What is so frightening about nonexistence?

[Deacon Cole]

I cannot even conceive of anything more horrible than an afterlife. I like that one day I will end. I look forward to it. Afterlife concepts are usually wed to some version of paradise or eternal happiness. This only exposes the childish lie of it. It's like an article I had once read where the author noted that historians who would say they'd like to live during a given period in history actually meant they wanted to be part of the wealthy elite rather than the poor working schlubs. That's what heaven is, only worse. It's transparent fantasy. But even past that, just continuing on forever. I don't even care what happens next. Just the thought of eternal life just crushes me like a weight. Such a horrid concept. They should kill whoever thought it up.

 

[Mikkaddo]

I was wikiwalking on a certain hazardously readable website when I found this in the Real-Life section of the Fridge Horror page:

Take a moment to imagine that there is no afterlife. That there are no souls. That means that after you die... nothing. Absolutely nothing. And even if you get that, it's almost as if you still think you'll be living or you'll get another life. But what if you don't? Then it's literally NOTHING left. When this hits you, it's one of the scariest feelings you can ever have. And the fact that most people on this site are already in their 20s, 30s, 40s etc, it feels like time has flown by and your already half-way through your life. Then take in account the fact that people constantly die from unnatural causes.

I don't understand this fear. There are so many ways that being conscious for eternity could be worse (remember the mind-prison in KOTOR?), even in an afterlife that starts out pretty nice. To me it sounds not much different than the timeless, thoughtless state one is in between closing one's eyes and opening them a few moments later, only to realize that 5 or so hours have passed. What's so bad about that?

Anybody have thoughts on this?

EDIT: Reading further on the page, there seem to be a lot of things that people worry about too much or for strange reasons. Getting scared into veganism from the realization that you're made of meat as well? Isn't that like being afraid of nuclear fission because you're all atoms too?

The fear isn't the nonexistance itself, but the fact that:

if you die and stop existing, did you ever exist? and if death means nonexistance, did ANYTHING you EVER did or accomplished mean anything? did you really leave a legacy if you don't exist anymore? that's what scares people. That's what scares me, I want to leave a legacy . . . whether a child or something else, I want to have a living memory . . . some mark on history other than a gravestone and a few pictures on the internet. I don't believe I'll stop existing after death, but I believe that if you are forgotten after death, you might as well no longer exist.

 

[Kintobor92]

Exactly. It isn't possible to imagine nothingness, or a life without consciousness. The very definition of consciousness is a state in which you are aware.

While I'm sure you're right that people are afraid of it simply because it's foreign to us, I would guess it's more that people are scared of the meaninglessness they feel life would be without an afterlife of some sort. Which is also a reason many people are religious.

OP, you may be interested to look at some Eastern thought, if you aren't familiar with it. Their religions often embrace a kind of nothingness or void. Sometimes they have it basically in place of Christian heaven. Just an interesting side note.

 

[FernandoV]

I was wikiwalking on a certain hazardously readable website when I found this in the Real-Life section of the Fridge Horror page:

Take a moment to imagine that there is no afterlife. That there are no souls. That means that after you die... nothing. Absolutely nothing. And even if you get that, it's almost as if you still think you'll be living or you'll get another life. But what if you don't? Then it's literally NOTHING left. When this hits you, it's one of the scariest feelings you can ever have. And the fact that most people on this site are already in their 20s, 30s, 40s etc, it feels like time has flown by and your already half-way through your life. Then take in account the fact that people constantly die from unnatural causes.

I don't understand this fear. There are so many ways that being conscious for eternity could be worse (remember the mind-prison in KOTOR?), even in an afterlife that starts out pretty nice. To me it sounds not much different than the timeless, thoughtless state one is in between closing one's eyes and opening them a few moments later, only to realize that 5 or so hours have passed. What's so bad about that?

Anybody have thoughts on this?

EDIT: Reading further on the page, there seem to be a lot of things that people worry about too much or for strange reasons. Getting scared into veganism from the realization that you're made of meat as well? Isn't that like being afraid of nuclear fission because you're all atoms too?

