Are you scared to die?

I don't fear being dead, and nor do I particularly fear dying (although I do dislike pain). I fear I won't do enough in my life before I die, whenever that may be.

Originally Posted by fratey

I am religious, but I have no idea where I'll end up. All I can do is try my best to earn going to Heaven. I just hope I don't die before I've earned it, heh.

This reminds me of one reason why I prefer Buddhism and the like over the Abrahamic Religions. The idea that you don't deserve eternal happiness until you have no want for it is appealing for some reason.

Originally Posted by Radek

The answer is simple: yes. Everyone is afraid of dying.

No matter what people in this thread say, it all means nothing till they have a loaded gun in their face.

Thank you for mentioning one of the countless ways a person can die. The chances of me dying in such a way are slim, and knowing I'm going to die before I actually do even more so, regardless of the how.

Originally Posted by Tobari

Death... heck yes.

I'm terrified of death, for no one knows what happens beyond that point.

I know what happens "beyond" death. Your brain shuts down and stops working. Consciousness and thought processes all cease. Your body decomposes as microorganisms break it down into its constituent molecules. The nutrients from your body are recycled back into the Earth, where they are used to build other organisms.

it's the cycle of life.

Are we reborn in a different body? (reincarnation?)

no, that doesn't make any sense. Memories cannot be projected outside of the brain into some as of yet unborn creature.

Do we go to heaven/hell? (religious?)

neither does that. Once again this would involve projecting memories, in this case to some as of yet undiscovered location. Quite impossible.

Do we wander the earth alone for the rest of eternity? (paranormal?)

this one involves projecting memories into some as of yet undiscovered self-aware ethereal material which can somehow evade detection by all but the most untrained eyes. It makes the least sense of the three, if you ask me.

So many possibilites... yet no one knows which is correct.

well certainly none of the possibilities you mentioned! We already know what happens to creatures when they die. It happens all the time, we can study it.

Perhaps... it's what we think what would happen after death.

I'm not sure how this would work at all.

If you think you're going to hell... you go to hell. If you think you're going to heaven... you go to heaven.

I think that contradicts most beliefs about what Heaven and Hell are, but feel free to make up your own versions, since everyone else does anyway.

If you think your soul is going to float around in oblivion... you float around in oblivion.

I don't know how something could "float around" in nothing. That is rather contradictory. Something which exists cannot exist in nonexistence, by definition. So perhaps you are defining "oblivion" as something other than what I define it as, which is "nonexistence."

also, what is this "soul" you speak of?

I have absolutely no idea. No one knows.

I know.

That's why I am scared, I'm scared of what might happen after death.

don't be. Be scared of what happens before death. You have no control over what happens afterward. Live your life and forget about death. Do what you can while you are still alive. You cannot control what happens to your body and your mind after you die, but you can control what people remember of you after you are dead and gone. Make the best of your limited lifespan, and maybe your memory can obtain the immortality that your body cannot.

Originally Posted by Sabbo

Thank you for mentioning one of the countless ways a person can die. The chances of me dying in such a way are slim, and knowing I'm going to die before I actually do even more so, regardless of the how.

Thanks for taking an example and trying to dissect it. The only time someone can answer the question "am I afraid to die" is after his or her life has been on the line, be it at the end of a gun's barrel or falling off a cliff, amongst other things. You have to taste death before you can look yourself in the eye and actually say you aren't afraid to die and mean it.

I'm not scared of death.
I'm just scared of the possible pain I could feel while dying and the pain it'll cause my family and friends.

Originally Posted by Radek

Thanks for taking an example and trying to dissect it. The only time someone can answer the question "am I afraid to die" is after his or her life has been on the line, be it at the end of a gun's barrel or falling off a cliff, amongst other things. You have to taste death before you can look yourself in the eye and actually say you aren't afraid to die and mean it.

I have almost died before. I didn't like it because it hurt. Were I about to die painlessly, I would almost certainly care little, if at all. The meaning of a person's life is directly proportional to how much of it they have left.

Yes. I am. Not so much because of the finality or ending thing, but more because I've always had a life goal of being somehow remembered. A goal which I've yet to reach. It honestly puts me into a mini panic attack just thinking about non existance. Which, not that I'm completely anti religious, but I tend not to be religious for the most part. In all reality I actually envy those who are.

