Do you ever consider your own mortality?

Specky

I remember a few years ago I had been reading about some of the work researchers were currently doing on space travel and how they saw it being applied in the future.

The more I read the more disappointed I felt that I probably wouldn't live to see many of these things actually happen. It was like a sudden realisation that the future is an incredibly big thing and I'm not going to be a part of most of it.

Yesterday's shuttle tragedy and the talk of delays in the space programme broght this all back to me. The space programme slows down but my life doesn't so I'm potentially being denied a glimpse into the future.

Now, I can sort of rationalise my way around these ideas, I can look at the richness and wonder of the world around me and strive to live every day to the full, but still I feel the pangs of loss for the future that is beyond my reach.

How do other people view their mortality?

How do people come to terms with the inevitability of a limited lifespan?

mike65

Big question!

Speaking personally, my death and when it might occure rarely crosses my mind, like most I suspect.

Its not something to ponder for ones own sanity otherwise you end up a
"miserablist" frowning as you know most of the future won't be yours.

Its only been when events occure I briefly consider morality like when my father died. My sisters imminent
motherhood has prompted the occasional thought in this area.

Mike.

DeVore

wow I think about this all the time... at first it used to drive me into fierce depression. I mean, really spiral-downwards stuff (when I was in my early 20's). Lately, having to face the fact that my father isnt getting any younger and thoughts like "if he doesnt go this year, it'll probably be next year" etc... have made me face the cruelty of a 70 year lifespan.

Eventually I've come to terms with it and have started to live as much as I can in the here and now and I look back on the tapestry my life is creating as I meander through it!

I dunno about an afterlife or anything, I'm gonna presume not and take it as a BIG FNCKING RELIEF if there is one

DeV.

Specky

I absolutely agree there Mike, please don't think I'm a miserablist!

Just a memory was triggered by something I read on the space shuttle thread from several years ago (actually it was probably about 10 years ago now...). I grew up in the space race era, I saw Niel Armstrong taking his small step, I built the Saturn 5 Airfix kit, and I looked at the stars and wished I could be part of all that they held for the future.

It's almost nostalgia in reverse I suppose, a wish to see whether the future is going to be anything like you would like it to be...

It begins to get to you more the older you get.



(For anyone who is feeling a little miserable, take a look at this. It'll sort you right out.....or push you over the edge...one or the other...)

http://home.attbi.com/~dwedit/flash/jamezbond.html

Gordon

It does make me sad that I may not get to walk on the moon or see ultra cool techy stuff in the future but at the end of the day - if there is something that you really really want to see happen you should make it your life goal to help make that happen. If you are not a part of it then you cannot have any sadness for not seeing it happen.

As for dying soon, ye it's going to happen, ah well. The end of one thing is the start of another, and all that is in between.

Cheez

I think it may have something to do with a nagging
want for more than we have some of the time
blocking out that we're here and we should
respect it with the wonder we're given
sure there could be loads a cool stuff
with clones and flying cars and stuff in the
future etc and i agree with gordon on
the seeing through to ur goals
staying positive and embracing the random
life is "wonder"full

/end stinking the place out with cheese

Offy

Theres only two things in life that I take for granted:
1) Time will always move foward
2) Some day I'm going to die.
I dont think about either I just accept them.

Drazhar

like offy said, the only thing for certain in life, is death. So what, move on, thats the way i see it. Its gonna happen, so what, its what you do between now and then that counts.

Typedef

Being an athiest, I do try not to fatalistically look at the world and realise exactly how ultimately insignificant and futile my existance will turn out to be, in the grand scheme of things.

I mean, what are we really.... humans that is? Just these things on a rock orbiting a star in a Galaxy, with 'reasons' and vicissitudes of existance governing our lives and little real thought to how, microscopic and insignificant human's squabbels are, in terms of the universe.

Is there any point to life? No, I don't think life has a point, I think it is simply randomness, a quirk arising from the laws of quantum mechanics, I don't believe in god, and even if I did.... where did god come from?

To explain away the universe with a god, doesn't explain the god, to begin with and being a creature of logic, I don't just 'accept' some hand wavy excuse for what all this.... reality (whatever that is) is.

Enough, contemplation of the universe or my place in it, is an inevaluable proposition of logic.

BuffyBot

My (and I'll admit, it is a simplisitic one) take on this is that I am mortal. I'm not afraid of dying, because it is going to happen, so why be afraid.

As such, I'm here, right now, and just have to make the best of what I have got. Therefore I choose to live my life as I wish, and when my time comes, my time comes. All I can do with my life is live it as I see fit. It's mine, and I'll only have it once

Sangre

Yeah the only time I think about death is when I wonder what the far future will hold, I betcha its a killer for trekkies.

Id love to walk on the moon, or be around for the first signs of aliens even if its just bacteria..

I can only dream though

Moriarty

Funny, i had a pretty deep discussion about existance as a whole on irc last night

The way i look at it, there will always be something in the future that somone would really like to see/experience, no matter what century you live in. Somone in the 10th century may have longed to see what the earth looked like from above - we take it for granted today because of planes and satallites.

Theres a number id like to see..

• A world government (in the UN style) where individual states are a thing of the past; where the advancement of science and human knowledge was at the forefront of objectives.
  
• The conquering of disease and infection, and the universal availability of 'world class' (for want of a better term) medical and educational institutions that dont have social class as a pre-requisite to admitance.
  
