Poll: Are you afraid of Death ?
- Thread starter krazykidd
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It took a long-assed time, with loads of thinking and introspection... but I can finally say: no*.
* This of course is a qualifier. I've decided I don't want to live forever. I'm too curious about being dead to want to never experience it. That said, I know I need to be in the right state of mind when I die, otherwise I will not want it to happen. At my current age, it's basically impossible for me to achieve that state of mind. I need to be truly content with what I've achieved in life. One can always do more, but at some point, you can probably sit back and say "yeah, good enough... I suppose I can die now". There's no way I can achieve that state now, but I know I will some day.
So, that all basically means that I've made peace with the fact that I will die some day. But, I really don't want it to be soon.
I'm really glad I took the time to arrive at this understanding, though. It's sort of "conventional wisdom"... The kind of thing a lot of people regurgitate when confronted with such a question, but never truly understand and internalize. Having gone through that process, I feel like I'm particularly secure with the conclusions I've arrived at.
Edit: To add perspective, I fear the death of a loved one like 5 billion times more than I fear my own death.
* This of course is a qualifier. I've decided I don't want to live forever. I'm too curious about being dead to want to never experience it. That said, I know I need to be in the right state of mind when I die, otherwise I will not want it to happen. At my current age, it's basically impossible for me to achieve that state of mind. I need to be truly content with what I've achieved in life. One can always do more, but at some point, you can probably sit back and say "yeah, good enough... I suppose I can die now". There's no way I can achieve that state now, but I know I will some day.
So, that all basically means that I've made peace with the fact that I will die some day. But, I really don't want it to be soon.
I'm really glad I took the time to arrive at this understanding, though. It's sort of "conventional wisdom"... The kind of thing a lot of people regurgitate when confronted with such a question, but never truly understand and internalize. Having gone through that process, I feel like I'm particularly secure with the conclusions I've arrived at.
Edit: To add perspective, I fear the death of a loved one like 5 billion times more than I fear my own death.
I don't fear death, and I feel that even though my potential may not be met before my death, what will happen will happen and there is little I can do to prevent it. I actually had a conversation with a friend today about this - I had gone biking about 20 miles yesterday, and she asked me if I wore a helmet. I say no, she says shame on me, I ask why, she reminds me of this girl from our school that died recently when she got slammed into by a car while riding her bicycle. My friend says that the girl who died didn't wear a helmet, I contend that it probably would not have saved her life. In addition, death is a random thing - I reminded her that just over two years ago, my mentor and a girl we both knew well died completely randomly from meningitis, and there was nothing that could be done in that instance.
What will happen will happen and I may not embrace it, but I won't fear it. It will come when it feels like it, no point in wondering when that will be.
What will happen will happen and I may not embrace it, but I won't fear it. It will come when it feels like it, no point in wondering when that will be.
Half of the people that voted in this poll are fucking liars. Fear of death is one of the most basic instincts of a living creature. If you aren't afraid of death, there's either something wrong with your brain, or you are currently dying and you know there's nothing you can do about it.
To be quite honest, I wish I could say I was. I'd feel alot more in touch with my 'human' (moral) side if I was, but I just can't convince myself to fear the reapers blade. As Alen Seger said in his poem long ago,
"But I?ve a rendezvous with Death
At midnight in some flaming town,
When Spring trips north again this year,
And I to my pledged word am true,
I shall not fail that rendezvous. "
"But I?ve a rendezvous with Death
At midnight in some flaming town,
When Spring trips north again this year,
And I to my pledged word am true,
I shall not fail that rendezvous. "
Yes and no.
Faced with the idea of dying I would fear.
Faced with the idea of being dead, I would not.
"If ignorance is bliss, oblivion is ecstacy." -Me.
So I fear death, but I don't fear death, if that makes sense.
Because you specified the manner as a non-factor I'll say that means that I do not fear it myself.
But beyond that there is another factor...
I'm terrified of the look on my parents faces when they outlive their firstborn.
I fear every time one of my friends plays a game and thinks of a time I was there with them.
I fear how it could effect any of my siblings growing up.
So yeah, I'm pretty damn afraid of being gone.
Overall I'll vote yes.
Faced with the idea of dying I would fear.
Faced with the idea of being dead, I would not.
I am at peace, it sounds like a good place.OverweightWhale said:
"If ignorance is bliss, oblivion is ecstacy." -Me.
