What do you think about death?

[Chazumi]

Serious Question. We all have to do it at some point. What are your feelings?

Specifically:

1) What scares you the most about it? (i.e., not knowing what is after? the possible pain of dying? What will happen to loved ones after?)

2) How often do you think about death? Do you think it is worth any consideration at all, or is life better lived just "living" rather than thinking about death?

3) How familiar are you with death? Have you ever seen anyone die? Have you ever seen a dead body? What emotions does it evoke for you to see such things if applicable?

 

[JohnRM]

Not bad. It is just a cycle of life.

1) Leaving my family/loved ones behind.

2) Probably every day, several times a day.

3) Pretty damn. Yes. Yes. Sorrow and curiosity. I've always wondered what they're story was.

 

[REDY]

1)When I am thinking about it, mostly that I won´t see loved ones any more - but my death is not scary to me. I dont want experience living without my friends and relatives but I imagine that my death is just darkness.
2)In 5 years I was thinking about it for 3 days, crying that my mother and father will die once. I of course knew that all people will die, but once in morning I realy realised that my loved ones are included.
But since then, only when some of my relatives/friends died. I hate (car) accidents, because its unexpected.
3)Well only my dead pets, I am not much familiar with it.

 

[Perfection]

1) What scares you the most about it? (i.e., not knowing what is after? the possible pain of dying? What will happen to loved ones after?)

I really enjoy existing. I find the prospect that I or those I love should no longer exist sad.

2) How often do you think about death? Do you think it is worth any consideration at all, or is life better lived just "living" rather than thinking about death?

Not that often. and very seldom about my own death. I'm much more concerned about the deaths of others.

3) How familiar are you with death? Have you ever seen anyone die? Have you ever seen a dead body? What emotions does it evoke for you to see such things if applicable?

Not very for a man of 23. I've never been to a funeral, and have only seen a corpse once (at a wake). The strongest feeling I had when I did see the corpse was repulsion.

 

[scherbchen]

1) What scares you the most about it? - pain, feeling utterly helpless, being aware of your close circle of friends/family being aware, heh, of you dying. or dying alone.

2) How often do you think about death? - bout twice or once a week, I guess

3) How familiar are you with death? Have you ever seen anyone die? - no. not that familiar. only seen my grandma in the final stages of cancer and I was a dick about it (which translates to I did not want to see her and when I did I was all awkward and was not able to form a single coherent sentence). I was 12, in my defense. still feel bad about it, though.

 

[Bast]

Death = rebirth. Cycle of Samsara continues.

No need to fear or dread death. You just need to prepare for it with good thoughts, good actions in this current life.

 

[Kennigit]

1) If I fight too much for nothing I suppose. I want to be healthy all my life, so I'd imagine that I would die by deteriorating moreso than a sudden heart attack or something. I just feel it'd be pretty bad to go after a long painful struggle that in the end does nothing, and it's not like I'd be able to enjoy life that much. I fear having my family and others remember me as the weak sickly person who died instead of the living me.

If I do get to die by feeling healthy then plopping over from a heart attack or something quick when I'm old, it's just the fear that all of existence for me would cease to exist.

2) Not at all really. At this point, I don't have much to think about death. I'm young, my parents are healthy, and I don't really have a super strong relationship with extended family.

I imagine it'd get worse when my parents start to get old. But, for now, life is better just living and rarely thinking about death.

3) Not really close. 1 year ago first person I actually knew died, and that was really sad for me. But I was more sad for the way he died- it was a teacher/coach of mine that was such a great guy and really inspired me, but he battled cancer ~3 years. He defeated it, only to have the cancer come back twice; his family struggled with him the entire time too.

That relates to question 1- the last time I saw him he was quite weak but he was still himself. I didn't go see his body at the wake, and I didn't go to see him in his final month or so. I don't want to die in such a way where I'm completely deteriorating and am a shred of my former self- I want to be remembered as me, the robust and active me, not as the weak shell of a person that comes from long illness.

