Thanatophobia (heavy stuff inside, ye be warned)

[Moloch Sacrifice]

This may seem odd, but I find the idea of death rather comforting. Obviously, I would like to sustain my life as long as possible, and preferably leave it as painlessly as possible, but the thought of endless, unthinking nothing at the end of the road is strangely soothing. Never having to be upset, hungry, tired, frustrated or confused seems like a rather blissful existence. That said, I take more issue with finding meaning in the time I have, rather than being preoccupied with the end.

I will admit I have spent a lot of time considering the subject, and initially it was not easy to reconcile my disbelief in God with the lack of an afterlife, but I think I have made the transition to logically consistent nonbeliever relatively unscathed. Since then, I've also come to see the very idea of an afterlife undesirable, but I shouldn't derail the thread with my armchair philosophy.

 

[BabuNu]

This has never been something that I've worried about. The thought of my friends and family dying is much scarier to me because I'll actually be able to feel the emotional pain.

I guess the way that I've avoided this fear is to just come at it from a purely logical point of view; when I die I physically won't be able to care about it so what's the point in worrying. When it happens to you it won't be a bad thing or a good thing because you won't be able to experience bad and good things anymore. From a purely personal perspective, it's the most neutral thing that can happen to you.

 

[Quazimofo]

I don't suffer that at all.

Say what you want about religion, but being a diehard religious fanatic has its benefits, such as preclusion of Thanatophobia.

And even if I wasn't... if there's nothing beyond the threshold of death, then you won't have to worry about it. It's not like you'll be trapped in a black box forever, it's more like being asleep. You don't remember being asleep (dreams aside) and you don't have any opinions or thoughts while asleep. You just exist. Or, in the case of final death, you don't.

Thank you for that. It comes up every now and again for me, usually at night or during any period where I'm a bit strapped for things to do and am alone with my thoughts. My biggest fear was the deprivation of sensation. I love life, good and bad. The idea of it ending and never coming back is.. somewhat depressing, particularly now since I'm a teenager and I've barely done anything in my life. I want to do things and enjoy things going forward for as long as I possibly can.

Yet for some reason, thinking of death as just an endless nap is comforting. If the end of experience is not so much a deprivation of everything you love, but a final serenity, even with lack of memory (as if you are sleeping but not dreaming like you said) then I think that's good enough for me.

And then on the off chance that there is some afterlife of a sort (I'll never write it off as a possibility until I get a LOT of hard fact that says otherwise), and there is some way to get around that troublesome human tendency to become desensitized to experience (i.e you'll never want to eat steak again if it's all you ate for 3 years straight. Well, you might, I'd eat all the steak in the world if I could without marked negative effects), then I'm sure that'll be a hoot and a half.
racing in 40k land speeders anyone?

 

[Hero of Lime]

Death itself doesn't scare me to be honest, I just don't want to die with lots of regrets. Obviously everyone feels that way, but there is so much I want to do that I haven't, and the thought of never doing those things scare me.

Another thing, I realize if I were to die, I would be forgotten outside of my family and close friends pretty quickly. The idea of everyone else having to go on without me. The thought of being left behind is the worst for me. Once I get older I assume this feeling would go away, but as a 21 year old, it weighs heavily on me.

As of right now, death by cancer is probably my irrational fear, ever since my cat got and eventually died by it this year. My mom said the same thing happened when her mom died of cancer when she was younger. At this point I would rather be murdered in cold blood than given a diagnosis of cancer, it scares me that much.

 

[TheSYLOH]

Personally a fear of death is what's keeping me alive.
I would have slit my jugular in a bout of depression if I didn't have it.

Always wondered what,if anything, is on the other side. A fear of finding out keeps me from exploring.

 

[Foolery]

I'm not really afraid of death. If I die, I die. But I'd better make my life worth it before I do. I guess it's because I've understood it and seen enough of it starting from a young age. My grandfather died from cancer when I was 4. He wasn't just gone to me, I knew what exactly what happened and where his body went. He was cremated. I've been to 2 funerals in the past year. Recently a friend of mine that was in a vehicle accident passed away. He was in a coma for a bit, but his body just couldn't recover. My grandma passed this past summer as well. Funerals have put a lot of things into perspective for me. So many things are quite trivial and shallow. Not the good bits, mind you. I just find it ridiculous how terrible human beings can act, when in truth, not one of us has much time. A lifespan may seem long, but there's no guarantee that you'll live the full amount. We are all just pieces of carbon and other elements that nature will take back one day soon.

 

[Weaver]

I have this hit me from time to time, usually when I'm in bed.
It's pretty frightening, really.

 

[Fox12]

Weirdly enough I've seen enough death to where it doesn't really scare me very much. I'm more scared of others dying to be honest, but even then I don't worry about it too much. For me it's more about achieving everything I want to achieve before I go. After that it doesn't really matter to me. If there's a heaven then great. If there's not then eternal nothingness doesn't sound so bad either.