The only thing that I can say about nonexistence is that it sort've puts into perspective how the things we're proud of doing in our life didn't mean anything. I'm not under any delusion that we're all unique snowflakes that have a lasting impact on the world but I do assign personal importance to things I do, I like it that way.

 

[jack583]

i'm a christian and i believe in god as well as heaven and hell.
but i'll admit i have no physical proof.
so, personaly speaking, i'm not worried if i'm right or wrong.
because no one knows what happens after we die.
we have no way of knowing if anything does happen after our meat shells stop moving.
and the ones that do know won't be able tell the rest of us.

i have my faith, and this will never change, but i'm looking forward to knowing exactly what happens.
but that will happen soon enough, there is no stopping it, and as long as it's completely out of my hands, then i see no reason to worry about it.
so untill that day comes, i'll see what i can do here.

 

[Yoshisummons]

Irrational behavior stemming from chemical impulses that were triggered by your subconscious with the thought of failing the prime directive getting you down?

Spoiler

Nope!

 

[chaosyoshimage]

Everybody else said it better than I could so, um, I'll come up with something else. Nonexistence has a scary looking nose. Yeah, I'm the pinnacle of thought around here...

 

[AndyFromMonday]

Perhaps 'imagine' is the wrong word. No language is really built to describe a lack of experience. It may be more accurate to say that I managed to get some kind of weird duality going on where I managed to experience non-experience.... Like I said, VERY hard to describe, but it is very different from both normal imagination and conceptualizing nothingness on an intellectual level. It is strange, alien, and batshit terrifying, because it is the complete antithesis of everything you are.

Either way, we sort of deviated from my original point. People are afraid of what they can't understand.

 

[smithy_2045]

I don't find it frightening at all.

 

[Alexnader]

I think part of the problem is a misunderstanding of the premise. From what I've seen, it's incredibly common for people to interpret 'nothing after death' as 'your consciousness still exists and for the rest of eternity you have nothing to occupy your still lingering mind', as opposed to the idea that you simply cease to exist. But even that has a degree of fear that it inspires. Think of the general fear of death. Same idea, often the same rationale. Except in the case of oblivion it's even more permanent.

I'd prefer being stuck in a state of nothingness with just blackness. Anything over oblivion. To exist is the ultimate goal.

I am frankly amazed at the number of people who aren't terrified by the idea that this brief time we have on earth is all we get. Beyond that there is nothing at all, you don't even realise there's nothing. You just stop, forever.

Part of it is the fear of the unknown but most of it is the fervent need I have to be alive.

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

Well, why wouldn't it be frightening? I really enjoy to exist, you know.

 

[McMullen]

The fear isn't the nonexistance itself, but the fact that:

if you die and stop existing, did you ever exist? and if death means nonexistance, did ANYTHING you EVER did or accomplished mean anything? did you really leave a legacy if you don't exist anymore? that's what scares people. That's what scares me, I want to leave a legacy . . . whether a child or something else, I want to have a living memory . . . some mark on history other than a gravestone and a few pictures on the internet. I don't believe I'll stop existing after death, but I believe that if you are forgotten after death, you might as well no longer exist.

Fair enough, but given that the universe will probably eventually be a uniform field of thermal noise, all legacies are temporary anyway. I figure that, like most things, in fact nearly everything, the significance of a life is not the beginning or ending state, but all the complexity that happens between those points. I see no value in building a legacy, but I see a lot of value in building a life full of cherished memories.

 

[Brandon237]

The idea of not experiencing, feeling, doing BEING, is the most absolutely horrifying thing to me, worse than the biblical hell, pain is SOMETHING, to not even think permanently, I don't like that idea, not one bit.

 

[Pinkamena]

I really don't see how nonexistance is frightening.

 

[DAPLR]

I was wikiwalking on a certain hazardously readable website when I found this in the Real-Life section of the Fridge Horror page:

Take a moment to imagine that there is no afterlife. That there are no souls. That means that after you die... nothing. Absolutely nothing. And even if you get that, it's almost as if you still think you'll be living or you'll get another life. But what if you don't? Then it's literally NOTHING left. When this hits you, it's one of the scariest feelings you can ever have. And the fact that most people on this site are already in their 20s, 30s, 40s etc, it feels like time has flown by and your already half-way through your life. Then take in account the fact that people constantly die from unnatural causes.

