Death: why is it feared?

ThinkProgress

Call Me Jimmy wrote: »

Feels like life is so tenuous, any breath could be the last. I don't even take breathing for granted. With no warning my body could just crap out. I'm so conscious of it recently, it's very hard to shake the feeling.

It's a good feeling. Should motivate you not to take any day for granted.

What's the point in fearing something you can't change? Embrace death and life as two parts of the same thing!

Stinicker

I don't fear death, never have or never will! Death is as natural as being born, I do try to avoid it, yet there has been many times I would have gladly welcomed it. I am just passing through this world and what we do here is totally irrelevent, our purpose in life I think is just simply to pro-create and once we have created the next generation then our job in this world is done. When death comes I will gladly greet him and go on to the next world if it exists. I have learned from many experiences is that the meaning of life is that it is essentially meaningless.

Call Me Jimmy

ThinkProgress wrote: »

It's a good feeling. Should motivate you not to take any day for granted.

What's the point in fearing something you can't change? Embrace death and life as two parts of the same thing!

Should but it doesn't. Opposite in fact, it feels so close all the time that I cant even commit to watching a film.

Hopefully I can have an insight and flip it.

DoYouEvenLift

There's nothing to fear in death. It's rational to fear the actual process of dying itself since that can be painful. But death is just you going back to not existing. A lot of people afraid of death are most likely fearful that they haven't lived as fulfilling a life as they possibly could have and it's too late for them to turn it around.

fizzypish

Not sure about death but this thread sure as **** gets resurrected regularly enough.

Strumms

The unknown... It's the one single thing in life we are all guaranteed yet nobody knows what's on the other side.... Of all the things in life out there someone has experienced it and can relate how it all goes down... Death... Nobody has a clue as nobody has lived to tell the tale... Could be deadly.. Could be... Meh... Guaranteed we will find out at some point.... Turned out nice this morning !

looksee

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I'm an atheist, no secret fear of death here, in fact right now at this age, early 40's, I have a healthy and open distaste for being dead.
Not because of anything metaphysical or spiritual, just because I haven't finished experiencing things yet, I haven't finished living my family yet, and once I'm dead I won't be and to do those things anymore.
Being dead means you are gone, what you have done up to that point is all that will remain, it is all that will mark me out as a good man or a bad man, a man who made a positive impact on those he knew, a man who damaged those he came in contact with or a man of no consequence whatsoever.
Being dead means no more learning, no more getting better, wiser, kinder.
So, with those things in mind why would I not fear death?

When I am 80 or 90 perhaps I will have a different opinion and welcome some respite from life's travails, but I may be just as reluctant to cease to be at that point too.

Your poll, therefore, is a little too proscribed, there should be more options than the one offered.
As it is there is nothing I can select I'm afraid.

^^^this, except that I have another 30 years(ish) on Ciderman, and yes, your attitudes do change, but still I agree with what he says.

tayto lover

Enjoy the flowers lads, you'll be long enough looking at the roots.

blinding

tayto lover wrote: »

Enjoy the flowers lads, you'll be long enough looking at the roots.

Good one, I will try to keep that in mind:):):)

pxdf9i5cmoavkz

After a series of mishaps, I found myself on the hospital bed when my one lung collapsed. I stood up to call the nurse at which point my other lung collapsed.

I was not afraid, I fell to the floor and I remember saying to myself, "Well, that's that, it's over." and then blacked out.

The nurse however was already on her way to check on me and actually heard me fall to the floor she was so close to walking into my room. Damnit!

anto9

Almost look forward to it .The ultemate travelling experience .;-)..As a beliver in reincarnation , i wonder where i will end up (this World or on another distant planet ) and as what ? human like or animal ,or even insect ?

realdanbreen

anto9 wrote: »

Almost look forward to it .The ultemate travelling experience .;-)..As a beliver in reincarnation , i wonder where i will end up (this World or on another distant planet ) and as what ? human like or animal ,or even insect ?

My moneys on insect ,ANTo.

fergiesfolly

tayto lover wrote: »

Enjoy the flowers lads, you'll be long enough looking at the roots.

Not me.
I'll be cremated:pac:

dont bother

I dont fear it. the fear of death stops you from truly living.

blinding

Sure it might be great !

Don't worry about it !