Death is just a part of life. To fear it is to transitively fear life itself, though in a more material way there are many reasons why one would fear the end of their life.
I myself do not hold any special fear for death, I would hope that when I die people accept that I am gone, and that hopefully I had lived my life as I would have wanted it. I'm not really one to mourn, and I prefer that rather than thinking of someone as "gone" we think of them as having fulfilled their duties here and that they would have wanted their friends and family to carry on.

Originally Posted by Razekial

Death is just a part of life. To fear it is to transitively fear life itself, though in a more material way there are many reasons why one would fear the end of their life.

I fear death because I love life, it is excellent. The true dread is nothingness, or the 'experience' of not existing; something that people cannot envisage, being tethered to our moist brains.

An afterlife, however, is something that I do not fear in a traditional sense. I know that the probability of a heaven/hell concept driven by an inherent set of rules is incredibly low. However, I also consider the idea of not existing far more unnerving than the idea of Hell.

I'm pretty sure everyone would be scared to die... Unless, they know they're very close to it.

I do not fear death nor am I fear dying. Hey, when I die, I die. I done things in my life I'm proud of so I don't care.

Originally Posted by Snow_Storm

I do not fear death nor am I fear dying. Hey, when I die, I die. I done things in my life I'm proud of so I don't care.

Well, I guess that's good. I just think everyone would be whether they show it or not. Yes, many people are happy with their lives, and many people aren't which would make them scared to die.

I don't fear death, because it is one of the most natural things in the entire universe, but I just don't want to die.

Well, one of my friends updated his status on Facebook and put, "It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more." -Albus Dumbledore. I think that very much fits this thread :]

Originally Posted by 13th

I'm not afraid of dyin, its a perfectly fine thing that'll happe. I'm afraid of losin the people close to me in death...

i personally have but me being from a religion where we believe in being reunited with our familys after we die brings a calmness to me.

Originally Posted by Arie

Well, one of my friends updated his status on Facebook and put, "It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more." -Albus Dumbledore. I think that very much fits this thread :]

Then to fear death is folly, just as is fearing the dark.

I shall quote myself.

In the discussing about the "Nothingness". Before we were even got life, we have no memories of a previous life, so it seems. So if we return to nothingness, it would be just a natural thing. We come from the nothingness and we return to the nothingness, so there is actually nothing to worry about. The thing what you might fear, is in nothingness that you won´t be able to do a thing or/and that you might lose what was so important to you. Memories, emotions, little and big moments in your life which you want to treasure forever, because you might fear to lose your identity, that what makes you to that person which you are now in the present.

The simplest solution is to let this fears go, since they are only thoughts. The longer you try to keep them, the more it will hurt you. To make the story short, live in the presence and not in the past or future. All that worries and lost times, won´t come back, so enjoy every moment which you expierence. Be free and just let everything behind you. What will happen next is unknown for everyone but don´t fear about the changes inthe future, since you are not alone.

Should an afterlife truly exist, than I hope I won`t find myself again in a empty place with no other soul to communicate. Lonelyness over great spans of time would become my eternal torture, a far worse destiny, than the Nothingness, our birthpace.

Am I scared to die? No. I would mind dying right now as i have much to do before I go. I am, however, terrified of dying a horrible, painful death. But not death itself.

I agree.

I think the idea of suffering pain before dying is more terrifying than death and what comes after. However I am also scared of death because there are several things I want to do before dying.

After all, life is the only thing that truly belongs to us.

I'm not afraid of death, I've learned to accept my death as a normal event, instead of worrying about it.

Being a follower of atheistic agnosticism, I do not know if an afterlife exists, or if I will live for eternity after, but I very much doubt an afterlife exists, albeit I cannot prove it.

Originally Posted by Captain McCloud

I'm not afraid of death, I've learned to accept my death as a normal event, instead of worrying about it.

Being a follower of atheistic agnosticism, I do not know if an afterlife exists, or if I will live for eternity after, but I very much doubt an afterlife exists, albeit I cannot prove it.

Acceptance of Death for most is a myth. You can think you accept it all you want up until the moment before it happens. When I do die, I want it to be of something I've seen coming. Hopefully old age.

Also, don't take offense to this but isn't "atheistic agnosticism" kind of an oxymoron?