I don't understand this fear. There are so many ways that being conscious for eternity could be worse (remember the mind-prison in KOTOR?), even in an afterlife that starts out pretty nice. To me it sounds not much different than the timeless, thoughtless state one is in between closing one's eyes and opening them a few moments later, only to realize that 5 or so hours have passed. What's so bad about that?

Anybody have thoughts on this?

EDIT: Reading further on the page, there seem to be a lot of things that people worry about too much or for strange reasons. Getting scared into veganism from the realization that you're made of meat as well? Isn't that like being afraid of nuclear fission because you're all atoms too?

Give me a link. PLEASE! I thought I was the only one to experience that!

 

[cgentero]

I like existing, I want to continue existing, if I could I would have liked to have existed even before I was born. I'm really talking about my consciousness and not my physical self. Non existence is the greatest threat to my existence, hence my fear.

 

[HardkorSB]

I was wikiwalking on a certain hazardously readable website when I found this in the Real-Life section of the Fridge Horror page:

Take a moment to imagine that there is no afterlife. That there are no souls. That means that after you die... nothing. Absolutely nothing. And even if you get that, it's almost as if you still think you'll be living or you'll get another life. But what if you don't? Then it's literally NOTHING left. When this hits you, it's one of the scariest feelings you can ever have. And the fact that most people on this site are already in their 20s, 30s, 40s etc, it feels like time has flown by and your already half-way through your life. Then take in account the fact that people constantly die from unnatural causes.

I don't understand this fear. There are so many ways that being conscious for eternity could be worse (remember the mind-prison in KOTOR?), even in an afterlife that starts out pretty nice. To me it sounds not much different than the timeless, thoughtless state one is in between closing one's eyes and opening them a few moments later, only to realize that 5 or so hours have passed. What's so bad about that?

Anybody have thoughts on this?

EDIT: Reading further on the page, there seem to be a lot of things that people worry about too much or for strange reasons. Getting scared into veganism from the realization that you're made of meat as well? Isn't that like being afraid of nuclear fission because you're all atoms too?

What might be the most frightening thing is the inability to imagine non-existence.
Plus, people don't want to not exist (most of them, at least).

 

[Chezza]

- As a christian I like to think all the good decisions people make are not for nothing. Otherwise being selfish is the pragmatic way of life and donating or helping someone without expecting a reward or same treatment simply means your a fool. I sure don't want that to be true. And vise-versa I do not want horrible people to go completely unpunished.

squeekenator said:

"But isn't that what makes it the right thing to do? You do good because you want to do good and because you care about others, not because you want to be rewarded. Doing the right thing because you get something out of it is just selfishness in disguise, and being a good person is/should be its own reward."

***My Reply*** (Sorry I screwed up the quote)

That's correct but I think you misunderstood me. Perhaps I should of explained it better. My point being, selflessly donating or doing good deeds would be "foolish" there is no rationale behind the very meaning of being "good". Without a meaning then the pragmatic thing to do is to only do good if you earn something back.

That's regarding those who do it without the constant thought of getting into a paradise after death. But I do find it ok to think of it as a motivator when you question doing a good deed at times

 

[wfpdk]

i don't understand it either. I simply plan to live forever until I die, then i wont care because im dead. it's about as scary as sleeping without remembering your dream, but you just never wake up.

 

[ascorbius]

'Cos as Death says: Life gets under your skin.

We didn't exist for billions of years, we get a brief blip of life and then that's it for the rest of time.. Big concept. Terrifying even. Nothing we can do about it though. The cruel thing is we are aware of it. No-one said Life would be fair. It's happened to everyone so far and it will continue to happen to everyone in the future. Some people get a bigger blip than others, but even if you live for a thousand years, in the grand scheme of things, it's still just a blip to the universe.