 

[Karalysia]

1) What scares you the most about it? (i.e., not knowing what is after? the possible pain of dying? What will happen to loved ones after?)

The prospect of eternal nothingness is disturbing if you think about it. Humans are a selfish egotisitical species and we cannot imagine anything beyond our narrow own existence. But the world has been here for 4 billion years before we were born and the universe for much longer, and it will carry on after we are gone. In the cosmic scope our lives are nothing. They do not even register.

The religious like to console themselves with heaven or afterlife. I need no such mental crutch. I acknowledge the fact that after we die there is nothing.

2) How often do you think about death? Do you think it is worth any consideration at all, or is life better lived just "living" rather than thinking about death?

Very rarely. Why think about death when I'm still very much alive?

3) How familiar are you with death? Have you ever seen anyone die? Have you ever seen a dead body? What emotions does it evoke for you to see such things if applicable?

Not very. No. No. Nothing in particular.

 

[emzie]

1) What scares you the most about it? (i.e., not knowing what is after? the possible pain of dying? What will happen to loved ones after?)

Well, if I'm dead and there's nothing after it doesn't really matter either way. I'm sorry people will be sad that I'm gone, but my sympathy for their loss (not trying to sound egoistical!) only exists now and in the abstract.

The prospect of being in pain isn't fun though if it's cancer at least I get massive amounts of happy pills.

2) How often do you think about death? Do you think it is worth any consideration at all, or is life better lived just "living" rather than thinking about death?

I'm keenly aware of it. It doesn't bother me to think about it.

3) How familiar are you with death? Have you ever seen anyone die? Have you ever seen a dead body? What emotions does it evoke for you to see such things if applicable?

More familiar than I'd want to be. Yes, over the span of months and in an instant -- watching someone fade away for months on end is much harder. Dead bodies are just shells.

 

[Snerk]

1) To be honest the only thing I truly fear about death is the physical pain that probably will be involved with it in some way.

2) Everyday. I'm a right morbid bas**rd me.

3) Not much. I had a Grandfather I never knew all that well, pass away when I was younger. And an old and much beloved cat passed away this autumn. Not much else besides that.

 

[Birdjaguar]

1) What scares you the most about it? (i.e., not knowing what is after? the possible pain of dying? What will happen to loved ones after?)

Nothing at all scares me about it. "The readiness is all." If my end were to be painful,I would want meds for it.

2) How often do you think about death? Do you think it is worth any consideration at all, or is life better lived just "living" rather than thinking about death?

Regularly, but i also think about living regularly too, probably more.

3) How familiar are you with death? Have you ever seen anyone die? Have you ever seen a dead body? What emotions does it evoke for you to see such things if applicable?

I watched a lady die in a car crash when i was in my teens, seen a dead body floating in a lake after a week or so. My dad died when i was 24, but i wasn't there when it happened. I am not very emotional about such things.

And from The Prophet there is this:

Spoiler :

"THEN Almitra spoke, saying, We would ask now of Death.
And he said:
You would know the secret of death.
But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.
If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life.
For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.

In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;
And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring.
Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honor.
Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king?
Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?

For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance."

 

[classical_hero]

Serious Question. We all have to do it at some point. What are your feelings?

Specifically:

1) What scares you the most about it? (i.e., not knowing what is after? the possible pain of dying? What will happen to loved ones after?)

2) How often do you think about death? Do you think it is worth any consideration at all, or is life better lived just "living" rather than thinking about death?

3) How familiar are you with death? Have you ever seen anyone die? Have you ever seen a dead body? What emotions does it evoke for you to see such things if applicable?

1 I am not scared of death, since death is just the end of the beginning and the start of a whole new chapter in my life.

2 I rarely think about death, but it comes up when people die, such as the situation in Haiti and when people close to me die.

3 I have seen my mother dead and that was not a pleasant experience. For me it was much worse finding out she was going to die, rather than the actual death.

