Poll: Do you fear death?

[Talo_AML]

If being an Atheists makes you unhappy, why be one?

No offence, but that's a fucking absurd question. I'm not going to abandon rationality just because it's comforting, that's ridiculous. It's not a question of happiness, it's a question of logic; I need empirical evidence before I buy into anything. More to the point, I never said I was miserable, only that I fear death, something which is presently at the back of my mind and likely not to occur for decades to come at the very least. That was presumptuous of you to assert that I'm miserable, though admittedly accurate but not for reasons that actually have any pertinence to this thread. Yes, the truth is morose but that is something I have to inexorably deal with, an afterlife would be nice, but I'm not going to believe in one just because I want to believe in one. In short, I'm not going to lie to myself for the sake of my own happiness, especially something that I don't have to face until literally the end of my life.

Nothingness has no color so it won't be black, if that's any consolation.

Semantics aside, you get what I mean.

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.

But on the contrary dear fellow, imbued with the notion that there is nothing beyond this life and that it serves no purpose, I am given the impetus to make the most of what breif time I have. Atheism and by extension Existential Nihilism allow me to simply enjoy what I can from this chaotic clusterfuck we call life and the universe rather than waste time trying to dabbling in spirituality trying to figure 'the meaning of it all', 'why are we here' and the like. But that's just me, your free to believe what you want obviously, I just hope you're doing on the basis of what answer seems most logical to you, not the one which makes you happiest.

Of course, whatever you like. Also I confused you for the original poster when I said "If your unhappy" who said he was "absolutely terrified" my mistake.

While there's no evidence to support either side, I like to think of it as mystery not an incredibly depressing reality of ultimate meaninglessness. But If you feel like Nihilism makes you a better person, I say go for it. We need more people making there lives into something worth while and not wasting it thinking about 'the next life' when there is so much to do here already.

 

[Jak23]

After reading this thread, I can safely say: it sucks to be atheist...

 

[Xin Baixiang]

No, death fears me.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

Stop trying to get me to join your crew, Davy Jones.

 

[AdeptaSororitas]

I believe it was best said "I do not fear death. Dying on the other hand, sounds terrifying."

 

[Ekit]

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

Wow... That's really inspirational. It's comforting to see that I'm not the only one with these sorts of thoughts.

 

[OmniscientOstrich]

I confused you for the original poster when I said "If your unhappy" who said he was "absolutely terrified" my mistake.

Ah, right I see.

We need more people making there lives into something worth while and not wasting it thinking about 'the next life' when there is so much to do here already.

My sentiment exactly and Nihilism makes it very easy for me to do this.

 

[Ashadow700]

I'm not really afraid of death, I'm more annoyed by it. It's not so much that everything is just going to end that bothers me (no, I don't belive in afterlife either), but rather the fact that I'm not going to be around to experience everthing that will happen after my life. It just feels like I am going to miss out on so much, get what I mean?

Nowell, guess the best idea is to make that most of the time that we have. After all, if the last century was such a blast then this one is going to be a f-ing supernova! =D

(For the record; when I said that the last century was a blast, I meant that a lot of interesting things happend during 1900-2000. I'm not saying that they were good, or bad for that matter, I'm just say that it was a lot of interesting stuff that went down)

 

[Gentleman_Reptile]

Of course I fear death, but seeing as how I literally have no choice other than to go through it at some point, I have to embrace it...which makes it a little easier to comprehend.

I think alot of people can relate to that.

 

[LilithSlave]

What's "fear" mean, in this case?

I'm more apprehensive towards the idea of not existing than suffering.

Even if I was being tortured to death, I would rather just savor every second left than want it all to end. At least I could use that time to struggle to think of nice things. At least, when alive, you're able to do things like that. You're able to still think.

I'm sorry, but I enjoy my brain activity. And losing your very ability to think and have some semblance of consciousness, even sleep, is the ultimate loss. Worse than suffering, worse than losing sight, worse than losing smell. It is the ultimate loss, you cannot lose more than dying.

You can say, "you won't know it when you're dead", but who cares? To die, you have to lose everything. I wouldn't remember suffering if I was dead, either. Does that mean it's okay for me to suffer now, because it won't matter when I'm dead? No, because we enjoy what we do because we are alive to be capable of enjoying it. I get an enjoyment out of merely being able to think. Merely existing is fun. For as long as one has a consciousness, they have one thing valuable left. It may be small if you've lost everything else, but it is the core, most important thing a human has, and a unfathomable large level. Everything that is logically valuable, is obliterated when you die. It's not illogical to fear death, what's illogical, is to fear what happens to the world after you die. It's pointless, for instance, to hope that your family does well after you die, because you won't be around to enjoy it. There's no point in the universe even existing after you die. Because it will serve no purpose for you if there is no afterlife.

If it makes sense to fear suffering, it makes sense to fear death. Because death is worse than suffering. You can look at the bright side of a suffering situation and make the best of it. You can't work with death, it is the fundamental loss of anything positive.

