Gaming World Forums
General Category => General Talk => Topic started by: Arnold on June 21, 2008, 02:53:09 am
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What are your thoughts about death and dying? Me? I think the whole thing sounds pretty depressing. Death to me sounds like just suddenly turning off and never turning on again. It's just the thought of not existing scares me. And I know I'm still a young adult and it may be some time till I have to face it, but the fact of facing it when it comes just frightens me. But yeah, I guess we all have to face it someday. What are your thoughts on the subject?
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I think it is a natural process of life. Things live things die. Sure it's said, but again, it's inevitable and going to happen. It just sucks when people die so young or from things other than natural causes.
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don't worry about it, your not dead yet so its not your problem.
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I always thought that death was like moving house.
You're not gone, but you just don't live here anymore.
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I used to be really frightened by the fact of not existing anymore, I was scared of not experiencing alot of stuff and missing out.
Now I don't really think about it so much and if it happens it happens I guess.
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I'm not religious, not even close to feeling fulfilled in life, death is not something I look forward to.
The though of loosing my consciousness forever...
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I always thought that death was like moving house.
You're not gone, but you just don't live here anymore.
Haha this puts it oh so well.
I don't think death is the end of reality. Existing in the present is evidence enough for me that I will exist in some form forever. Will I be human? No, probably not. Will I be a ghost? No, I don't think so. Will I even be tangable? Haha I have no idea.
Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and in some distant universe sextillions of years from now I'll exist in a new sentient form. I might even resemble a human. Wouldn't that be neat?
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Death is okay as long as it happens to me and not someone else.
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Death.
It is the balance for life.
It is something we are all bound to the instant we are thrown into this world.
It is the eternal rest I'm going to need after dealing with all of you assholes.
Ahem. It's not something you can change, so it's not something you should even worry about. It's just a constant reminder that makes the time in this life all the more valuable.
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I've often wondered what it would feel like to die. But honestly, I just cannot comprehend it. Are you in a state of nothing? How do you explain the "nothing"? I am kind of excited to find out, but scared too.
In my first semester of college I took a course called Thanatos: Death and Dying, which was quite interesting and makes a lot of points about this kind of thing. The subject in general is one that definitely makes you stop and think.
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Without death.... there can't be life...
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As much of a prick this may make me, avoiding death at any cost is something I plan on doing throughout the course of my whole life. I've come to the conclusion that life is a gift and goddammit, if it gets taken someone is an Indian giver.
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Without death.... there can't be life...
tis true.
I'm grateful for both, though how they occour can really effect your perspective i guess.
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Without death.... there can't be life...
you're wrong, without death you'd be immortal like jesus and highlander.
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im gonna die and i cant do anything about it so it doesnt bother me.
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Terrible for other people, since I am aware that they have died. For myself? I can only speak for it now. I think when a lot of people say that they are afraid of death, it isn't what happens after death, but rather the fact that you don't get to live life anymore. It's hard to say that I am scared of being dead, because after all I would be...dead. I don't believe that our perceptions continue after life, but ends when we die.
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When a friend died for me it was a bit weird. At first I didn't care at all. Like...I had NO feelings whatsoever on it. After a few days it got really scary just thinking about it. I'm still a littled daunted by knowing people that have died, but I do crazy shit which'll get me killed without having much fear of death.
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i am terrified of death because i dont believe in any sort of afterlife.
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I had this weird experience yesterday, I went to a theme park and realised what it would be like to die from falling from a great height. Ugh. I'd like to believe that the consciousness doesn't die (or something like David Icke's theory), but I find myself wanting to believe in religion (even though I think it's wrong) just so I believe there is an afterlife. And, of course, I would be going to it.
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I'm not freaked out by death so much as I am by what comes right before death... I always imagine there's this sickening moment of confusion and terror and impotence immediately before your consciousness is snuffed out, and I find that a lot more disturbing than just the idea of not living anymore.
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i am terrified of death because i dont believe in any sort of afterlife.
Yeah, sometimes it would be nice to believe in religion...or at least some sort of spiritual aspect to it.
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And the inevitability of death gets to you. I wonder if it's possible to simply accept that.
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Yeah, sometimes it would be nice to believe in religion...or at least some sort of spiritual aspect to it.
