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are you afraid of death?

being atheist or agnostic we know that chriatainality and angels and demons gods and devils and most likely an afterlife are all just wishful thinking. seeing as we know that death is indeed the end for us does that idea frightend you ? what are your thoughts on death ? personaly i gotta admitt it scares me . i know there is nothing i can do to avoid it . im so sad when a relative dies knowing ill never see them again. and this is why i think so many people wanna believe in a god and heaven. we want so badly to believe us and our loved ones will live on that many do so just to comfort themselfs. your thoughts ?

DavidDeLa89 6 Dec 28
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371 comments (76 - 100)

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4

I was in a car crash (2 month coma) with a severe brain injury and I had only a 10% chance of coming out of the coma - but here I am 30 years later. Consequently I don’t fear death although I would avoid it if at all possible.

4

death does not scare me (and btw I am not an atheist I just don't believe in an after life) death freaks me out because I am huge fan of fucking someone who loves me, traveling the world, playing video games, etc. And death means...game over. my dad is about to die and that sucks so bad. I try to have an inspirational "he will be in my memory" thing. and that is true. but fuck me I will miss him, ASKSCIENCEMIKE had a thing about this... our monkey brains want to believe our personhood exists.

4

I've read all about "Death" in the Disc World book series. Seems like a nice guy who is just tryign to do a good job.

Seriously though, no, I don't fear death. I think ost who fear death are really just afraid of the unknown.

4

No just disappointed.

  1. I want to know what happens in all the ongoing sagas.

  2. Having had some scary situations mountain climbing I know that I don't want to leave my family behind. I was in a fall and fortunately, it wasn't serious, I recovered quickly and walked off the mountain but I was shaken. I realized that the thing I would regret the most was missing my family and feeling that I hadn't done my fullest to take care of them.

4

yes I've gotten very close 2 times-one leukemia-two heart failure-Is scary as shit!

stay strong you are a survivor.

I was once a dancer too.

@sassygirl3869 there you go... you got the Spirit!!!

4

No, I do not fear death. It is inevitable, inescapable, guaranteed. Fearing it is irrelevant and illogical. I am not looking forward to it, necessarily, but I do not fear it.

Life after death? I look at it like this -- yes, life will continue after I die. My consciousness (soul) will cease to exist no later than the moment I die. My thoughts, perceptions, opinions, pain, dreams, etc., will be no more. My body, however, will not be "done."

I do not wish for my body to be preserved after I am finished with it. If pieces of my body, such as my organs, can keep someone alive a little longer, have at it. If science can learn from it, let them. Otherwise, don't embalm me and put me in a box in a vault in the ground. Dispose of my remains in such a way that my body can be recycled by the natural processes that exist on this planet. Parts of me will be taken up by life in other forms, microbial life, insects, or perhaps even vertebrates -- perhaps birds or mammals. I will, essentially, become food for other beings.

Allowing my remains to be processed by nature itself so the material that was formerly me returns to the biosphere will allow me, in a very real sense (although I will not be consciously aware of it,) to continue participating in the circle of life. If there is to be life after death, this is what it is.

4

Me being 37 with 4 children ages 3-19....yes I am afraid of dying. I hope to go at a very old age peacefully. Hopefully in my sleep. Is there an afterlife where you are reunited with all the loved ones you lost in the physical world? Shit, I don't know. But that would be nice. Fact is, we won't know what is until our time is up. Long life to you all...

yes, my greatest fear was getting seriously ill or worse while my kids were young. Thankfully my kids are older now, almost your age (33 and 31) so if anything happened to me, they can look after themselves and each other. My son always said if anything happened to me, he still would not live with his mother, but my youngest brother and I had a deal if anything happened we would look after each others kids.

4

I'm not afraid of death, I am concerned about pain and suffering. If I can go cleanly and quickly that would be my preference. My mom died when I was 14, she was 45. Yeah, it used to be comforting to think she was looking down on us, and I'm sure she wasn't happy about the step bitch my dad married. And when I lost a baby it was comforting to think that mom was there to welcome her to heaven. The reality is, heaven is a fairy tale.

4

Not scared from death, scared to die young. I want to see so many places to read so many books ect to do maximum in this life because chances I will live again 1 to billion

4

Here's a book for you to read.
At the Hour of Death
by Karlis Osis

3

I am not afraid of death just the means of going , I would not like to have a long lingering painful death.

Same here.

3

No. Once I'm dead I won't care so what's the point in being afraid?

3

I am afraid of dying and death, mostly because I love life so much. Then I think, if I knew I wasn't going to die eventually, would I appreciate life as much? I sometimes wish that I had that security blanket belief of an afterlife, but then I don't think I would live like I do. Good or bad, I'm just happy to be here and try not to take a single moment for granted.

