Fear Of Dying

[Tick]

No, because when you die, you don't know you're dead.  So how can you be afraid of it?  It's the part leading up to death that sucks.  What's the saying?  Anticipation of death is worse than death itself.

I think I can help you with this one as I have it quoted on my desktop background.

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

Obviously Isaac didn't die of some painful cancer such as lung cancer. Also, life aint that pleasant if you are poor and oppressed growing up in a place like say, Haiti.
Just sayin...

[King Postwhore]

The loss of my mom this year and my dad struggling with MS has made me think about my life, so it's been on my mind.

[Firetruck]

No, because when you die, you don't know you're dead.  So how can you be afraid of it?  It's the part leading up to death that sucks.  What's the saying?  Anticipation of death is worse than death itself.

I think I can help you with this one as I have it quoted on my desktop background.

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

Obviously Isaac didn't die of some painful cancer such as lung cancer. Also, life aint that pleasant if you are poor and oppressed growing up in a place like say, Haiti.
Just sayin...

If you analyze every quote analytically like that, you're going to be able to pull apart more than a few. Not everyone can relate to certain quotes, but I like this one regardless of it's inaccuracies because it speaks to me on a personal level. Also as a side note on the comment about cancer, I'm pretty sure that's exactly what Asimov was getting at. "It's the transition that's troublesome." could be swapped out quite nicely for: "It's the dying of lung cancer slowly and painfully over a 4 month period that's troublesome."

[Liberation]

It's difficult to say...

A year ago I would have said not really... because I felt I wouldn't be losing much. Nobody I truly cared about. And if I ever reach that state again... it's probably going to be no again.

Now... I know there's someone who would be devastated and probably scarred for the rest of her life because of it, and I don't ever want that to happen. I feel I have a true reason to live and I don't want to die, not because of what will happen to me, but because of what I would leave behind. So the answer is yes.

Also, I believe there is something after death but I don't believe in any exact vision (like the Christian idea of heaven, etc.). I just hope my life here has some reason and after I die I don't just disappear altogether with everything I've achieved here or believed in becoming meaningless. I admit the idea of a complete void and emptiness terrifies me. The idea of becoming meaningless. I don't see any more pessimistic thought, ever, than the idea that life as a whole has no reason. This also connects with things such as a fucked up psychotic dictator dying peacefully in their bed at 80 getting the exact same treatment after death as an innocent person who died at, say, 20 after a tough life during a war or something while being a good person. I can't imagine anything worse than that.

So overall... I think it's more yes than no.

[Icebear]

I don't know if I fear death, but it certainly... Idk, intrigues me, or fascinates me. Whenever I read about accidents, or hear of someone with some terminal illness, I can't stop thinking about the finality of it all, and what it feels like. I don't look forward to dying, and I'd like to postpone it as long as humanly possible, but I do take some comfort in knowing that we ALL have to go through it. If it's part of who we are, then certainly I'll be able to handle it.

I do wonder, though, how I'll get over losing my parents, etc., when that happens. I just can't fathom them being gone. They have been the foundation of my life, so how can they one day be gone? I just know those funerals are gonna suck. I remember going to the funeral of a child (a friend's daughter) who died only a few months old, and that funeral, although parts of it were bright and hopefull and filled with love, was hands down the worst thing I've ever had to be a part of. Being a father now myself, it makes me sick to imagine me going through something like that. It was bad enough watching as a friend. But, I bet it'll be something similar when my folks go. Maybe someone who's been through that can shed some light on it. 

So... Not exactly afraid (I don't imagine I'll have much of an opinion myself once I'm gone), but slightly concerned...
It's probably best to not dwell on it, though. We only get one chance to live this life.

[obscure]

No... bring it on!

[Phoenix87x]

As a child, naturally I was afraid of death, but now as an adult, I feel that immortality would be much more terrifying. For me, Death is what gives meaning to life.

[Sigz]

I don't see any reason to believe there's any kind of after life, so as stated above, death is simply non-existence. Since I'm not going to be around to mourn my own lack of life, I'm not really afraid of it at all.

[MasterShakezula]

I don't look forward to it.  I used to be terrified of it, having been raised in a non-religious household.  It was at it's worst in 8th grade, when I'd regularly have nightmares about lying in a bed, dying.  Nowadays, I still fear it, but accept it as something that will have to happen.  No organism can carry out it's vital survival functions indefinitely.  I have one light-hearted thing to say bout my demise:

When I die, I hope it isn't in my sleep, because if that happened, I wouldn't even get to know until I wake up the next morning!   

[Sigz]

I used to be terrified of it, having been raised in a non-religious household. 

Why is that?

[sonatafanica]

death is fucking rad i can't wait to die it will be the best day of my life i'm pretty sure

[splent]

I am so scared of dying, but I never let that get in the way of living my life.  I think what I'm most fearful of is the way its' going to happen, and what's going to happen next.  I do believe in God, but the process of dying scares me.  Is it like sleeping, or dreaming, or what?

[MasterShakezula]

I used to be terrified of it, having been raised in a non-religious household. 

Why is that?

I was raised by non-religious grandparents.  They taught me early on that religion and spirituality aren't true.  I still believe that and cannot imagine any sort of supernaturality or afterlife in the universe.  After I die, nothing for me.  Obviously, the universe around me will still exist, but I won't be able to perceive it.  That is because when you die, your entire body, every cell that makes up it's infrastructure, dies off, and that includes the nerve cells making up the nervous system.  Hence, after death, you will sense nothing; there's nothing for you to use to sense your surroundings. 

