel stressed about death. I would lie awake every night when I was about 12 or so, but I think I've gotten used to the fact/figured out my own personal faith/philosphy.

 

[bl4ckh4wk64]

I don't necessarily fear a peaceful death or even an accidental one. The death that I fear would be one that I know is coming. Then again, I'm kind of apathetic towards everything nowadays and I see death as a way of escaping the whole "I'm going to do nothing with my life" thing.

Actually I've sort of always embraced death. When I was a kid I always dreamed of dying for my country or giving my life to help/save a fellow soldier.

 

[emeraldrafael]

I'm not exactly scared of death. I'm afraid of whats after that (if anything, but I'm religious to some degree, so I like to think there is dont hate on it), and if I'd have time to have my affairs handled, but other then that, not really. I've seen a good number of friends die recently (past 3-5 years), that I've just come to terms with it.

Besides, I dnt exactly live the safe lifestyle, so it wouldnt really surprise me or any of my close friends if we died tomorrow doing something stupid/caught in a bad situation.

 

[Deacon Cole]

What is death like?

What was it like before you were born?

It's exactly like that.

 

[RamirezDoEverything]

While i may not fear death, I know it's coming, so I will not stress myself over it

 

[templargunman]

I don't really worry about death, I'm not looking forward to it, obviously, but at the same time, I don't really worry about dying. I mean, once it happens it's not like I'm going to remember it or anything. Oh yeah, I'm an atheist, so if that matters at all, it's out there.

 

[TWRule]

Those are still all goals we have made ourselves, not an overriding goal.

If we have yet to discover one (which we have, if one even exists), the same sentiment I suggested earlier still applies in full.

But what does that mean to have an "overriding" goal. A goal is an intention, in other words a structure of consciousness - so without sentient life, there is no such thing as a goal.

If you are referring to a purpose, like a function we must serve; that presupposes that we were designed for a specific purpose, which means we had to be designed by someone or something: essentially a God. If you don't believe in some sort of intelligent creator, it seems inconsistent to believe that we have a pre-defined purpose that we don't chose for ourselves.

I'm saying that exactly the lack of such a predefined purpose is what makes our lives so meaningless, we have nothing to achieve that isn't of our own creation.

It's just depressing.

But why is that so? What would remedy that situation? If you ask "what is the point"? Then you have to keep asking it on broader and broader levels ad infinitum. What if there was some "greater design"? What would the point of THAT be, then? And the point of it's point and so on? Is it even possible to ever arrive at an end?

Why do we have to be externally important in addition to interally? If we must take ourselves seriously for whatever reason, isn't it possible that life is not meaningless, but rather absurd?

 

[the rye]

I'm more scared of the idea of a long miserable life. Death doesn't seem all that scary, it even seems somewhat relaxing,immortality scares me more. Life is intresting but it gets boring and wears out the spirit. If i have a good run then death wont be all that bad.

 

[My name is Fiction]

Nah, when I nearly died I didn't really care, even after the fact.

Life is stressful, death is pretty easy.

I almost died too, in a car crash/ Dying is easy, living is hard.

 

[Phlakes]

I only feel stressed about the chance that there's no afterlife.

EDIT: Let me clarify. I am SO FUCKING TERRIFIED about the chance that there's no afterlife. That when you die, you just don't exist anymore and everything you've ever done means nothing because you just don't exist. And you won't be worrying about it at the time, but when you're dead there's no meaning to anything. Because nothing exists to you anymore. I hate that so much. I've had many nervous breakdowns thinking about this.