Consolation for fear of death.

5Char

[GenericBox]

No argument from me, I agree completely - except for the heaven part.

I don't find heaven consoling - I would hate to spend eternity there - eternity on Earth (and then other human-inhabited planets that we may find or colonise) would be comforting for me.

I know fear of death is hardwired, but with our current understanding of science and technology - I fail to see why death should be accepted "just because". If we have the ability to prevent it - in whatever form you may call it (ie - transferring "mind" to machine), for those that chose to, why not?

For me, using the analogy that you can't remember the billions of years before you were born is irrational. "You" didn't exist to have a state of memory. I can't remember World War 1, doesn't make my death any less easier to comprehend.

I guess, the difference between me and a theist is that I'm happy to accept that there is nothing else - scares the shit out of me, but . To be honest I don't think I'd be afraid of death if I was religious - I'd think I would just be going to heaven.

But thats not the case.

[Praxis]

Plastic, I take the view that it will be like going under anaesthetic. You don't know a single thing about it - one minute you're here and a few seconds later ... nothing. I have a feeling that death will be like that.

Doesn't make it any less scary though and I understand totally about the somersaulting guts (is it really a catacholamine surge that does that? Fantastic - learn something new every day ).

I think it takes an amount of bravery to not only grasp but accept that our end is our end. Scary, definitely, but really, who among us of the thinking kind can seriously lie to ourselves that there is something more? This is what I don't get about religions and all their blither about surviving their own death and popping out the other side somewhere wonderful, blah blah - it's so obvious that it's all just made up tripe, like soothing a fretful child who can't sleep, designed to quell the quite natural fear of simply not being here any more.

I like to say that I'm not scared of dying and I think that's true but I think when I say it, what I really mean is I'm not scared of dying when I'm good and ready but not now, please not now when I have so much left to do, my son needs me, etc etc. but of course that's a purely one-sided bargain isn't it? I'll go when I go and that's it.

It would be too easy to dwell on it but really, it's a waste of time when it's so utterly inevitable but thinking about it from time to time can be a grounding experience - reminding us that we're so very, very finite and so very insignificant in the big scheme of things. Neither your passing, nor mine, nor anyone else's will have an effect on the big picture whatsoever.

But having been here at all is the wonderful part. And as we all know, there's no such thing as a free lunch.

Dear Plastic,

Of course I understand your natural disinclination to die and the angst you feel when contemplating the prospect.

Incidentally, I notice that you are maintaining a very low personal profile on this forum, so I don't know how far you have progressed along the path of average life expectation.

I know that my attitude towards death was very different when I was a young man. At that time I frequently used the flippant phrase, "live fast, die young and leave a good looking corpse", which was a line used by the actor John Derek in the 1949 movie, Knock on Any Door.

At that time, death was something that I didn't take very seriously. That's probably one of the reasons that young men enter theatres of war more optimistically than old men.

Now, at the age of seventy two, I will have accept the fact that I will soon be middle aged and the likelihood of my demise creeps ever closer!

Consequently, my attitude to death seems to have changed. No more is it a rare happening that can be safely mocked from the security of youth. Now, it is a frequent visitor to my social circle and old friends are starting to fall off the perch with disturbing frequency.

Now I read the obituary column in the daily newspaper with the often realised expectation that I will recognise a name on the list and I occasionally contemplate the fact that my own name will one day grace the page.

Do I fear death? Not really. I feel sure that when my body and mind cease to function I will be oblivious of the fact and totally disinterested in my non-existent condition.

However, I do view the possibility (probability?) of progressive physical and mental deterioration prior to death with some natural apprehension and I hope that the option of euthanasia is available to me, if and when I feel that life has become unendurable.

In everything that lives there is a time to die. We might as well get used to it.

As I write, I am reminded of an evocative little poem by Frances Cornford, it is entitled, The Watch and it reads as follows:

I wakened on my hot, hard bed;

Upon the pillow lay my head;

Beneath the pillow I could hear

My little watch was ticking clear.

I thought the throbbing of it went

Like my continual discontent;

I thought it said in every tick:

I am so sick, so sick, so sick:

O death, come quick, come quick, come quick,
Come quick, come quick, come quick, come quick...

[wolty]

Interesting because I do think atheists value life with all their being (more so than the type that believes in heaven).
The end of it all will be much too soon for all of us no matter what you do or achieve. I tend to feel the same way. There is so much I want to do, but will never have the time to do it all.

Am I afraid of dying? Only to the extent of leaving behind loved ones, and not getting done what I want to.

Death is scary, but the acceptance of the reality of death is very liberating and gives you a special meaning in enjoying your life.


Oh and welcome plastic. Would have said hello in your thread but couldn't.

Btw, plastic lasts for a really really long time.

[Sir Patrick Crocodile]

I'm not afraid of the process of dying as such, as I know it will be the end. No virgins, no pearly gates waiting, no Big Beardy Man but nothing. Gladly, there are no devils poking red hot tridents at you in a burning environment full of sulfurous odor either.

I am more worried about the aftermath of the process. I am unsure what it is like to "feel" nonexistent.

To be honest I am not sure of what to make of this: I see it as a good thing as well as a bad thing in my case.

[nari]

I am unsure what it is like to "feel" nonexistent.

But but but..you won't feel anything!

nari

[SchizoDeluxe]

Originally Posted by plastic

Eternal life in heaven I find very consoling, it seems such a terrible shame it is made up.

The idea behind an eternal life, especially from the biblical perspective is not exactly very consoling to me, nor a wish I would ever want to come true. A lot of atheists do wish that there was an afterlife but I fail to see the positive in being a slave for eternity, and on top of that, to have no ability to end it.

Originally Posted by plastic

The only thought I find vaguely comforting at all is the idea that my brain/mind is hardwired to fear death. (Pinker's Blank Slate convinced me humans do have instincts/ a 'nature' ) It's got to be the most basic tenet of evolution that we would have evolved to seek to avoid death at (pretty much) all costs, that it would be, so to speak, our strongest instinct. Therefore my abject fear of ending is a healthy, typical and possibly unavoidable part of my very normal and average mental state.

Fear is a natural feeling, all animals have it, it is part of how an animal survives. Without it, unecessary risks are taken which can lead to stronger possibilities of death. It's a little different I guess for humans as we have more complex ways of thinking, risk assessments alone are subjective depending on certain factors and we don't always take risks for survival reasons.

[wearestardust]

What mildly annoys me is that when the times comes I may well not know about it. In fact if all goes to plan (and I go with my boots off) I certainly won't. Then again, I won't be around to care.

In the meantime I just get on with crushing my enemies, seeing them driven before me, and hearing the lamentation of their significant others. Luckily I have a profession that enables me to do this most days.

[Mentally Saturated]

On a somewhat related issue. tune in to Four Corners tonite.

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/conte...0/s2810506.htm

""A Good Death"

Reporter: Deborah Masters
Broadcast: 08/02/2010

It's a telling statistic that seven out of ten Australians die what might be called an "expected death". In many cases doctors can tell patients roughly how long they have to live. In reality, only a few take advantage of those warnings. Instead they prefer to believe that somehow modern medicine will save them. Now a small group of doctors and nurses are warning that our obsession with curing illness is leaving patients poorly cared for and unprepared for death."

Gary