Poll: Do you fear death?

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Thistlehart

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Nov 10, 2010
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I voted Other. I don't fear death, in fact I rather look forward to it (not that I want to die right away). I don't know what's going to happen after I breathe my last. Many things could happen. I look forward to finding out what. It's the next great adventure, after all.

If nothing happens but oblivion, then that's fine, too. I won't know, will I? I won't even be enough to care. Though I hope that's not the case. That'd be as lame as only having Judgement to look forward to. (Which is frankly the most boring and depressing concept of an afterlife I've heard of. I mean really. It takes the Next Great Adventure and reduces it down to "moral" accountancy.)

Now dying, which is a slightly different matter, concerns me a bit. I would prefer to go in a rather clean manner (none of that being dragged underneath a motor-vehicle for umpteen yards before shock sets in, feeling my flesh being scraped off and bones crushed and leaving a long streak of myself behind).
 

crop52

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Mar 16, 2011
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Of course I fucking fear death, it's human nature to fear death. Everybody who says otherwise is going about this question all wrong.
 

mik1

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Dec 7, 2009
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Well the human race has believed in the existence of the soul for most of it's existence I don't believe all of the stuff in those religious texts but the similarities makes me at least speculate there is something more to life.
...and then I walk out from under my rock.

my real reason for not fearing death is my life makes me feel more pain than enjoyment
I know i just sound like some emo ***** but its the truth. So if I am to look death in the face I will face it like a man.
 

RedDeadFred

Illusions, Michael!
May 13, 2009
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Seeing as I'm an Atheist, ya death kind of scares me because I know that there is no afterlife.
All the more reason to live the best life I can though.
 

Rawne1980

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Jul 29, 2011
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It's not death that bothers me. I pretty much accepted my mortality during my army days.

It's the actual dying part that i'm not looking forward to.

Some deaths are incredibly drawn out and painful and thats not how I want to go. If I could go peacefully in my sleep then that would be awesome.

The only thing that truly terrifies me is Alzheimer's or some of the other major dementia issues.

The thought of forgetting everything I am or becoming so dependant on someone I can't even shit by myself is what scares me.
 

Robert Ewing

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Mar 2, 2011
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Nah, I don't really fear death. I won't encourage it to come quicker, but I ultimately wouldn't really mind if it was my time to go. If I was dying, I'd continue as I would, and accept my fate.
 

orangeban

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Nov 27, 2009
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To be honest, yes. I've got a lot of stuff I want to do with my life, places to see, dudes/chicks to seduce, countries to conquer, regimes to overthrow, books to read.

I don't want to miss out on all that.

However, when I'm about 80 I suspect it'll be different. People say to me, "Don't do X and you'll live 2 years longer!" and I don't care, when I'm that old if I haven't done it I'm not going to do it.
 

Tukadian

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Sep 22, 2010
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I see death as a loss of possibilities and an ending of my accumulated experiences. There is so much that I want to do and see left that I would consider it a terrible shame to die at this point in time, not to mention those that I have depending on me or who I am close to. In my profession however you come to accept that it could happen at any time, so you just make your peace with it. That's not to say that the thought of death or disfigurement by a roadside bomb doesn't still frighten me, I mean I've had a few close calls already, you just learn to accept the threat and do what you can to minimize it; then if your number is up, it's up, simple as that. Shit becomes a lot easier once you get in that mindframe.
 

rekabdarb

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Jun 25, 2008
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You can't accomplish anything in life until you know that you are going to die. Know NOT fear.
 

IamLEAM1983

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Aug 22, 2011
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As a living creature, I have something called "survival instincts". Look it up. Ergo, I fear death. Even if I do my best to crank myself up so I can get all macho and face old Grim Reaperface like I'm about to kick ass and chew scented and flavored rubber - I start shaking in my boots at the very thought of doing something life-threatening or being exposed to such a thing.

Kinda disappointed that nobody made the All-But-Required Davy Jones Reference (TM).
 

DRes82

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Apr 9, 2009
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I'm sorry, I just can't get Bill Nighy with a squidface out of my mind while reading the thread title.

All humans fear the unknown. Its programmed into us as part of our evolution. Since we're all (for the most part) intelligent enough to know that one day we will cease being human, and no one knows what that will be like, it is fair to say that all humans fear death in some way.

I'd say that people who say they don't fear death are either lying or are in need of some medical attention.

Just my opinion, though.
 

crazie_soviet

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Feb 17, 2010
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Scared of death. No. Scared of a certain way of dyin'. Very much so. The thing is death has never scared me but only a way of dyin' has and that way is drownin' for the main fact i nearly drowned when I was younger. Death is something that is bound to happen. later for some than others, but drownin' is purely terrifying to me
 

6SteW6

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Mar 25, 2011
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Ekit said:
So for the last couple of months I've been thinking more and more about death. More specifically my own. And to be honest I'm terrified of it. I don't believe in any kind of afterlife so when I die, I believe everything will end.

The thought of everything just ending is really scary to me.

Yes, I know that I won't be able to reflect upon it because I will be dead, but still. Something about the very concept of everything ending has me really scared and depressed.

I guess I'm wondering if this is something that's unique to me or if more people have the same fear.

