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Death

I'm not afraid of death. I'm not afraid of elasticated waistbands either, but I'm not ready for either of those yet.

To be precise, I am not afraid of being dead and I am perfectly reconciled to its inevitability, but I am - quite reasonably - afraid of dying.

I am afraid of dying;
a) because it would distress my family
b) because it might hurt
c) because I like being alive
 
If the fear of death were an inherent aspect of "all of humanity", suicide would be unheard of.

I always found that aspect of certain sects of Christianity amusing. They go out of their way to make the afterlife sound so wonderful and attractive, then they suddenly realize they should make suicide a sin. Oopsie.
 
I'm afraid of the death of my spouse more than my own death. "Afraid" isn't really the right word though. Maybe "worried" or "anxious". It's about loss. Loss of something I've come to rely upon, a chunk of what makes 'me' me. The same kind of worry I might get about the loss of a job or a limb.

The loss of my wife means more because I would be here to experience it. Death, not so much. I don't fear sleep, that shutting down and loss of my selfhood I do every night. I'm familiar with that, so my own death isn't really anything to be concerned about. Losing her would be so much more painful.
 
The thought of dying and being dead mortifies me (no pun intended). I know I came from nothing and didn't know it, but now that I'm here I don't want to go back to being nothing.
 
CriticalSock said:
I wasn't entirely sure of the point of the question I must admit, it can't just be we're afraid of death therefore god exists.

I'll get a few more responses (hopefully!) and then print this thread off and get a response from them.
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The point of the question was to instill fear. It's the religious person substitute for logic.
 
iknownothing said:
Because if we weren't afraid of death, we wouldn't have lasted very long as a species.
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I've noticed a "fear" of dying in every living thing I see when walking in the desert.
From ants to coyotes, each has a life-wish.
Well, maybe except for bees, which die when they sting.
But they don't that is going to happen.
Me, I think people are afraid of the unknown, having been saturated with heaven, hell and all that stuff in between as they grow.
It's just ego that makes some people feel they are just important/magnificent a creature to not have a post-death existence.
And some welcome it as getting their ticket to Paradise.
But they don't try to get there early. :)
 
bokonon said:
...

I suppose in certain situations -- driving on an icy mountain road, with hairpin curves and sheer thousand-foot drops -- I might be "fearful" of death, but I think it's just a healthy heightening of attention to avoid what I'd consider a premature end. When I think about my inevitable end someday off in the future -- I still imagine I'll die peacefully in bed -- what I feel isn't fear at all.
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Been there!
Went off the edge and plunged 1000s of feet, and thought while plunging.. "It's all over" and woke up feeling sad.
In real life, sliding along the road behind the motorcycle heading towards the Armco barrier.. "****** I'm in for it now!".. and stopped short of any major impact! Broke a collar bone or two.
 
Cainkane1 said:
The process of getting dead is what I fear not being dead.
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Yes.
It was a nasty process for my father, dying from ALS, although it was pneumonia that did him in.
Many deaths are not quiet affairs surrounded by the loved ones as his was.
 
Tacita said:
The thought of dying and being dead mortifies me (no pun intended). I know I came from nothing and didn't know it, but now that I'm here I don't want to go back to being nothing.
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Been there too.
Deep anasthesia for an operation will remove all sense of being!
Amazing experience.
Quite different from sleep.
It's nothing to be frightened of.
 
marplots said:
I'm afraid of the death of my spouse more than my own death. "Afraid" isn't really the right word though. Maybe "worried" or "anxious". It's about loss. Loss of something I've come to rely upon, a chunk of what makes 'me' me. The same kind of worry I might get about the loss of a job or a limb.

The loss of my wife means more because I would be here to experience it. Death, not so much. I don't fear sleep, that shutting down and loss of my selfhood I do every night. I'm familiar with that, so my own death isn't really anything to be concerned about. Losing her would be so much more painful.
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I feel the same way about my very aged sweet old mother. Gonna be a sad day when shes gone. Shes like her mother and she was one of the sweetest ladies who has ever lived.
 