• Deep space manned exploration along with numerous off-world colonys.
  
• The first "first contact" with a sentient alien race.

They certainly arent the only things, but its a quick list. Im pretty certain i wont see more than 2 of any of those 4 in my life time. More than likely, i wont be around for any of them. That doesnt really bother me though; i am almost as happy for my kids, or my kids kids to see those things happen instead of me being able to witness the events. The satisfaction of seeing them completed isnt as much the actual event, as the journey towards them and what is learnt on the way.

Beruthiel

I've thought about this more than once!
last time I thought about it was two months back when I came off my motorbike and blacked out for a couple of seconds. I thought to myself that if I had died then that would have been ok as it happened so fast I would have felt nothing!
I'm not afraid of dying as my life has been good on the whole, but I do not want a long, drawn out painful death, I fear that the most.
Typie put it quite nicely, we are just little specks, here for a micro second of the universe, make the most of it, try to be happy and don't keep putting stuff of that you really want to do.
I believe that after it's over, we're just worm food.

BKtje

I do, especially when i wonder what ill miss and what cool stuff i'd love to see. Then i realise theres loads of cool stuff around today and im just happy i didnt live 80 yrs ago when there was no tv etc . Even films from the early 80's i cant enjoy as they just look so awful Guess im spoilt

I too dont see much point in worrying about death, when it happens it happens no point in worrying about somethign you have very little control over.

sceptre

Getting old and dying (not necessarily in that order) doesn't really depress me. What might depress me is what Specky mentioned in his post - missing out on achievements and advances that I'll never see.

Kell

I dont really think about it too much. I take a huge amount of pleasure in watching the world around me, particularly nature. Humans are cruel, selfish and destructive that have very little regard for the cyclical nature of life and the effect that they can have on it, so the idea of missing out on our future "achievements" is something that I can live with.

In relation to what I would like to see in the world, I'd personally have the following with a cup of tea and a large chocolate hob nob:

Abolition of money
A greater sense of unity between man and nature
Less focus on work and more on play
Meeting sentient beings that dont want to kill us or that we want to experiment with or kill

We're here to have fun- plain and simple. Thats my point of view anyway.

DadaKopf

I think of mortality every time I meat me some meat!

Originally posted by Kell
I dont really think about it too much. I take a huge amount of pleasure in watching the world around me, particularly nature. Humans are cruel, selfish and destructive that have very little regard for the cyclical nature of life and the effect that they can have on it, so the idea of missing out on our future "achievements" is something that I can live with.

I hear ya. The good news is that this isn't the way it has to be. Plenty of civilisations have arisen through the course of history that view life as cyclical (not linear as us Westerners would think it), nature as primary and communally worked and culture as communal. It's just that they're not being given the chance. Think of Chiapas. There's space for hope, yet.

pickarooney

Having thought about it way too much for my own good, and getting seriously down as I finally realised that I never will actually do even 5% of the things I always assumed I'd do when I was younger (these 40-hour weeks of fixing bugs in code that nobody will ever use are the 40-hour weeks I should be climbing the Andes or learning Japanese!!), I'm now trying to convince myself that I'll stumble on the secret of eternal youth any day now and intend to keep on believing it even as I draw my dying breaths. You have to have hope!

SloanerF1

Originally posted by Specky

I feel the pangs of loss for the future that is beyond my reach.

How do other people view their mortality?

How do people come to terms with the inevitability of a limited lifespan?

Sometimes is does depress me, and I do think of it often. But then I remember that my death is (probably) a long way off , , that it will take me to a better place, that the death rate is 100% and that I will be fulfiled if I make the most of my life and make a lasting contribution to the future generations.

To be honest, I'm more concerned about my family and friends dying, and whether I will be able to adjust to life without them.

ykt0di9url7bc3

I can die...it will happen in the next 60 years....big deal!

neuro-praxis

I think it was Truman Capote that said, "I could die with today in my eyes." (I think it was him, anyway.)

I'm just so damn happy about my life and my future that that's how I feel.

Being a Christian, I believe in heaven, so death is a pretty good prospect. And, if it turns out I was completely wrong and I just rot in the ground, that's okay. I think that the way I strive to live and the kind of joy I've got is not something I could ever regret.

Although, I must admit that I really don't want the people I love to die. I haven't ever had to experience that yet.

Jes'Shout!

"Who wants to live forever..............................." Should I sing it?

Yeah, I've considered my mortality. I've considered death coming at a time that seems to be far too early in my young life. I've considered a slow, miserable death that comes on the whim of chance through no fault of my own; no poor lifestyle choices. An early death that comes because you just happen to be one of the 3 in 100,000 people who die due to some freaky disease that few people have ever heard of.

So what do you do? Getting mad, depressed, or freaked out won't do a damn thing for you. You live life as much as you can. You don't waste time. You tell the truth, you say what is on your mind. You forgive and you ask to be forgiven. You never fail to say "I love you". You don't sweat the small stuff. You see people and life as more precious. You feel the sun, you count the stars. You are sad because you'll never have kids or watch your parents grow old. And you'll be glad that you were blessed with life, even if it was short.

Zukustious

I personally don't want to live forever. You'd eventually get bored. You'd have done everything there is to do. I like the way that there is a short lifespan. You can pick out the things that you most want to do before you die. There are so many different paths that you can take and thats what makes life so interesting.