Yeah, but if you can somehow learn to come to terms with the aspect of once you're gone you're gone and although you'll lose the things/people you love you'll also leave all of you're troubles and worries behind and that there really isn't anything to worry about it seems sort of comforting to me anyways.
I mean I DONT WANT TO DIE at all but I'd like to say that when I'm older I'll be able to accept it without too much fear.
And really fuck religion, if there is any sort of caring, loving, omnipotent force that created the universe then it really shouldn't give a damn who you worship and what you do/think as long as you do your best in life and try not to harm others in the process.
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We've all been dead for 13 billion years, what's the big deal? REAL DEEP I KNOW. But kind of fun to think about.
It feels terrifying when I even try to wrap my mind around the idea of losing the SELF. It's kind of a primitive terror where everything that I've known to be stable and secure is completely lost to me. I won't feel or think or even be able to feel what not being able to HAVE THOUGHT is like. I remember when I was much younger that I didn't GET what death was, and I thought it was just the soul floating around in space.
I guess thinking about it makes me appreciate what little time I do have here, and motivates me to make the best of each moment.
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Go with the flow; I can't stop death, I'll do everything in my power to enjoy my life and accomplish what I set out to do.
Death is just my unknown time limit and their is no point in worrying about something you can't ever know.
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the process of dying scars me a helluva lot more then being dead does. To me me being dead is nothing because you dont know youre dead because you got no consiousness or selfawareness anymore so its just all gone. is the being stabbed or falling off a roof or geting a disease that gets me
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*Twitch* My strongest wish in the world is to be immortal... I've so many discussions with so many people about it. Many have told me I'm stupid and that I should just accept... But I'm literally incapable of doing so... death is my greatest fear. (note: I'm not a atheist, I'm Agnostic, I don't believe in god nor do I disbelieve in him, I think of him as a possibility)
My ideal world would be one with out death. I can't understand how someone would want to die... in fact I don't think of people who commit suicide as cowards, but morons or crazies. HOW COULD YOU ACCEPT DEATH? I dislike both atheist's view on death AND theists views on death... I see both scenarios as something terrible. Thats not to say that I don't think that they are possible.
I'm guessing its just my insane desperateness, but I half believe that it is possible to become immortal and that humanity is at the cusp of discovering it.
People think I'm (literally) insane for such thoughts and hopes.
People ask me "Why would you want to never die?" and I feel as if they are asking me "Why exist at all?" or "Why do you like to have fun?" or "Why do you not like being unhappy?"
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Happens to all the wrong people at the wrong times. You can't rely on anyone cause they just randomly DIE one day. Not really shit scared of death, more just the consequences.
At least I'd get some sleep.
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I've thought about it and the only thing that really scares me is the potential "nothingness." I personally think it scares me so much because you really can't perceive it. I mean, I can try to think about the "nothingness" before I was born and not really care, but to think about what I may be headed into creeps me the hell out. The only thing I can really compare it to is being in some kind of pitchblack endless zone where you can never really go anywhere and when you try to touch your arms or chest or something to see if you can feel, you hit nothing... or rather you can't even do that because you have nothing. Big problem with that concept though, the blackness in and of itself and being able to perceive it would mean you exist right? And mind boggling stuff to be sure.
I try not to think about it too much though because it does bother me.
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I've thought about it and the only thing that really scares me is the potential "nothingness." I personally think it scares me so much because you really can't perceive it. I mean, I can try to think about the "nothingness" before I was born and not really care, but to think about what I may be headed into creeps me the hell out. The only thing I can really compare it to is being in some kind of pitchblack endless zone where you can never really go anywhere and when you try to touch your arms or chest or something to see if you can feel, you hit nothing... or rather you can't even do that because you have nothing. Big problem with that concept though, the blackness in and of itself and being able to perceive it would mean you exist right? And mind boggling stuff to be sure.
I try not to think about it too much though because it does bother me.
I think about this, too. The whole idea of death is alien to me, because I have never known anything like it. How can I comprehend something I have never known? It's the fear of death that gets to me more. Because I think too much. Because I fear the unknown. Ugh, now I'm thinking about death again.
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Cross that bridge when you come to it mate :)
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I've always just thought I die (fade to black for dramatic effect), eventually all my molecules and whatnot are reabsorbed into a multitude of things and that's the end of it. Like, I don't just CHILL OUT in a white room and contemplate philosophy for eternity, nor do i somehow get to experience the PLANT that some molecule in my baby toe eventually ends up in. Thinking you just get to keep existing strikes me as pretty selfish.