It's not so much death that scares me as it is not being alive anymore. I like being alive; it's great. I can eat tasty stuff. I can have sex. I can watch sports. I can hang out with people that I love. I can laugh. I can cry (which can be quite cathartic at times). I can impress people by solving a Rubix Cube in front of them (which fascinates people despite that the thing comes with directions on solving it now). I can cook. I can play video games. I can watch movies. I can get drunk. I can go camping. I can go hiking. I can go on vacation. I can play poker. I can play sports.

After I stop living I won't be able to do any of the things that I love. I know that I won't care because I'll be dead and unaware of anything, but I'm very aware now that at some point I won't be able to do those things. That's what's scary.

marplots said:
I'm afraid of the death of my spouse more than my own death. "Afraid" isn't really the right word though. Maybe "worried" or "anxious". It's about loss. Loss of something I've come to rely upon, a chunk of what makes 'me' me. The same kind of worry I might get about the loss of a job or a limb.

The loss of my wife means more because I would be here to experience it. Death, not so much. I don't fear sleep, that shutting down and loss of my selfhood I do every night. I'm familiar with that, so my own death isn't really anything to be concerned about. Losing her would be so much more painful.
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I feel exactly the same way. The thought of my wife dying before me is my biggest fear. I know I wouldn't be able to handle it. At all.
 
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I think many have forgotten to accept death as part of life. Mourning, religious or not, is no longer given the time and space required.

When one reads about previous death rates in the even then "modern" western societies, there was an understanding of death, an acceptance, support, and empathy for those in mourning.

That part is now gone thus rendering death lonely (as it has always been to the dying), to those left behind, whereas before it was not.

Personally, I think we fear the death of loved ones more than our own, since we do not know how we will react to the loss, fearful of how our reaction may affect our status, both professional and personal.
 
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I'm not afraid of death. I'm nearing 60 and have a lot of things to do and places to see. I'd be disappointed if I went sooner rather than later, but afraid? No.
 
Marduk said:
are bacteria afraid of death, theirs seems to be a better survival strategy, theyve been around a few billion years compared to our few hundred thousand
i.e. not knowing what death is, is better than fearing it
;)
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If you are a bacteria, that is. It's quite a leap to assume a rule that's true for a micro-organism must also hold for one a few billion times larger.
 
The question assumes that everyone is indeed afraid of death. I survived two separate incidents where I should have been killed, both of which I saw and recognizied the imminent danger facing me, knew that most people who have been in similar situations did not survive, and shortly after was rendered unconscious from injuries I sustained.

I felt a definite weight lifted off of my shoulders in the form of a decreased fear of death after surviving the first incident. This happened again after the second incident to the point where I can honestly say I no longer fear death, so pehaps through all this, I have become "used to it". It's hard to explain. It's not a lack of fear in that I have become reckless or now willing to take unreasonable risks that I would not have taken before. I'm certainly not going to do anything to hasten my eventual end, I just don't ponder on how terrible death could be anymore, or worry about when it will happen. It's quite a liberating state of mind actually.

Rolls
 
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This whole process is badly "designed". Our existence should be backwards. We should:
1) Die first, that way we'll get it out of the way
2) spend the next years at a nursing home, progressively getting better
3) Get a lot of money from retirement accounts and social security for doing nothing
4) spend all that money while we get healthier and stronger every day
5) start learning something useless after we run out of money
6) behave totally care free for the last 10 years
7) spend the last 9 months in a nice warm sauna, being fed constantly
8) finally, disappear from existence in an orgasm

(originally published in Spanish by Quino)
 
Hokulele said:
If the fear of death were an inherent aspect of "all of humanity", suicide would be unheard of.
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Well, fear of pain is pretty basic to humans, yet there are masochists. I don't think it's quite that simple.

I always found that aspect of certain sects of Christianity amusing. They go out of their way to make the afterlife sound so wonderful and attractive, then they suddenly realize they should make suicide a sin. Oopsie.
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I had heard that the prohibition on suicide was instituted in the early days when people really did commit suicide to skip right to the afterlife. A quick fix for a major oopsie! Don't recall where I read that or how well researched it seemed to be.

ETA: On re-reading your post, I guess you were actually saying the same thing.
 
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