Are you afraid of Death?

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Since the question is are YOU afraid of death I shall answer for myself rather than other people.

Emotionally I think I am afraid. I feel that it fear is a survival instinct that makes you afraid to die otherwise whats the purpose of fear?.

Logically I understand that the mass that composes me in theory will never be lost (conservation of mass) so eventually that mass may be used to create other living things (reincarnation?). Using this it is also possible to conclude that if time is infinite then it is possible that the mass that composed me could be put together in a way it would biologically be the same as me, but then the question of soul/memories/individuality come into play...but after much thought like "if there are two exact copies of a person and one dies from a third person standpoint they are the same person but from the individual they are different" I decided in the belief of the existence of a soul or something that makes you different from a clone.

So logically considering this belief I would say I fear death because I don't think I am quite sure of the implications of the soul and its interaction with the universe, but even if I did know depending on what it was I might still fear it anyways.

Side/note. Its pretty hard to write about life and death when you have these adds with boobs flying around right below you...(yes I suppose I should have written this on a word doc)
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Since once (or twice) i was too young and too stupid i met death ... the thing that brought me in despair was not death itself but the thought i will be forgotten since i never left my mark anywhere .
After all those years passed 2 things changed i am not so young anymore :P and i hope not so stupid -_-' but at least now i do not fear that i will be forgotten..
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Afraid of death? no, However I do fear aging.
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I do not fear death in the slightest. I fear pain, but that's different.
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I fear eternal nothingness, it's a hard concept to get your head around, not existing, and kind of freaked me out when I thought about it really hard once. I'm not sure I fear death itself, more like I fear non-existence which one could believe is a consequence of death.
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I am not afraid of death, it is enivetable and will find me when it feels it is time, I will most like come to fear it when it does come but I do not worry about it. I have better things to do. "When your numbers up..." -unknown
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Sir Chameleon wrote...
Afraid of death? no, However I do fear aging.


So you want to die young? What is wrong with aging?
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TheRedHat wrote...

Emotionally I think I am afraid. I feel that it fear is a survival instinct that makes you afraid to die otherwise whats the purpose of fear?.


"Fight or flight" That is the purpose of fear. Fear heightens the senses and produces adrenaline. Which in turn increases our speed and strength. The adrenal gland distributes adrenaline throughout your whole body which helps you decide in that split second what to do in the situation from the feral instinct of self preservation.

epik5 wrote...
Sir Chameleon wrote...
Afraid of death? no, However I do fear aging.


So you want to die young? What is wrong with aging?


Your strength becomes scrawny, your eyesight becomes frail, your movements become feeble and you go to sleep every night wondering if you'll wake up the next day. You basically become useless where your only redeeming factor would be the ability to talk, but that is not always assured.

This are all however assumptions, general observations, and from what experienced individuals tell me.

As for the question in hand; whenever I think of death I fear it, but when the event actually draws close I drop that mentality. I suppose when the event is about to happen, there really is nothing you can do. Yesterday I was in a convention in a mall. Suddenly there was a shooting inside the mall and we were locked inside the convention area. Being that close to danger gave me a surreal feeling of... well "being alive". I'v tried different activities before that I thought could simulate the feeling but nothing could compare to the actual danger for your life. It felt really exciting and nerve wrecking honestly.

Maybe it's because I live a pretty boring life and I just want to look for excitement. Then again something might be wrong with me.
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As disturbing as it sounds, I´m used to death. Living in a country where people are killed without sence every day, authorities stealing money from the state, and terrify gangs called "Maras" controling each person life, makes you think life has no meaning or reason. And if I don´t care about my own life because of that, how could I care about death?

I see death as the only sure thing in life, and as sad as it sounds, we should be thankfull we are going to die someday (because we should be happy about having something for sure in life).

I hope someone else can understand this too.
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The †˜fear’ of death, or more specifically, the fear of not existing had been something that strikes intense fear in me. I mean to say, when you think about how short our pasts seem, no matter how old, “it feels like yesterday”. So when thinking of laying on my death bed contemplating where my life has gone, or what the purpose of my existence is/was/will be… I tend to think of what would make me feel content, and there is nothing. Nothing of life as I know it, jobs/family/children, can fill the void of non-existence. Not to say I don’t take joy in these things, they are just not me.

What we know of who we are, as the buddhists might say, is all impermanent make-believe. Stories of grandeur and failure are meaningless compared to our own existence. Or at least, my own existence, because for me, it is highly valued as the only perception I have… In contrast to non-existence, I try to imagine a heaven where all is perfection. I think about how I treasure my own faults as mine, so to become this †˜perfection’ seems as much like †˜me’ as non-existence.

