Death... Should it be embraced, feared, both, other?

[Rose and Thorn]

Don't be afraid of death, be afraid of living. I'll welcome death when it comes, but I won't beckon it.

Everyone will perceive there own demise in different ways, there is no "true" way to look at death. Thinking about it will do little good either, as we can't prevent it, only prolong it.

I say deal with death when it is at your doorstep, until then, deal with life.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

We need to get rid of it. Death by natural causes is just the natural accumulation of minor damage, much like dementia or Parkinson's. It's just your body getting sh*ttier over time. There's no reason we can't keep repairing the body, or prevent its degradation.

I think though, and maybe I'm insane, but that we'll all be digital long before we're organically immortal.

 

[Timberwolf0924]

90% of the people here will say they are afraid of death, but are also afraid of life. We sit wondering 'what if' and 'why not' when we're not even willing to go and answer those questions. I'm not saying I'm any better, but the worst living can do, is kill you.

 

[Soxafloppin]

I think about it like this..

Your in a kid in a playground, you have to home by 10. so enjoy your time in the playground as much as you can before you've to go.

I don't fear death, I don't think I'l embrace it either. I just know thats how it'l end and I just want to enjoy my life as much as I can before its over, because when its over, its over.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

Death is a natural part of life and an eternal inevitability for all life. It doesn't help to continuously think/worry about it, so just enjoy the time that you have and make every day count.

 

[OriginalLadders]

We need to get rid of it. Death by natural causes is just the natural accumulation of minor damage, much like dementia or Parkinson's. It's just your body getting sh*ttier over time. There's no reason we can't keep repairing the body, or prevent its degradation.

I think though, and maybe I'm insane, but that we'll all be digital long before we're organically immortal.

This, a thousand times this.

I don't see any reason to respect death or accept it as an inevitability. If I am going to cease to exist I want it to be because I'm bored of existence, not because the fleshy bag of mostly water (or mostly empty space, depending on which scale you choose) which currently contains my mind stops working.

 

[Scarim Coral]

To me it depend how or when you died/ killed.
I mean having lived a long life and natually then you would embrace it since it's somewhat plan out so no regret (also depend on what you wanted to do before you died) while getting killed like let say an acident or murdered can be consider fear as you are unprepared and fill with many regret (unless you were fully aware of it beforehand).

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

It should be accepted as inevitable, than put out of the mind. There's no point dwelling on it.

 

[Mournful Crow]

Should we fear death? Should we embrace it? Should we do something else with it? Does it need to be done off with? What are your thoughts on it in general?

Depends ENTIRELY upon the person who's about to die. Are you about to die with a guilty conscience? A life full of regret? Belief in hell and that you might be going there? Then I'd imagine Death is something to be absolutely terrified about.

Did you live a happy life? Have few regrets? Belief in heaven and that you might be going there? I'd imagine in that case Death is something to be embraced.

Both of those are considering you're going to die of old age/natural causes. But that's really the only time you should even be concerned about Death. You shouldn't walk around thinking at any given moment you're about to get run over by a bus...we call those people paranoid.

It's sort of like a dream. If you sleep and dream with a guilty conscience, then you will most likely have a suckish dream. If you dream with peace on your mind, and a guilt-free conscience, you will have a very good dream. I guess the only thing that matters is if you're at peace with your heart in the end...

 

[Eamar]

It should be accepted as an inevitable fact of life and not dwelt upon.

Personally, I don't fear death (I don't believe in an afterlife so there's really nothing to be scared of), but I am scared of ageing badly and feeling trapped and frustrated in a slow, failing body, especially seeing as we're forever finding new ways to prolong life even further. Also dementia. That is scary.

 

[Shadie777]

For me death is something to fear and respect, but also something to struggle against. Right now, I feel like I would use every ounce of my will to escape death. Some people say that living forever would be boring, but for me, living for as long as possible make life feel awesome. When I get old and frail, escaping death every day would seem like a gold medal to me, which instantly makes life feel better for me.


I guess you could describe me as being "combat high" in terms on what I feel about death.

 

[Captain Pirate]

Both.
Fear it, of course, to motivate yourself to live your life to the full.
But embrace it as well, and accept that it will happen at some point.

 

[Riki Darnell]

Should we fear death? Should we embrace it? Should we do something else with it? Does it need to be done off with? What are your thoughts on it in general?

To me death isn't really the scary part, for me it's not knowing what happens after.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Death is death. Don't worry about it, it'll happen to you eventually. That being said though, it's stupid to do something you know could kill you unless you know you're going to die anyway. That's not to say it's a good idea to kill yourself once you're diagnosed with cancer but if you are and you had some reservations about base jumping beforehand...

As for the afterlife...I have no idea what to expect. My body will decay obviously but if a soul exists then I assume it would have its own memory incompatible with the facilities present within the human mind. Maybe in death I will be better able to analyze my past life or, maybe even lives and prepare myself to live out another one or perhaps move out to something completely different. Hopefully death won't lead to an angry deity...but I won't know until I get there I guess.