So I fear death, but I don't fear death, if that makes sense.
Because you specified the manner as a non-factor I'll say that means that I do not fear it myself.
But beyond that there is another factor...
I'm terrified of the look on my parents faces when they outlive their firstborn.
I fear every time one of my friends plays a game and thinks of a time I was there with them.
I fear how it could effect any of my siblings growing up.
So yeah, I'm pretty damn afraid of being gone.
Overall I'll vote yes.
Yes, very much so.
The thought of my consciousness literally ceasing to excist is very frightening to me.
Though aging also sort of scares me - I don't want to become physically and/or mentally less than I am now(though thankfully, we've discovered what causes aging, and by the time aging will actually be an issue for me, age-wise, it's probable that aging itself would be cured), however that shouldn't become a problem before I'm 80-90 in my case(when looking at family history, diseases, average life span, et cetera).
Back to my original point - the thought of literally ceasing to excist. A sleep in the dark would be great if I'd sort of remain in existance, however that's simply not possible.
When one dies, their consciousness, their whole self literally ceases to exist. Just gone.
Now while I do get that when I am dead, I won't care, 'cause I wouldn't be able to, the thought of getting there, feeling my life slipping away(for whatever reason - a painless and relatively quick death or a slow painful death, doesn't matter in this case)... scary.
I don't like thinking about it, but this isn't the first debate over it I've participated in. These subjects just seem to crop up at random.. heh.
The thought of my consciousness literally ceasing to excist is very frightening to me.
Though aging also sort of scares me - I don't want to become physically and/or mentally less than I am now(though thankfully, we've discovered what causes aging, and by the time aging will actually be an issue for me, age-wise, it's probable that aging itself would be cured), however that shouldn't become a problem before I'm 80-90 in my case(when looking at family history, diseases, average life span, et cetera).
Back to my original point - the thought of literally ceasing to excist. A sleep in the dark would be great if I'd sort of remain in existance, however that's simply not possible.
When one dies, their consciousness, their whole self literally ceases to exist. Just gone.
Now while I do get that when I am dead, I won't care, 'cause I wouldn't be able to, the thought of getting there, feeling my life slipping away(for whatever reason - a painless and relatively quick death or a slow painful death, doesn't matter in this case)... scary.
I don't like thinking about it, but this isn't the first debate over it I've participated in. These subjects just seem to crop up at random.. heh.
As others have said, it's not the actual death part that get me a bit troubled but what comes after.
It's like, in the end, will it just be black for all eternity? Or will you not even know you're dead, with consciousness just turned off like a switch? Would you ever "wake up" into a new body, having a new conscious mind naturally made through time with no previous memory? Am I just a combination of other people's conscious, with nature naturally creating new life from the dead?
It's fascinating, and also a bit unsettling at times. I've had a brush with death once before with someone close to me. Just the fact that something can just be *poof* gone makes me sort of dislike how frivolous modern media treats life, with thousands of mooks being mowed down, just ending.
But I don't really think about it. I've got more than enough things to worry about than the end. I ain't leaving this world until I do what I need to do.
It's like, in the end, will it just be black for all eternity? Or will you not even know you're dead, with consciousness just turned off like a switch? Would you ever "wake up" into a new body, having a new conscious mind naturally made through time with no previous memory? Am I just a combination of other people's conscious, with nature naturally creating new life from the dead?
It's fascinating, and also a bit unsettling at times. I've had a brush with death once before with someone close to me. Just the fact that something can just be *poof* gone makes me sort of dislike how frivolous modern media treats life, with thousands of mooks being mowed down, just ending.
But I don't really think about it. I've got more than enough things to worry about than the end. I ain't leaving this world until I do what I need to do.
i'm not afraid of death, i'm afraid of dying...
as in... it'd suck to have to suffer through the drowning/crushing/burning, etc, but once i'm there, meh? either there's nothing and i won't be able to regret anything, or there's something and it's presumably better than here anyway (even if it isn't, the eternity you spend there would make the brief instant you were alive particularly irrelevant)...
whichever way it turns out, i'm set
as in... it'd suck to have to suffer through the drowning/crushing/burning, etc, but once i'm there, meh? either there's nothing and i won't be able to regret anything, or there's something and it's presumably better than here anyway (even if it isn't, the eternity you spend there would make the brief instant you were alive particularly irrelevant)...
whichever way it turns out, i'm set