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I have many thoughts about dying...but I'm not actually afraid of it, because I do believe that your soul will go somewhere after you die. I firmly believe in an afterlife...but sometimes I also think about reincarnation. I don't necessarily believe in it...but it would explain a few things it were the case.
Overall, I don't see death as a bad thing. I believe that everything happens for a reason, and perhaps you have a calling elsewhere...
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I think people should do a little research into the brain to dispell ideas of a soul. If you understand even a tiny bit about the workings of the brain you'd realise that our thoughts are not arbitrarily ethereal but strictly biologically mechanic. When you die your brain stops working.
However, we do not understand the nature of time and space with respect, as mentioned before, to existing in a 'moment' of the 'present'. But as far as post mortal existance goes, unless the present and past and future are not completely seperate and there exists some kind of medium on which to record your "existance" and there is opportunity for this 'moment' to be replayed (which asks for a medium on which to "play" the "recording") as far as we're all concerned it's the end.
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Death is something I hope I don't have to face too soon... Then again, I've come close to dying several times (more than most people twice my age)
I've almost drowned about 6 times
I've almost choked to death twice (Seriously, this is fucking scary)
I've seen "The light" for no reason twice in one day (my vision went black and white, and grainy, and then it got really bright... think Halo 3 with about 100x Bloom -- This was probably the second most scary)
I've been in a "Should've been fatal" Car accident, a couple months ago (March or April). What I mean my "Should've been fatal" I don't mean that my car was turned into shards of metal by a semi or something, but that the way I hit the (cement) guard rail, I should've went over it, and plummeted to the highway below. I hit black ice, and lost control, on a bridge... I remember having enough time to think "This can't be happening, I'm going to die..." **Boom, Airbag**, seriously, time slowed down for me) Without a doubt the most scared I have ever been.
I really don't know what to think about AFTER we die, but I do think there is more than just this right now. And I have lost a few people close to me, and haven't been able to shed a tear. My grandma, and grandpa died within a month of each other, and I was very close to both of them, yet all I could do is just feel sad about it...
Edit: After reading some posts, I have almost the same feelings as yeaster. I'm not afraid of death, but I don't want to die. I believe there is something out there after death, such as an afterlife or reincarnation.
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I don't mean to sound insensitive or uh, bring up bad memories or something but how do you get put into a position of drowning SIX TIMES in your life?
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I almost drowned twice when I was a boy. Luckily I was rescured both times (by the same guy,) and it was so long ago I don't really remember. . .I think my sister may have told me to jump off a dock into a lake or something (she hated me) and I was like "Okay!" Either that or she pushed me. The other time I went into the pool forgetting to put my floaties on first. That may have been from the brain damage caused by cerebral hypoxia from my previous incident.
Perhaps these are the moments that define my current day deep-seated fear of death. Occasionally I'll have a profound moment where I ponder my existence, and the thought of suddenly not existing at all for an eternity really freaks me out. That or slowly getting so old and feeble that you are basically not there at all anyway except for basic motor funciotns (IE Alzheimer's)
I am not sure which scenario frightens me the most. I do know, however, that one day we will conquer aging. Ironically the guy who accomplishes this will collide with a comet on his moon-bus trip to Mars to claim the exalted Methuselah foundation prize, obliterated instantly in the blast.
Oh yeah I almost forgot to mention that you never really die FOREVER because once the universe collapses into the big crunch and then expands again into a duplicate new universe you will be created all over again eventually (and make all the same mistakes again, too :)
I think that drug guy from the sixties wanted to get cryonically preserved since he had high hopes for the future, but once he got pretty old he decided, "WELL, FUCK IT" and was cremated.
Edit: Timothy Leary
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Boundless energy encapsulated in an infinetiesimal space,
dancing within a vacant and utterly impossible place.
A pocket of knowledge amidst the unknown
- sentient nothing existing of something -
incredibly lost and improbably home
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All I have to say is:
There better be a fuckin' afterlife, because the thought of not existing is scary as shit!
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I don't mean to sound insensitive or uh, bring up bad memories or something but how do you get put into a position of drowning SIX TIMES in your life?
It's okay, I laugh now, and just refuse to go into water that I can't touch bottom, and still have my shoulders un-submerged. Anyways, The first few two times were when I was learning to swim, and failed. (I panic if it gets too deep...), and went under after a bit.