So my question, Escapists is: Do you fear death?
I went through the exact same thing a few years back. I was laying in bed one night and I just started thinking with complete and utter clarity 'I am going to die someday.' as a kid death was some far off rumor that happened to other people but would never happen to me. Suddenly at the ripe old age of 21 the Idea of death became completely real and I became lost.

I searched for answers; I went into the deepest, darkest depression of my life. My wife was deeply afraid for my health. Food tasted like ash, the world lost colour and I lost all my purpose. I didn't laugh, I didn't cry, I didn't talk I simply was. I merely existed, searching for answers and for a purpose. What was the point of my existence? There probably was none. It was a bleak way to live, it was a sorry way to live but I could do nothing else.

See I too never believed in an afterlife, I think it is one of the most arrogant things a human being can expect. It?s like saying ?Ok I got these 70 years of life where I worked, I paid taxes, I loved, I laughed, I fucked but that?s not enough. Now I want eternal bliss please.? I desperately wanted to believe in an afterlife, I still do actually and I would be more than pleasantly surprised if there was one. I just never believed there was, again, arrogant.

But then something happened, I snapped out of it. It dawned on me with a sudden cold clarity that I was going to die, I was going to cease to exist, my brain was going to turn to soup and I would be forgotten. But I wasn't dead yet, nor would I be for hopefully a very long time. It's hard to explain, it really is, the best way to describe it is I realized that I had a very limited time on this earth, to experience it and live it before I left it. Excuse the cliché but I had to live everyday to the fullest, like it was my last. I stopped believing in the ?were all here with a purpose? so I had to find a purpose to live. If I was sitting here waiting to die, living like I was already dead then what was the point?

I don't fear death anymore, not in the slightest; I treat it like a friend. He?s always there, tapping his watch saying ?Get a move on buddy; I?m not going to wait for you?.
It's a part of my existence that cannot be escaped, I can beg, I can plead, I can lose all hope or I can be dignified about it. It has humbled me, as friends often do. It has reminded me that I am mortal, that I have a limited time on this earth to do something, to be something. And ultimately it has made me a better person for it.

I know I will fear it at the end, when I am taking my last breathes. But I am not going to waste anymore time fearing it now, I'm going to enjoy my life as best I can, so I can at least die knowing I lived it the way it was supposed to be lived.

I hope this makes sense, it did as I typed it but that point in my life made very little sense. I hope it helps you out too, it?s a dark place to be when you realize you are mortal ;)
 

Lizardon

Robot in Disguise
Mar 22, 2010
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When I was little, for about a year I would cry ever night because the idea of dying scared me, regardless of how many times my mum told me about heaven or even (out of desperation on her part) said that she'd made a deal with god saying I wouldn't die.

I've come to terms with death, I'm not scared of it. I'm more scared of not being remembered or leaving nothing behind, whether that be some amazing accomplishment or simply having a family.
 

Talo_AML

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Jun 15, 2009
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OmniscientOstrich said:
Talo_AML said:
Responding to the original posters question: Don't think of it as simply the end of existence, nobody knows that for sure, but the answer to the greatest mystery Humanity has ever known. I'm almost EXCITED to die just to see whats on the other side.
That's just it, I'm an Atheist. My convictions are sealed. I believe all that awaits me is perennial black nothingness, hence I am afraid of death. Not now obviously, but as aformentioned when I reach an age or a time when it will dawn very near.
If being an Atheists makes you unhappy, why be one?
 

DRes82

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Apr 9, 2009
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Talo_AML said:
OmniscientOstrich said:
Talo_AML said:
Responding to the original posters question: Don't think of it as simply the end of existence, nobody knows that for sure, but the answer to the greatest mystery Humanity has ever known. I'm almost EXCITED to die just to see whats on the other side.
That's just it, I'm an Atheist. My convictions are sealed. I believe all that awaits me is perennial black nothingness, hence I am afraid of death. Not now obviously, but as aformentioned when I reach an age or a time when it will dawn very near.
If being an Atheists makes you unhappy, why be one?
Nothingness has no color so it won't be black, if that's any consolation.

Also what Talo said. Such a good idea. It doesn't hurt anyone to hope for something after death, in fact it might make living with the idea a lot easier.
 

Sjakie

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Feb 17, 2010
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What a load of horse**** from people that voted no. Stop lying to yourselves.
Yes, intellectually you might feel your above that fear. You can reason all fear away but that does not make you impervious to it.
The fear of death is what drives us: survival, it is hardcoded into our genes.
Go sit in a foxhole while bombs are dropping: you will be needing diapers and that is the fear of death striking you down while you lose control of your bowels. Or just getting missed by that bus that nearly ran you over for that matter, you know what i mean.

All the 'deeper' thoughts you might have about this issue from your comfy chair behind your pc go flying out the window (often including atheism as well) when it gets that close and personal.
Fear of death is a reflex, unless you stare it in the face up close every day for a longer period of time, you can't even begin to 'unlearn' it and when you get to that point it is mostly because your to depressed or stressed out to care about anything at all.
 

health-bar

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Nov 13, 2009
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the title ALWAYS reminds me of davy jones

i think the act of dying is more frightening.