 

[Akytalusia]

i've got probably the farthest thing from it, short of thanatophilia.. i'm looking forward to my death, and non-existence is the best thing i could hope for. the only thing keeping me from jumping on the next boat over is the lack of information about my projected state of consciousness post-mortem. if it's really non-existence, then that's fucking great. unfortunately my constant exposure to third party theists as part of my environmental conditioning forces me to consider other possibilities that aren't nearly as pleasant. thus i have to be careful how i board that boat. i spend just about every waking moment trying to determine the truth of the matter. it's literally driving me insane as my obsessively thorough investigation has lead me to suspect there's absolutely no information attainable by me pre-mortem. -.-;;

 

[stroopwafel]

When I was younger I couldn't fathom the thought of death or that one day I would just cease to be. But as I grew older I found out loss is an inherent part of life and that slowly we get used to the idea of dying one day. Our existence is like an hour glass that slowly seeps away our hopes, dreams and possibilities. Until there is no time left. It's a series of goodbyes both big and small. Death is simply the final goodbye. The only thing you can do in this life is make your time here worthwhile and not look back in regret. Easier said than done though. But all a person can do is try.

 

[piinyouri]

In bed. Always in bed. (and it seems popular consensus agrees)

Yeah it's...weird for me. Can you imagine just falling asleep and never waking up?
You won't even see black because black is a thing. and there's (probably) nothing after death.

This one get's me usually right after I have that "Wow, I'm ME..." realization.

 

[Zeraki]

I started getting this for the first time when I was around 6 years old. I'd lie awake at night thinking about what it would be like, and imagining eternal nothingness where everything I am would just cease to exist. So I would sometimes start to panic and try to occupy my mind with something else. This is why it always annoys me when you see news people telling parents how they should "tell their kids" about a certain tragedy to "help them understand". Kids are smart, they know a lot more than most adults are willing to admit. When I brought these fears up to my parents or any other adults they would always tell me the same thing "Oh you're too young to be worrying about that" which my 6 year old self thought was absolute bullshit.

Now that I'm older it's easier to deal with, but it'll sometimes creep up on me when I'm trying to sleep. Ah, that good old "Unnamed Feeling".

I'm more frightened at this point about other people or even pets dying though. That pain is not a fun thing to deal with, and I've been dealing with it a lot the past few years.

 

[Hagi]

Say what you want about religion, but being a diehard religious fanatic has its benefits, such as preclusion of Thanatophobia.

Might be the case for some but definitely not all.

My aunt is a diehard religious fanatic and in recent years there's been a lot of anxiety over the question whether or not her life was good and faithful enough to end up in heaven, especially after my uncle developed terminal cancer. A lot of fear over the question whether or not she did something wrong and whether or not there's still time in her life to repent.

Don't know all the details as to be honest I avoid contact as much as possible largely due to this.

But religion definitely does not confer an immunity to the fear of death. Different fears most like, but still fears.

 

[lacktheknack]

Say what you want about religion, but being a diehard religious fanatic has its benefits, such as preclusion of Thanatophobia.

Might be the case for some but definitely not all.

My aunt is a diehard religious fanatic and in recent years there's been a lot of anxiety over the question whether or not her life was good and faithful enough to end up in heaven, especially after my uncle developed terminal cancer. A lot of fear over the question whether or not she did something wrong and whether or not there's still time in her life to repent.

Don't know all the details as to be honest I avoid contact as much as possible largely due to this.

But religion definitely does not confer an immunity to the fear of death. Different fears most like, but still fears.

Sorry... diehard religion that I've subscribed to.

That better?

 

[Hagi]

Sorry... diehard religion that I've subscribed to.

That better?

You personally don't, no telling how your religion would influence another person.

Might help them, might not.

My point being, I really think it's more to do with the person in question and their personality rather than whatever religion they may or may not subscribe to.

 

[In Search of Username]

I... don't get this. I don't remember ever being afraid of death, really. And I'm afraid of/anxious about a whole lot of stuff. But I guess never death.

That said, I do LIKE the idea of reincarnation being a thing, the idea of having a chance to start over again. But it's not to do with fear of death, it's to do with regret about the choices I've made so far. I'd like it to be the case that I could get another chance at everything, but I've never been AFRAID of the idea that I won't, somehow.

 

[SaetonChapelle]

Honestly, not so much. Now, the fears of those close to me dying, yes. My own mortality however, not so much. I figure it's going to happen eventually, and me worrying about it isn't going to change anything (if anything, it will make my death that much sooner. Such emotional stress not only affect the mind but the body as well).

I do however imagine my death. I'm not sure I'd want one of those "sleeps peacefully into death". I also want my death to be tragic or heroic, to mean something. I was shot trying to help someone, starved after providing my food to other people during a horrific incident, burned after helping my fellow man escape a building. Obviously these are terrible examples, and most probably would result in others being hurt (god forbid), but my hope would be that I would be remembered for at least one good deed. Sadly my life is rather routine, I have really nothing going for me. I don't have an exceptional job which affects millions, I'm not super smart, beautiful, or skilled. If I can even do one thing prior to death that might help another, I would be able to die happy.