 

[Elrohir]

Serious Question. We all have to do it at some point. What are your feelings?

Specifically:

1) What scares you the most about it? (i.e., not knowing what is after? the possible pain of dying? What will happen to loved ones after?)

The effects it would have on the people that care about me. I'm also moderately afraid of dying in pain. The actual idea of death doesn't really bother me, just those two those related to it. (I understand not wanting death, but I'm not sure I really understand being afraid of it - if there's an afterlife, I'm pretty sure God's got my back. And if there's not, well, I'll never realize how much that sucks, will I?)

2) How often do you think about death? Do you think it is worth any consideration at all, or is life better lived just "living" rather than thinking about death?

The idea of dying probably occurs to me a couple of times a week, at the least.

3) How familiar are you with death? Have you ever seen anyone die? Have you ever seen a dead body? What emotions does it evoke for you to see such things if applicable?

Not very. I've never seen anyone die. I've never seen a whole dead human body. (Found a human hip bone with some friends as a child, saw some remains of American POWs in an identification lab....) The only funerals I've been to were closed casket. So I guess my feelings might be a bit abstract, which might partially explain my lack of strong fear at the idea of death.

 

[Luckymoose]

I'm not afraid of death itself, I'm afraid that I won't leave everything and everyone in good enough shape to be okay without me.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I think about death several times a day, mostly at night. The idea that scares me the most is ceasing to exist, with the next thing being all the problems that come with growing old before dying, and also how easy it is to die (probably thanks to the news). I'm also scared of the opposite of death, how living forever would lead to eternal boredom.

I only ever been to a couple of funerals, and I heard of a two people who died that I went to school with.

 

[ParadigmShifter]

Not being able to think is the worst bit I suppose.

No-one has ever complained about being dead though! And worrying about it isn't going to make it go away.

 

[azzaman333]

Serious Question. We all have to do it at some point. What are your feelings?

I feel it's inevitable.

Specifically:

1) What scares you the most about it? (i.e., not knowing what is after? the possible pain of dying? What will happen to loved ones after?)

I hold no fear of death.

2) How often do you think about death? Do you think it is worth any consideration at all, or is life better lived just "living" rather than thinking about death?

Every time I have considered killing myself I have always come to the conclusion that living in my current state is less bad than death.

3) How familiar are you with death? Have you ever seen anyone die? Have you ever seen a dead body? What emotions does it evoke for you to see such things if applicable?

My mum died the day before my 11th birthday. I was mostly angry at the time, and it definitely messed with my head for a long time.

 

[El_Machinae]

I think that involuntary death is a blight that needs to be defeated. While I think that aging will be cured in our lifetime, deaths will still happen (though probably at a slower clip). We let so many people die in our world, due to inactivity & willful blindness.

The sooner each person mobilises against death, the more lives are saved.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

1) What scares you the most about it? (i.e., not knowing what is after? the possible pain of dying? What will happen to loved ones after?)

Not really scared so much as concerned that I haven't done what I need to do.

2) How often do you think about death? Do you think it is worth any consideration at all, or is life better lived just "living" rather than thinking about death?

Rarely. If your chance of death is high, it is best to prepare and do what needs to be done before you go.

3) How familiar are you with death? Have you ever seen anyone die? Have you ever seen a dead body? What emotions does it evoke for you to see such things if applicable?

Never had a close family member or friend die. No. Yes. Nothing.

 

[Cobalt Command]

1. Nothing really, I'm not afraid of Death itself; it's only a natural part of life that happens when it happens.

2. It use to be something I thought about roughly a third of my days, but recently it's become scaled back to a tenth or so. I don't see anything wrong with thinking about scenarios in which it could happen, and the repercussions of such to those around you, only in thinking what will happen to your consciousness afterward.

3. I have seen people die, both family and not. I feel absolutely terrible when it's family, but when it's someone I'm not really close with, I hardly care. People die everyday in the hundreds of thousands, unless I know them personally, why should it upset me?