If I shouldn't fear death, because it's an inevitable part of life, why should I fear suffering? Suffering, too, is an inevitable part of life. It is a truly strong person who does not fear and can see the best in suffering.

Furthermore, death is not necessarily unavoidable. If fear can only be done towards the unknown, then the worry that transhumanism may not be able to transfer me to an immortal robot before my consciousness dissipates for all eternity, is a fear of a bad scenario. Yes, I don't know the future, and I can die too soon, and I want to live as long as possible, until the end of the universe if possible. I fear the my consciousness coming to an end much more than I fear suffering. And I might not make it anywhere close to a day that my life can be extended very far.

You would get bored of living too long? What a ridiculous, unfathomable concept. Someone who thinks you can get bored of life has clearly not thought about life and death very deeply.

If only the universe were so kind, so forgiving, as for something like hell to exist. Eternal suffering, as an alternative to death.

 

[Wolfhowl the shadow lurker]

if I die I will know if there is an afterlife but I don't really ever want to die yet I know I must

 

[Kris015]

I don't fear MY death. I fear the death of my girlfriend though.

Snip Snip

Haha, awesome avatar

 

[Jakub324]

The way I see it, it makes no sense at all to worry about what you can't change, and we will all die sooner or later, so no, I'm not scared. This is gonna sound really clichéd, but I'm more scared of not doing something meaningful with my life and being forgotten.

 

[ThePurpleCube]

I...actually don't know. I've pondered it and thought about what it would mean to not even exist, but I just don't know.

 

[devotedsniper]

My driving to uni everyday says no, theres a blindspot where the road elevates abit so you cant see whats coming for a few meters, 60mph over that the car almost leaves the ground, it's a good wake up call in the morning lol, Can't beat abit of adrenaline to wake yourself up.

 

[DRes82]

But on the contrary dear fellow, imbued with the notion that there is nothing beyond this life and that it serves no purpose, I am given the impetus to make the most of what breif time I have. Atheism and by extension Existential Nihilism allow me to simply enjoy what I can from this chaotic clusterfuck we call life and the universe rather than waste time trying to dabbling in spirituality trying to figure 'the meaning of it all', 'why are we here' and the like. But that's just me, your free to believe what you want obviously, I just hope you're doing on the basis of what answer seems most logical to you, not the one which makes you happiest.

I've never liked nihilism. Its just too bleak. I consider myself an agnostic. There is no way to know what happens after death, and that is comforting enough for me. I refuse to believe, though, that my life and existence are completely pointless. Even if my purpose is just what I evolved for...to keep my genetic code alive, at least that's still a purpose.

 

[rokkolpo]

Yes, I fear Oblivion.

I'd much rather go to Christian hell.
You know, that place with all the fun people.

 

[LilithSlave]

I just hope you're doing on the basis of what answer seems most logical to you, not the one which makes you happiest.

Wait, what's the logic there? If there's no point in finding greater meaning because it's not logical, and we should just try to enjoy what little we have to the fullest, then following a happy delusion is a great idea.

Anything that makes you happier in your short life is a good idea. Considering, like you said, all you can really do is live your life to the fullest by being as happy as possible.

Why would contradict that by saying people should choose logic over happiness? I'm an Atheist, too. An outspoken Atheist, at that. But I'm tired of Atheists saying things like this. It seems completely illogical.

The logic that being logical is good, because it benefits society, is sound. But saying that people should be logical about spirituality, because it's a waste of short human life that should be spent being happy, and then telling people, right after saying that since there is no afterlife, people should do what makes them happy, that they should choose a mentality that makes them less happy, because it's logical, in their short life, is contradictory. Incredibly so.

If life is so short that people should use ever bit to be as happy as possible, then a delusion of God or the like is a great way to spend it. It may not be good for society if you spread that unproductive delusion. But it is comforting to the self. Which again, if the goal is happiness, spiritual delusions, God, spirits, afterlife, all that, is a great way to improve happiness.

Logically, the only thing that not having a delusional belief in the afterlife gives me, is the desperate hope and willpower to work towards extending my life as long as possible.

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

I want to say no, but the way my personality is it has to be yes. Its probably caused by the fact that I have no comfort zone with death other than possibly dying next to someone I love so I could die in comfort. The whole heaven thing just doesn't strike me as realistic.

 

[silvermorning624]

I would have to say I have been running into that same wall for a while now. The thought of nothing, which does not exist in our universe, is absolutely mind bending. It is like trying to look into a place that can not be seen. As far as some kind of after life, I am of two minds. On the one hand, the more reasoned and scientific, I know that every idea ever conceived about the soul can be explained by the presence of the brain. This means that when my brain ceases to function, so will I. On the other hand, there is a part of me that is reluctant to think that I am going to miss out on the rest of this great experience we call life. If there were to be some sort of "afterlife" I do not believe it would be in the sense of any of the religions have come to perpetuate. I am sure it would be beyond our current understanding. Again, there is a very likely chance that there is not such a form of existence.