Author Topic: Are you afraid of death?  (Read 21475 times)

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Offline Odysseus

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Are you afraid of death?
« on: June 14, 2012, 03:55:54 PM »
I'm not because I'm not aware of any mechanism whereby I can suffer after the event where my body finally keels over and gives up, taking my mind with it.

I do have some concerns about the period just before it though.... I don't really want to be hanging on playing extra time any more than is necessary.  In fact, I'd be up for voluntary euthanasia if it became more freely available.  The prospect of festering for years in a hospital bed having my diaper changed by some poor girl while I dribble into my spoon-fed porridge doesn't fill me with eager anticipation.....

So.. uh... yeah.  Death? Scared? Hmm?...  :xbones

Offline kirksnosehair

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #1 on: June 14, 2012, 04:05:33 PM »
Afraid of death?  Nope.

Afraid of suffering in agonizing physical pain for a prolonged period of time prior to finally dying?  Yeah, kinda.



Offline Ħ

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #2 on: June 14, 2012, 04:26:24 PM »
Definitely.
"All great works are prepared in the desert, including the redemption of the world. The precursors, the followers, the Master Himself, all obeyed or have to obey one and the same law. Prophets, apostles, preachers, martyrs, pioneers of knowledge, inspired artists in every art, ordinary men and the Man-God, all pay tribute to loneliness, to the life of silence, to the night." - A. G. Sertillanges

Offline El Barto

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #3 on: June 14, 2012, 05:04:37 PM »
No.  But I'm not very excited about it, either.
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Offline jsem

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #4 on: June 14, 2012, 05:05:09 PM »
No.  But I'm not very excited about it, either.
This.

But I am afraid of tremendous pain, that could be a precursor to dying. I mean, long excruciating pain. Having a parasite kill me from the inside is actually one of my worst fears, because of the pain that will go along with it. A quick affair I wouldn't be afraid of, torture though....

Offline DebraKadabra

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #5 on: June 14, 2012, 07:05:57 PM »
Have to say no, I'm not.

Offline theseoafs

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #6 on: June 14, 2012, 07:46:21 PM »
No.  But I'm not very excited about it, either.

This. There's no reason to be afraid of death, really.

Offline XJDenton

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #7 on: June 14, 2012, 07:55:21 PM »
No. I'm afraid of nothing.
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Online Adami

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #8 on: June 14, 2012, 07:55:54 PM »
No. I'm afraid of nothing.

The nothingness of death?
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Offline theseoafs

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #9 on: June 14, 2012, 08:00:59 PM »
No. I'm afraid of nothing.

The nothingness of death?

The way I look at it, death is basically sleep, except without the inconvenient and obtrusive dreams. And I'm not afraid of sleep. It's basically my favorite thing in the world. I'd sign up for sleeping forever. That sounds RAD.

Online Adami

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #10 on: June 14, 2012, 08:02:13 PM »
No. I'm afraid of nothing.

The nothingness of death?

The way I look at it, death is basically sleep, except without the inconvenient and obtrusive dreams. And I'm not afraid of sleep. It's basically my favorite thing in the world. I'd sign up for sleeping forever. That sounds RAD.

It is like sleep.................................sleeping with the fishes.



See?
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Offline theseoafs

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #11 on: June 14, 2012, 09:01:38 PM »
I like sleep and I like fish.

Offline AndyDT

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #12 on: June 15, 2012, 04:37:23 AM »
Who is this "you"?

Offline j

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #13 on: June 15, 2012, 04:45:35 AM »
No.  But I like living.

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Offline Super Dude

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #14 on: June 15, 2012, 05:15:09 AM »
I'm terrified of my own mortality. Probably because of how big an unknown the actual loss of conscious being is.
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Offline hefdaddy42

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #15 on: June 15, 2012, 05:54:31 AM »
None of the atheists or agnostics are afraid of death, but the Christian who posted is.  I find that interesting.

I'm not afraid of death.
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Offline BlobVanDam

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #16 on: June 15, 2012, 06:33:34 AM »
I'm terrified of my own mortality. Probably because of how big an unknown the actual loss of conscious being is.

This. I try to put it out of mind, but it's by far my greatest fear.


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Offline rumborak

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #17 on: June 15, 2012, 06:50:02 AM »
None of the atheists or agnostics are afraid of death, but the Christian who posted is.  I find that interesting.

I'm not afraid of death.

Add another agnostic to the fray who's not afraid of death. If anything I find death a good reminder to both enjoy and do something worthwhile with my life.
That said, I *used* to be somewhat afraid of death, when I was younger, i.e. younger than 16 or so. To play into your theory, that was the time I was still Christian.

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Offline ZBomber

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #18 on: June 15, 2012, 07:57:03 AM »
Whose death? My own? No. Someones that I love? Yes.

For me, the fear of death isn't the actual dying. It is the people left behind who have to deal with it. I don't really care if I die, but I care that my parents would have to deal with the consequences of that.

Offline El Barto

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #19 on: June 15, 2012, 08:01:41 AM »
None of the atheists or agnostics are afraid of death, but the Christian who posted is.  I find that interesting.

I'm not afraid of death.

Add another agnostic to the fray who's not afraid of death. If anything I find death a good reminder to both enjoy and do something worthwhile with my life.
That said, I *used* to be somewhat afraid of death, when I was younger, i.e. younger than 16 or so. To play into your theory, that was the time I was still Christian.

rumborak
Yeah, same here.  I didn't become comfortable with death until I became comfortable with no God. 
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Offline eric42434224

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #20 on: June 15, 2012, 08:47:40 AM »
The thought of my wife or children suffering and dying terrifies me.  I would give my life and suffer in exchange in a heart beat.  I am not scared of death or suffering for myself....but would like to avoid it for as long as possible.  I am, however, worried about the effects my death will have on my family.
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Offline yeshaberto

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #21 on: June 15, 2012, 09:02:10 AM »
no doubt the mode of death isn't all that exciting, but looking forward to death.