The next two times were at my Uncle's pool, and I misjudged where the deep end started. The adults weren't paying attention, and I was the oldest one in the pool. The first time, I managed to get to the ladder and pull myself out, and the second time my cousin pulled me out.
The final two times were in one day, when my girlfriend (now ex), was trying to once again teach me to swim, and once again I failed (I panicked again). The second time around my gf's friends bf (who hates me for no reason), pushed me in, and again I panicked, and went under, According to him, he thought I was faking not being able to swim to get sympathy from the girl's there...
Now, you're probably thinking "Thejackyl, all you have to do is NOT PANIC", which would be easy if it were not for my irrational fear of deep water. That's the reason I panic even in a controlled environment, it's an IRRATIONAL fear.
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I've seen "The light" for no reason twice in one day (my vision went black and white, and grainy, and then it got really bright... think Halo 3 with about 100x Bloom -- This was probably the second most scary)
That happens to me all the time. I have low blood pressure and getting up to quickly does it.
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Well, I don't suffer from anything like that, and I was sitting still (it was in the middle of my Responding to Emergencies Class), so it wasn't from getting up too fast. Which is probably why I was so scared. Though after laying down for about 5 minutes I was back to normal. And it's only happened that day too...
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Death is the rest for those who lived to tell of living, or for those that god wishes to be closer to him for thier good hearts and pure souls.
Many reason for someone to die, I just hope mine is from old age and happiness.
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I'm not particularly scared of death. I used to be, but i grew an understanding that if i die, i doubt it will be the end of my journey through existence. I mean i've experienced so much in my life that if i were to suddenly die tomorrow, i don't think i'd be to upset about it. I mean, I've gained and lost so much. I used to be very into heavy drugs, heroine being my fave for the longest time, so much so that i watched my "baby momma' to be" pass away from the same shit i was running into my arm.
I've also gotten to experience amazing things. Meeting Down, Meeting pretty much every band that has come through Cleveland, Living in New Orleans (oh that was an amazing time) living in Tennessee (meh not so exciting, but i got to farm... YES FARM).
I've met interesting and mundane people. I've eaten fine food, and then sheltered in cars and bus stations.
I've been through so much... and there is no possible way that death will be the end of it.
i'm certain of it.
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I think about this, too. The whole idea of death is alien to me, because I have never known anything like it. How can I comprehend something I have never known? It's the fear of death that gets to me more. Because I think too much. Because I fear the unknown. Ugh, now I'm thinking about death again.
I'm totally with you there. In fact, it kind of even freaks me out when I think of relatives who have died since I was alive and able to comprehend that when they are dead they are gone and all that other deep crap. I mean, I had both an aunt and uncle who died from sickle cell and there are times I think about what has become of their existence. Yeah, they're gone but is everything gone? Is some essence or spark of their being just somewhere out there in the ether? Sounds silly I'm sure but it makes me even more uneasy to know there are people who are already in the "great beyond" whatever that happens to entail which just makes the point of wondering what will be when I finally go that much harder to wrap my head around.
As far as death is concerned, the only other thing that bothers me outside of what we've been discussing, is exactly how I will pass on. Preferrably, I don't want to be burned alive, drowned or hanged. :P
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man being burned alive seems like the most painful way to go, other than some sort of torture of course. That and starving, I heard drowning isn't that bad but I really hate stuff over my mouth/face and suffocating is a really big fear of mine (like small spaces and not being able to breathe) so I think I would probably freak out real bad.
I actually thought about it quite extensively when I was on my last ship and decided I would rather jump ship and freeze to death/drown then stay on that motherfucker and burn alive if a bad fire ever broke out.
Also, traditional hangings are supposed to be pretty instantaneous I think and its just a neck-snap thing so it doesn't seem THAT BAD (if it works right)
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"I heard drowning isn't that bad" - apparently when you die from bird flu your lungs flood with your own bodily fluids :)
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When we die, our bodies become the grass, and the antelope eat the grass. And so we are all connnected in the great Circle of Life.
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I'm not as scared of death as I am of dying before doing the things I want to do, like getting my univ diploma, being completely independent, travel here and there, and have experienced a bit more life.
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I don't give death and dying too much thought. I figure I already have a decent life insurance policy so if something happens to me my family is taken care of and the funeral will be paid for.