That scares me, a lot, even if it is just part of nature; it always has and always will, to an extent.

[senecadawg2]

It's the finality of it for me.  No restart button.

But do you know that? The mystery of it can be a bit nerve racking.

[Aramatheis]

death is fucking rad i can't wait to die it will be the best day of my life i'm pretty sure

you're gonna kick the bucket when the sun's going to explode into a fiery inferno of light and pain, shattering not only your physical body but also the memory of your entire existence, right?

[senecadawg2]

I don't tend to believe that everything will cease to exist when I die. I'd like to think that once I have died I will know that I have died. I'd like to think that there is something after death, whether that is heaven or just floating through space for all of eternity. Or dreaming forever. Whatever it is, I like to think that death is not the end. I'd like to think that, in the words of some band I once listened too, The Spirit Carries On.

Just for the sake of clarification, I don't believe in god as a creator and I tend to disagree with many ideas that organized religions put out.

Also, the most frightening part of it is (as many have already said) leaving my family and friends. I hate to think about bringing them pain and sadness, and that's what scares me the most.

[Horatio]

I don't mind death, life would pretty much be meaningless and tensionless without it. It's not like I'll be able to feel or be aware of anything after I'm dead anyway, so who cares what happens to my body after.  What I don't want is a sudden or completely unpredictable death though, it would suck if I thought my entire life was ahead of me and BAM I get hit by a speeding car (well it wouldn't suck for me because I'd be dead and incapable of feeling or knowing anything about it, but you get what I mean). I guess the only solution is to be prepared for it at any time, lol, but who wants that?

[Super Dude]

I don't tend to believe that everything will cease to exist when I die. I'd like to think that once I have died I will know that I have died. I'd like to think that there is something after death, whether that is heaven or just floating through space for all of eternity. Or dreaming forever. Whatever it is, I like to think that death is not the end. I'd like to think that, in the words of some band I once listened too, The Spirit Carries On.

Just for the sake of clarification, I don't believe in god as a creator and I tend to disagree with many ideas that organized religions put out.

Also, the most frightening part of it is (as many have already said) leaving my family and friends. I hate to think about bringing them pain and sadness, and that's what scares me the most.

I'm not gonna lie, I'm kinda hoping that if there is something after death, that it consists of an eternity of trippin'.

[sonatafanica]

death is fucking rad i can't wait to die it will be the best day of my life i'm pretty sure

you're gonna kick the bucket when the sun's going to explode into a fiery inferno of light and pain, shattering not only your physical body but also the memory of your entire existence, right?

that would be the "best case scenario"

the other plan i have for death is to die from alcoholism in a few years

my favorite part of death is knowing that there is nothing after it

except that it would be pretty fucking radical if i could become a ghost

[MasterShakezula]

death is fucking rad i can't wait to die it will be the best day of my life i'm pretty sure

you're gonna kick the bucket when the sun's going to explode into a fiery inferno of light and pain, shattering not only your physical body but also the memory of your entire existence, right?

that would be the "best case scenario"

the other plan i have for death is to die from alcoholism in a few years

my favorite part of death is knowing that there is nothing after it

except that it would be pretty fucking radical if i could become a ghost

You seem rather displeased with your life at the moment. 

(Being a ghost would be really cool, if ghosts actually existed.)

[j]

No organism can carry out it's vital survival functions indefinitely.

Not entirely true.

-J

[MasterShakezula]

No organism can carry out it's vital survival functions indefinitely.

Not entirely true.

-J

Please explain.  I'd like to know. 

[MykeHavoc]

I fear pain and misery, not dying. I came to terms with my mortality when I was about ten. Just a part of life, as they say.

[lonestar]

Death is a fact of life. Acceptance of that fact gives one great freedom.

[El JoNNo]

"be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity"
- Horace Mann

[Super Dude]

No organism can carry out it's vital survival functions indefinitely.

Not entirely true.

-J

Please explain.  I'd like to know.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turritopsis_nutricula

[MasterShakezula]

No organism can carry out it's vital survival functions indefinitely.

Not entirely true.

-J

Please explain.  I'd like to know.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turritopsis_nutricula

Cool find.   

Kind of funny that we humans, despite our 100s of millions worth of evolutionary advantage, have been beaten to biological immortality by a species jellyfish.  Though that probably has a good deal to do with it being a lot more of a simple process for the jellyfish to revert back to its polyp state than for a human to rejuvenate itself, what with having far more cells and types of cells to renovate. 

[Adami]

I don't think humans have an evolutionary advantage, many animals are "advanced" to the point of surviving WAY more than we ever could.

[MasterShakezula]

What would be some of these animals?

[sonatafanica]

"be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity"
- Horace Mann

fffffffffuuuccckk that

[Tick]

Just another thought about this topic.
 Its easy to say, no, I don't fear death. The bottom line is, its easy to say you don't fear something your not squarely faced with at the moment.
Also, when I say fear, I don't really mean a crippling type of dread that haunts your daily existence. I more so mean that uneasy, uncomfortable feeling that your brain feels when you ponder the thought of the end of your mortality. If your young, perhaps you don't think about it at all at this point. You really shouldn't be.
No one should live in fear of something you can't control. It was hard to put it any other way then to ask if you fear it. I just think when we some of us ponder our end in private moments, its something we don't like to ponder all that long. I fear losing my family and being separated from them with no way to get back.

As I said in my op, the thought of a 10 year boy losing his 45 year old father and best friend had me thinking in an uneasy way about how fragile life is.