Offline Odysseus

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #22 on: June 15, 2012, 04:14:56 PM »
Add another agnostic to the fray who's not afraid of death. If anything I find death a good reminder to both enjoy and do something worthwhile with my life.

That is a great point.  The idea of this being a one-way trip very often reminds me to get off my ass and make the most of it.  I'll freely admit that sometimes I fail on that point, but hey, you know what I mean...  ;D

Offline wolfandwolfandwolf

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #23 on: June 15, 2012, 04:47:34 PM »
No.

Offline Scheavo

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #24 on: June 15, 2012, 06:18:32 PM »
None of the atheists or agnostics are afraid of death, but the Christian who posted is.  I find that interesting.

I'm not afraid of death.

Add another agnostic to the fray who's not afraid of death. If anything I find death a good reminder to both enjoy and do something worthwhile with my life.
That said, I *used* to be somewhat afraid of death, when I was younger, i.e. younger than 16 or so. To play into your theory, that was the time I was still Christian.

rumborak
Yeah, same here.  I didn't become comfortable with death until I became comfortable with no God.

Eh, I'm sorta counter to that. Used to be terrified of death, at a point when I was sure there was no God. The extent to which I'm okay with it now isn't so much anything to do with God, but more just existential boredom, and perhaps a few hallucinogens.

Offline Phoenix87x

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #25 on: June 15, 2012, 06:31:34 PM »
When I was a kid, it was hard to come to terms with it.

   But now as an adult, I have no fear of it. To me, Immortality would be much more terrifying than death.

Offline theseoafs

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #26 on: June 15, 2012, 09:10:43 PM »
None of the atheists or agnostics are afraid of death, but the Christian who posted is.  I find that interesting.

I'm not afraid of death.

It's an interesting pattern. I've got two theories: A) the religious are afraid they selected the wrong religion or weren't good enough to enter heaven or B) the religious aren't really all that excited by the prospect of immortality.

Offline Sigz

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #27 on: June 15, 2012, 09:30:23 PM »
I'm not afraid of death, just the suffering and pain that is often associated with it.
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Offline ClairvoyantCat

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #28 on: June 15, 2012, 09:43:16 PM »
I'll admit that I'm kind of afraid of it, but that's probably just me being a Nancy.  The agnostic in me acknowledges the possibility of some boring afterlife (e.g. heaven) instead of a peaceful, dreamless sleep which sounds much more preferable to me. 

Which is why this

None of the atheists or agnostics are afraid of death, but the Christian who posted is.  I find that interesting.

makes a lot of sense to me.  I'd be frightened of the possibility of living forever.  Unless it was as some sort of space-ghost that could travel the universe.   That I could deal with. 

Offline Nel

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #29 on: June 15, 2012, 10:00:00 PM »
Freaking forum ate my post. Well, time for a shorter version of it, I guess.

I used to claim I wasn't afraid, but I am. I really am. Just the very prospect of absolutely no consciousness, being nothing scares me. All it took was a near death experience to make me realize that. Sometimes the thought of death as sleep helps, but not all the time. I just hope my death is either quick and painless, happens in my sleep, or above all else, is not ironic:lol

Don't really believe in an afterlife, but some days I wish there is. There are so many people I'd like to see again...
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Offline El JoNNo

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #30 on: June 15, 2012, 11:01:41 PM »
I do not fear death, in view of the fact that I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.

Mark Twain

Offline rumborak

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #31 on: June 16, 2012, 03:02:18 AM »
None of the atheists or agnostics are afraid of death, but the Christian who posted is.  I find that interesting.

I'm not afraid of death.

It's an interesting pattern. I've got two theories: A) the religious are afraid they selected the wrong religion or weren't good enough to enter heaven or B) the religious aren't really all that excited by the prospect of immortality.

My theory would rather be that people who are afraid of an unknown like death are also likely to turn to a framework that promises them protection from that unknown.

rumborak
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Offline wasteland

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #32 on: June 16, 2012, 03:05:42 AM »
Whose death? My own? No. Someones that I love? Yes.

For me, the fear of death isn't the actual dying. It is the people left behind who have to deal with it. I don't really care if I die, but I care that my parents would have to deal with the consequences of that.

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Offline wolfandwolfandwolf

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #33 on: June 16, 2012, 08:01:02 AM »
None of the atheists or agnostics are afraid of death, but the Christian who posted is.  I find that interesting.

I'm not afraid of death.

It's an interesting pattern. I've got two theories: A) the religious are afraid they selected the wrong religion or weren't good enough to enter heaven or B) the religious aren't really all that excited by the prospect of immortality.

My theory would rather be that people who are afraid of an unknown like death are also likely to turn to a framework that promises them protection from that unknown.

rumborak
Regarding my view of life/death/afterlife, these theories do not accurately describe my feelings concerning them.  This life, like many of you have said, is too important to be wasted.  I'm not wasting my earthly life because I'm afraid of the unknown or because I'm afraid that if I do waste it I'll face some kind of cosmic punishment.  There's just something "other" that I'm living for.  The afterlife for me then, is not a "carrot on a string" but just a part of the big picture of following Jesus.

Offline XJDenton

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Re: Are you afraid of death?
« Reply #34 on: June 16, 2012, 08:11:47 AM »
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