Nobody comes back complaining which is a good sign ! And you know that there are some moaners out there that would take some minding !

TomBtheGoat

As long as I don't suffer a slow, lingering death I'm not too bothered. If there's something after all this, then that's great. But if there's not, then I'll not know anyway so there's no point in worrying about it.

anto9

>>I dont fear death ,i just dont want to be there when it happens <<..Woody Allen said this i think ?

TerrorFirmer

It's a pretty horrible thought that someday, you, and everyone you know and love, will just...not be, gone forever.

Having said that my real fear isn't actually dying, it's dying young, before I've had a full life and experienced everything that I want to do.

I'm not religious but I'm fascinated by stories of near-death experiences, re-incarnation, and the like. It's nice to think that there could be something more than just eternal nothingness.

Sometimes over-thinking it just makes everything in life seem so utterly pointless.

anto9

realdanbreen wrote: »

My moneys on insect ,ANTo.

You know me ,or you just could not resist being nasty ?My money is on you being a Nasty Kunt .:D

Call Me Jimmy

He may have meant statistically most likely for you to be an insect when ye come back anto, due to numbers of them compared to other creatures.

Assuming he isn't counting bacteria etc as living

tayto lover

fergiesfolly wrote: »

Not me.
I'll be cremated:pac:

Ireland's heaviest man has just died.
His cremation is on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.:D

lanos

theteal wrote: »

(in fact, my issue with an illness like that would be when to actually make the trip to Switzerland?)

cliffs of moher.......beautiful place, closer and cheaper

jimgoose

The very asking of the question is, in my humble Kodiak Bear opinion, a sign of an unhealthy mind. It's feared because it involves being fcukan dead, already. Cheeses, Hairy, Moses the Shirt-Lifter!!

TheLastMohican

Heckler wrote: »

Frightens the hell out of me that you could literally drop dead at any given moment. Theres a video around of I think some indian politician and he gets a heart attack mid sentence and just collapses and dies.

A neighbour of mine at 47 was found dead sitting in front of his computer. Had a heart attack. Never saw it coming I'd say.

Yes, but the Thai teenager that was charging him £3.50 per minute did!

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

I fear other people dying, probably one of the only things I'm truly frightened about but I don't care about dying at all. As long as I check out on my own terms.

anto9

lanos wrote: »

cliffs of moher.......beautiful place, closer and cheaper

I dont think cheaper matters for a lot of mainly elderly people at that stage .Also jumping from Cliffs leaves a very messy corpse for your family to clean up and bury .

anto9

Call Me Jimmy wrote: »

He may have meant statistically most likely for you to be an insect when ye come back anto, due to numbers of them compared to other creatures.

Assuming he isn't counting bacteria etc as living

Good call mate ,but hopefully we move upward not downward,but nothing is guaranteed .lol

Medusa22

I'm not really afraid of the way I'm going to die or if it will be painful, that doesn't concern me very much. Of course I'd rather not burn to death or be murdered. I don't want to die yet because I haven't finished learning and experiencing, I feel like I am developing and learning all the time, I'm not the person I was ten years ago and that will change again in the next ten years. I know that when I die it doesn't really matter if there is an afterlife or if there is nothing, because I'll be dead and I won't be aware of it anyway. I'd like to think that there is an afterlife, because I find it comforting, but if I'm honest, I doubt that there is. I just don't like the idea of leaving people behind who will be hurt, and of no longer existing, being forgotten.

Talib Fiasco

Why I think we fear death is because as humans, we are never truly satisfied. We always want more. Very few people are content with everything in their life and we are always trying to.improve and advance. To not want that implies you are not a human. Of course most people make peace with their imminent death and by then most people will have achieved the main things they set out to do, have kids, get married, have a good job, earn a good living to support your family, travel, have a hobby etc. But there are always things we'd like to achieve if we had more time...they are always going to exist. I am one of those people that tends to be self critical which has pros and cons and even if I live to 100 and have the most satisfying and interesting life of all time, I'll still want more and therefore still fear death...

Im tripping balls...going to bed at 8am has me ruined

Yakult

My only fear is dying alone. That is not what I want to happen.
But death itself is not something I fear terribly. It happens every second and it will happen to you and me. Just be glad we got to experience this crazy place called earth.