...I applaud your confidence in reality;

3

I am not afraid of being dead, but the idea of dying does not sound entirely pleasant. Anyone or thing I've seen die was certainly not having a good time! That being said, I had always secretly hoped to drop dead in a mosh pit. I would be doing something I love and several dozen people would have a pretty good story.

Snail Level 2 Oct 25, 2018
3

I am getting much closer now, so I think about it often. It's the method of my death that ccauses me the most concern. I would like to have some say in it, but there is that fine line where I can still make the decsion and the point where i am too feeble to have any power over my body.
I am already disposing of my "treasures", realizing that they are only precious to me and not my heirs. And I am naming people in photographs. Most of them dead and in the old country. And I am writing my memoirs, with at least 15 more chapters to write.
So, lots to do before I die. Afraid? No.

Wonderful words.

3

Actually, as a fledgling agnostic, I actually used to cling to the idea of souls for that exact reason. Well, that and I refused to believe that we were nothing more than sentient meat-bags.
I figured that after we died, our souls would wander the earth, being able to experience the world, but not interact with it. Then I started thinking about whether animals had souls. After deciding that they did because they displayed emotions, I started thinking about why eating meat would be okay then.
And rather than becoming vegan because I really didn't want to do that I thought well okay, maybe it's only a "beta soul" and only humans had "alpha souls". I started asking myself what the difference was and ultimately came to the conclusion that this whole "alpha soul" and "beta soul" thing was starting to become more of a religion than I wanted it to.
In the end, I decided that when you believe in souls but no god, the former falls apart under scrutiny and the ladder suddenly feels needed to have it all make sense. I then accepted that death is pretty much a dreamless sleep, and that actually gave me a lot of comfort because I love sleep, and life can get pretty tiring.

3

I think living forever would be hell.

3

It actually brings me comfort. My best guess is that being dead is pretty similar to how it was before you were born (a whole lot of nothing!) and I like that. Obviously I want to stay alive as long as I possibly can but when it's over I won't be concerned about being dead (I'm guessing). Living on for eternity and watching life unfold without being able to interact with it sounds pretty miserable to me.

3

I’m not scared in the least. I figure in the unlikely event there is something out there, I’m living a good enough life not to worry (and the chances of choosing the “correct” religion are so infinitesimal that despite their claims, I’m sure no god would hold that against us). If, on the other hand, we just cease, well that’s ok too. I’ve had my struggles with depression and even some suicide attempts — and honestly, I very much hoped there was nothing to go to. Sounds like a nice sleep with no worries.

No question I hate the idea of losing loved ones — but I haven’t let it bother me. I won’t know if I’m not there to worry about it, anyway. But I’ve also seen loved ones suffer horribly from disease, and I know I wouldn’t want to live in that situation. It would be nothing but torture. And sadly, we’ll all get there sooner or later if we don’t die of something else. It’s natural. Billions, quadrillions, “zillions” of individuals of all different species have done it already, so who am I to worry?

Kodij Level 5 Sep 8, 2018

...yep~all well spoken

3

No fear. You can make up a place that you will be reunited with loved ones but you can also have imaginary friends. Whatever lets you sleep at night. If, as you say, you can't avoid it, why let it take up space in your head? You can also think of all the crazy, horrible ways you could die too--but just to scare yourself?

lerlo Level 8 Aug 26, 2018
3

Hi there.

I'm more worried about the way I die. A long drawn out painful end is something that everyone fears. Of course I have to take whatever comes be it quick or protracted. I am in no way happy in the knowledge that I will die but its an inescapable reality. The oblivion that follows death will be just that. For 13.8 billion years or so I didn't exist and I was unaware of this non existence. After death it will be non existence and I can but hope that my exit will not be horrendous.

3

Yes!!!, as a younger man I figured to live forever, and lived accordingly. At 75 years with copd, when I can't get enough oxygen, I panic big time. Have to focus on relaxing and being still until I can get to meds. Comes to dieing, I'm the biggest coward there is. Will always fight to live another day, hour, minute......

That has to be very scary to not be able to breath! A struggle for survival is an innate reaction by every living thing. I hope you can relax enough to catch your breath when necessary.

Good luck to you

3

It's coming. I can almost see it. I hope it won't be messy!

3

I'm terrified.

That's understandable. You said you have had an oob experience. I have had a near death. It's really quite peaceful . It provided me some sense of comfort for my ending.

3

I’m afraid of dying painfully, but I’m not afraid of death.

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