 

[RJ 17]

Should we fear death? Should we embrace it? Should we do something else with it? Does it need to be done off with? What are your thoughts on it in general?

Depends ENTIRELY upon the person who's about to die. Are you about to die with a guilty conscience? A life full of regret? Belief in hell and that you might be going there? Then I'd imagine Death is something to be absolutely terrified about.

Did you live a happy life? Have few regrets? Belief in heaven and that you might be going there? I'd imagine in that case Death is something to be embraced.

Both of those are considering you're going to die of old age/natural causes. But that's really the only time you should even be concerned about Death. You shouldn't walk around thinking at any given moment you're about to get run over by a bus...we call those people paranoid.

It's sort of like a dream. If you sleep and dream with a guilty conscience, then you will most likely have a suckish dream. If you dream with peace on your mind, and a guilt-free conscience, you will have a very good dream. I guess the only thing that matters is if you're at peace with your heart in the end...

That's exactly what I'm talking about. If you lived a good life, had few regrets, and were content with your accomplishments, then it's likely that you'll have absolutely no reason to fear death while on your deathbed. However if you have a life full of regrets, things you felt you still needed to do, or even just strong attachments to things in this world (i.e. material possessions), then it's likely you'll end up rather anxious and fearful of death.

 

[Mournful Crow]

Should we fear death? Should we embrace it? Should we do something else with it? Does it need to be done off with? What are your thoughts on it in general?

Depends ENTIRELY upon the person who's about to die. Are you about to die with a guilty conscience? A life full of regret? Belief in hell and that you might be going there? Then I'd imagine Death is something to be absolutely terrified about.

Did you live a happy life? Have few regrets? Belief in heaven and that you might be going there? I'd imagine in that case Death is something to be embraced.

Both of those are considering you're going to die of old age/natural causes. But that's really the only time you should even be concerned about Death. You shouldn't walk around thinking at any given moment you're about to get run over by a bus...we call those people paranoid.

It's sort of like a dream. If you sleep and dream with a guilty conscience, then you will most likely have a suckish dream. If you dream with peace on your mind, and a guilt-free conscience, you will have a very good dream. I guess the only thing that matters is if you're at peace with your heart in the end...

That's exactly what I'm talking about. If you lived a good life, had few regrets, and were content with your accomplishments, then it's likely that you'll have absolutely no reason to fear death while on your deathbed. However if you have a life full of regrets, things you felt you still needed to do, or even just strong attachments to things in this world (i.e. material possessions), then it's likely you'll end up rather anxious and fearful of death.

It sort of reminds of a scene from Waking Life (a visual stoner, and a really good movie, in case you were wondering), where this line is said: "Dream is Destiny"... This subsequently lead me to my belief/matra (however you spell it): Death is destiny, dream is death, dream is destiny... I found it to fit rather snugly within my conscience...

 

[Woodsey]

It's an inevitability, no use worrying yourself paralytic over something you can't control. We will all cease to be and there is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that anything comes after.

And now, a cup of tea.

 

[AngloDoom]

Fear when preventable, accepted when inevitable sounds about right to me.

It's scary as hell and likely to be painful or uncomfortable leading up to it so an early death is not a good thing. While you're alive you should fight tooth and nail to stay alive like any sensible creature with a use would. When you're lying on your deathbed, however, you want to give up the ghost gracefully.

At least, that seems a good enough idea to me.

 

[Frankster]

Perso

The prospect of nothingness, of ceasing to exist, just terrifies me.

+1 and any sane person who doesn't have a belief system to give them hope of a cloudy afterlife with singing angels and stuff will quite likely fear it too.

The possibility that our entire consciousness is just sparks of electricity animating that slab of meat we call a brain, and once that spark is gone we disappear forever is just... Cmon how can one NOT find that terrifying?

I wouldn't fear death at all if I knew there was an existence after it, but as it stands, how can one not be terrified of death?

 

[AngloDoom]

For an atheist, death shouldn't be something to be scared of, at all. Any atheist who is afraid of death doesn't understand what "ceasing to exist" really means.

So yeah, I'm not afraid of death at all. I'm afraid of dying painfully though. But it's not the death itself, its what comes before it. I imagine if I'm in agony I'll want death to hurry the fuck up.

Question: Have you ever almost died?

I mean, I'm pretty afraid of death and I'm as atheist as they come. Of course, I won't be conscious to perceive my death, but I'll have stopped existing. That's worse than almost anything else, surely? You can recover from almost anything but death, and you can continue to form happy memories and experience enjoyment most times while you're alive.

Perhaps you're one of those people who makes a distinction between "death" and "dying", but I don't know of many people who've reached "death" without first going through "dying".

EDIT -- Urgh! I was supposed to add this to the end of my last post, sorry about the double-post.