In conclusion, I am not scared of non-existence as much as no longer enjoying perception and experience. This has recently pointed me toward Buddhism, a way to try to explain the atheist ideal of non-existence after death, but put a purpose or meaning to it. Over time I've decided to spend the least amount of time trying to hold on, or remember life, and just experience it without the need to narrate my own life/memories.
The fear of death is kind of useless in my opinion. Because death is the only thing you can go through without experiencing it;) You cannot live if you constantly fear death. When you came into the world, you came with the condition that you will have to die eventually. Humans fear things because they think ' what IF that happens'... there is no IF when it comes to death because you HAVE TO go through it. Why fear somethign that you know is going to happen? Its the same as thinking why invest in somethign that you know is going to crash
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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.”
- Mark Twain    


Non-existence is hard to contemplate. No, actually, impossible to contemplate. I am not capable of perceiving a universe in which I do not have a means to perceive it. I'm a bit scared to die, yes, but I take solace, not fear, from the fact that I will feel nothing from it. It's kinda beautiful, I think - no matter how you live your life, the end result is the same: nothing. There's no way to live forever, no way to leave any meaningful mark on the universe, and certainly no way to appreciate it if you could make yourself known forevermore. With your life ends your ability to understand the universe. Even though it'll keep right on existing without you, you'll never be aware of it again. When you die, it's not like you're going to be left to think on your actions, it'll be like they never happened.
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If when contemplated with death I knew it would be for a good cause, I wouldn't be afraid, on the contrary, I'd gladly give my life.
Otherwise, I'd be scared shitless.
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Not really, i kinda fucked up my future by doing the "live life for today" thing for the past 7 years. I do fear the moments before, and the effect of my death on those around me. Mostly my gf.
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Well seeing as I'm athiest I don't believe anything comes after death unless substantial and logical proof proves me otherwise. As for actually dying I think all humans are scared to some extent, myself included. I don't know how scared I may be of death but I do hope that my death would at least be pain-free and quick
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Let's say I open up my arms for death. You can almost understand why.
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Being an atheist as well I think death is just death so there's no reason to fear it. Like Hitchens says "You won't know you're dead". So, I like to think I don't fear death but I don't know what I would think it "it creeped" up on me. Right now, I'll say that I don't fear death but I fear dying painfully.
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I dont fear death. Ill accept it if there's no other way.Im actually intrigued by it.
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Well no , actually I am kinda excited to go to my place back (no psycho tho) [ I believe in Santana dharma ( it's not Hindu ) and Vedas ] but I think I will die .... Umm maybe around 100-500 years }who knows( i do yoga everyday @4:30 am {anyone knows swami ramdev will understand :)
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Very much so... So much so it can torment me if I think too much about...

There is a lot I want to do, a lot I want to experience, a lot I want to see.
I want to know if humans ever discover and establish contact with other humans.
I want to know what was before the big bang (heard string theory hit a bust).
I want to see the puzzles of the universe completed, but before that study them... physics, quantum physics, astrology.
I want to know is space travel will be able to bear fruit (and play around as a space pirate/outlaw similar to Tenchi/Outlaw Star, for awhile).
I want to know how every inch of the brain works.
I want to know if we every find means to reproduce body parts through cloning or other means, or do we switch to prosthetic's similar to Ghost in the Shell.
I want to read all the great literature in the world, which is difficult since I have a hard time sitting down and ignoring my electronics. As well any new literature to come.
I want to see whats the best each culture at this time can produce, what will they be able to produce in the future.
I want to know what path society will choose, what scientific approach will ultimately be chosen.
I want to know will media continue on a downwards approach towards entertainment or will it change, and how.
I want to know how music will change, what new genre's and sounds will exist 50 years from now, a 100. What will be the meaning behind them, what will the focus be.
I want to know how social interactions will change.
I want to know how societies in general will change.

umm... oppps... point was, I want to know near most everything involving everything within my scope of knowledge and everything a few levels above those. My life, if I had enough money and free time to dedicate myself to them all, could never cover all the ones within my lifetime. It depresses me, that a lot of scientific advancements that I'm interested in will never be seen. So many things in life that are worth while and interesting, mainly people. I want to meet and know every person I can find interesting. I find my mortality to be a depressing "possibility".
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bakapink wrote...
Very much so... So much so it can torment me if I think too much about...

There is a lot I want to do, a lot I want to experience, a lot I want to see.
I want to know if humans ever discover and establish contact with other humans.
I want to know what was before the big bang (heard string theory hit a bust).
I want to see the puzzles of the universe completed, but before that study them... physics, quantum physics, astrology.
I want to know is space travel will be able to bear fruit (and play around as a space pirate/outlaw similar to Tenchi/Outlaw Star, for awhile).
I want to know how every inch of the brain works.
I want to know if we every find means to reproduce body parts through cloning or other means, or do we switch to prosthetic's similar to Ghost in the Shell.
I want to read all the great literature in the world, which is difficult since I have a hard time sitting down and ignoring my electronics. As well any new literature to come.
I want to see whats the best each culture at this time can produce, what will they be able to produce in the future.
I want to know what path society will choose, what scientific approach will ultimately be chosen.
I want to know will media continue on a downwards approach towards entertainment or will it change, and how.
I want to know how music will change, what new genre's and sounds will exist 50 years from now, a 100. What will be the meaning behind them, what will the focus be.
I want to know how social interactions will change.
I want to know how societies in general will change.

umm... oppps... point was, I want to know near most everything involving everything within my scope of knowledge and everything a few levels above those. My life, if I had enough money and free time to dedicate myself to them all, could never cover all the ones within my lifetime. It depresses me, that a lot of scientific advancements that I'm interested in will never be seen. So many things in life that are worth while and interesting, mainly people. I want to meet and know every person I can find interesting. I find my mortality to be a depressing "possibility".


Easy way (and true way ) learn sanskrit then read all 4 Vedas :)