Death

[Moosader]

While I'm pretty sure this has been discussed somewhere at some time in this forum, I just wanted to see how others felt about it, or how others respond to your views on death.

For me, I don't fear being dead.  I may fear dying or being conscious of the fact that I'm dying, but the thought of being dead doesn't bother me.  Why?  Because I 'believe' that, when you die, you're dead.  In other words, your organs, including your brain, don't work.  So you're not conscious of the fact that you're dead.  I wouldn't know that I'm dead, so I wouldn't care.

Albeit, I do feel guilty because the people I leave behind hopefully aren't going to also be dead, and therefore have to mourn.  For this reason I also fear the deaths of others, because I would miss many people terribly if they were to die.


Actually, a month or two ago a very conservative relative of mine got crushed by a lawnmower and died.  That was an interesting funeral (er, not because he died due to lawnmower-on-cinderblocks, but because I haven't been to a conservative funeral).  They told us he'd be fishing for Rainbow Trout in the Rivers of Heaven.

It's kind of odd to me how people need to believe that they'll keep living after they die.  I understand why they would like to believe that, but it doesn't seem like wanting that to happen is enough justification for it happening.  For the friends and family of the deceased, I guess it does help if they believe that they are in a better place, and that they can still "talk" to the person by praying, or that the person is watching over them.


What are your beliefs on death?  What are your viewpoints on this stuff?

[Squid]

It not death that bothers me - it's the ultimate ending but it's just by what method I get there that I may have a problem with.  There's a big difference between dying peacefully in my sleep and getting eaten alive by a houseful of starving, feral cats.

[Kyuuketsuki]

It not death that bothers me - it's the ultimate ending but it's just by what method I get there that I may have a problem with.  There's a big difference between dying peacefully in my sleep and getting eaten alive by a houseful of starving, feral cats.

Agreed ... "Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome." Isaac Asimov

Kyu

[MariaEvri]

I agree with you. Its not my death that bothers me much I guess, its the ones I leave behind. I have had many deaths in my family, the worst being my mother, I was trerribly sad that I lost her, but I was even sadder for my father. And my grandmother. And same goes for all deaths I went through.

[Sophus]

Yeah, death is nice. Dieing... not so much.

[Asmodean]

More or less the same answer here.

I'd rather not wither away for years. Dead is dead, but the quicker, the better.

[Jolly Sapper]

I'm going to agree with every sentiment posted so far.

[curiosityandthecat]

Dying is the last great act you can perform... do it boldly. Preferably, with cheerleaders.

[LARA]

I believe in life after death, just not my own.

But what am I?  What is me is simply a moving pattern of matter.  My physical nature isn't all that much different from anyone else's, but "my" ideas can transcend the flesh so to speak and end up elsewhere in a semipermanent state after I die.  I look at words as the true ghosts of the living, metaphorically speaking of course.  Ideas have a new physical carrier, from flesh to sand, to stone, to paper, or to pixels, the media really doesn't matter. Ars longa, vita bevia

People are valuable repositories of knowledge for each other.  To lose a member of society is too lose that knowledge which wasn't passed on, so we of course we mourn.  For some of us, it requires forming an imaginary idea of the person to cope with their passing.  We can simulate them in our minds, imagine their voices guiding us and what they might say in situations when we are in need.  It helps some with the grieving process.  It isn't real to anyone else, but if one considers the value of human knowledge to a human family in evolutionary terms, it's possible to understand mourning better.

What's sad is that people don't die all at once.  As they get older, they change, lose their memory with age.  They aren't really the people they once were.  I see this process in my Dad, who was my strongest influence as a child in the areas of science.  I realize as he is growing older I'm desperately trying to gain as much of his knowledge as possible, while trying to weed out all the other crap he's picked up over the years.  He's still here, but I think about the reality of his mortality more and more frequently.  I think it would piss him off to know I've been mourning him for the past few years, but I have.  I'm not sure if I will cry at his funeral, because I've kind of been doing the whole thing preemptively.  It makes it easier to deal with.

[Asmodean]

Dying is the last great act you can perform... do it boldly. Preferably, with cheerleaders.

Personally, I prefer heavy machinegun fire, flashing lights and deafening explosions.  

[curiosityandthecat]

Dying is the last great act you can perform... do it boldly. Preferably, with cheerleaders.

Personally, I prefer heavy machinegun fire, flashing lights and deafening explosions.  

Sounds like the way Hunter S. Thompson wanted to go out.  

[Asmodean]

Sounds like the way Hunter S. Thompson wanted to go out.  

[quizlixx]

i fear death, i don't understand it. i would love nothing more than to have a god that looked after me and i would live on for eternity in heaven, sadly, this is not the case. i suppose as i grow older, i will be able to grasp what happens when you die a little bit better. but for the time being, i do fear death.

[Kyuuketsuki]

i fear death, i don't understand it. i would love nothing more than to have a god that looked after me and i would live on for eternity in heaven, sadly, this is not the case. i suppose as i grow older, i will be able to grasp what happens when you die a little bit better. but for the time being, i do fear death.

Yeah I fear death, not so much the pain just the not being any more ... I wouldn't want there to be a god of any sort but I would certainly like to live for somewhat longer than I anticipate I actually will.

Kyu

[quizlixx]

i fear death, i don't understand it. i would love nothing more than to have a god that looked after me and i would live on for eternity in heaven, sadly, this is not the case. i suppose as i grow older, i will be able to grasp what happens when you die a little bit better. but for the time being, i do fear death.

Yeah I fear death, not so much the pain just the not being any more ... I wouldn't want there to be a god of any sort but I would certainly like to live for somewhat longer than I anticipate I actually will.

Kyu

i take my "god" comment back. and also, i'm just not done living.