Why do you fear death?

[Bruin]

The way I've heard it--being dead is not the bad part. Being dead is peace in a world of turbulence.

Getting there is the hard part and the part that scares humans.

I truly fear leaving behind the things in life I love most--the things I haven't experienced, the people I haven't spoken to and the unwritten chapters of life that I could have filled out.

I don't see how anybody could really disagree with that.

 

[2fish]

I do not fear my death; I have died once in the sense that my brain stopped all functions save the breathing/heart/ other basic functions for about three weeks. There was nothing that the doctors could do to bring me back. I got better over time but when I look back at that and the years of my life following that event it was as if I had died, but my body failed to get the memo.

That's really interesting. What caused it? And what was it like? Or do you not have any first-hand recollection of being "dead"?

To this day we are not sure what I had but the best guess is encephalitis, an inflamation of the brain. I have no memories from the illness and for years afterwards it is fuzzy. Age 8 through 16 have gaps or are fuzzy. Before the Age of 8 I have tiny bits of memories, but usually they randomly appear through some odd context.

After 16 there are still memory issues but just not as big and easier to figure out the missing details. Sorry I have no real memory of the even I have more of gut feelings and emotions. Since I got sick at age 8 it was early enough to make it hard to notice anything other than a huge difference in my behavior.

In the end I think it became a confidence booster as I gained a deal with it or get the fuck out of my way attitude. I have often wondered how I would be different today if I had not gotten sick, would I be able to turn my emotions off, and if so would I want to?

But on the bright side you get great stories, I had a seizure at a movie theater on my first day working there. I was the only one in the ticket box, there is only one key to the room and it is with the manager who is out to lunch. I had a seizure; I fall over hit the ground and have the convolutions. Everyone freaks out, the other new employee calls 911, managers go nuts trying to find the key and call the manager at lunch. I wake up in the corner surrounded by paramedics, 3 managers and roped off. While I am going through the routine with the paramedics I see that there is a fire truck and an ambulance outside (this is bad because all light after a seizure is like setting your eyes and brain on fire). Then this little old lady walks up to me and says, "Are you the ticket taker?" Everyone kinda stops for a second, the paramedics then keep going on with their job, but I look at my friend who is a manager. He quickly took her ticket and walked her to her film.

I never had to work tickets again.... odd huh? If you are epileptic the best stories are the ones you don?t remember .

 

[TheGreatCoolEnergy]

Because there is too much I haven't done.

 

[Free Thinker]

It's frightening to imagine that you cease existing. Period. If religion was wrong and there is no afterlife where you continually exist, then you got paranoid people. People LIKE to exist.

 

[major28]

well it depends on what are favorite subject was in the 3rd grade

Science reason: a human who is afraid of death is going to do all it an to not die, so according to natural selection he is more likely to reproduce and pass on his fear of death to his offspring

Math reason: Living=Fun, Fun=/=Sucks, so Not Living=Sucks

Literary reason: poetic blah blah analegy sybolism blah

 

[RooftopAssassin]

Like most others have said; life is just too damned awesome! Why wouldn't I fear death? Only insane people have no fear of death. It's also hard to comprehend that I won't be able to speak, hear, or see; mostly because I won't be conscious! I won't be able to do anything, and that scares me.

 

[Tomster595]

I fear it because I haven't really done anything extraordinary in my life yet..

 

[rddj623]

I do not fear death or dying.

 

[milkkart]

being an atheist and not putting much stock in threats of eternal hell (or being stuck 'giving glory to god' for eternity, *shudder* eternal boredom. seriously check it out, heaven blows.) im not scared of death. a painful death im scared of because well, it'll hurt obviously. but just no longer existing, why would that bother me?

tl;dr i won't be aware of it so no big deal.

 

[Wiiiiiiilliam]

why should I be frightened of dieing there'd be no reason for it, I mean you gotta go sometime

 

[Ciran]

We instinctively fear the unknown. It is one of the basic human fears that has always been there and will never go away; it's why we fear the dark. Death is one of the largest unknowns mostly because we never can know what's beyond that moment, so therefore we fear it.

 

[silentsentinel]

What? Me worry?

I try to avoid death, but I got better things to worry about. Like my first Organic Chemistry test.

 

[Tydanubus]

I fear the deaths of the people I care about. My own death won't bother me because I won't be.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

"It's not that I'm afraid of dying. I just don't want to be there when it happens." -- Woody Allen

Honestly, it's just because it's unknown. No one knows for a fact what happens and it's always unsettling to face an inevitable unknown. There's always a chance that no matter what you believe, you could be wrong.

Because there is too much I haven't done.

And this. No matter what, there is no way I can do everything that I want to do in my lifetime. I can't visit every country I want to visit, read every book I want to read, play every game I want to play, see every movie I want to see, talk about everything I want to talk about, study everything I want to study, and learn to play every instrument I want to play. I'll never make a movie with George Clooney, I'll never have a conversation with Nellie McKay, I'll never play guitar for Andrew W.K., I'll never voice act for a Professor Layton game... there are so many things I'll never know and so many people that I'll never meet...

It's a nice mixture of both being depressing that there are so many things I probably won't be able to do and the realization that it's ok that I won't be able to do it all.

 

[Peteron]

I don't fear death. It isn't something you should be afraid of, it can be a release from fear and pain if need be. Honestly I am afraid of the fear before dying, than death itself.

 

[0bserv3]

I don't really fear death. I fear dying painfully and I worry how my family would cope if I were dead, but that's not quite the same as fearing death itself.

 

[lastcigarette]

Because I'm an arrogant sonofabitch and death is the one adversary where the odds are completely in its favor.

 

[Dango]

Simple: Man fears the unknown. For me personally though, I'd have to say that it's because I'm scared that I might die before I find true meaning in my life.

 

[notsosavagemessiah]

I'm totally ok with dying. It'll happen when it happens. I'll feel absolutely nothing, therefore, being truly at peace. Death is not something to fear, but something that just happens.

 

[default]

Hell, this thread sure exploded overnight. Thanks everyone for your input, you all have a lot of interesting views varied by personal belief, religion and bad-assery...