Such Irony
Honor Thy Inferior
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2010
- Messages
- 5,059
- MBTI Type
- INtp
- Enneagram
- 5w6
- Instinctual Variant
- sp/so
I'm interested in seeing if there is a type correlation here. Suppose you had the option of knowing exactly when you were going to die. Would you want to know? Why or why not?
Personally, I would not want to know.
But I could see how knowing would be advantageous. You could plan for your death and ensure loose ends are tied up. You could also inform your family members and loved ones and insure that all business between them was taken care of (assuming of course your date of death is far enough away to give you sufficient time to do that). Let's say you come down with cancer at age 50 but you knew you weren't due to expire at 80. You could breathe a big sigh of relief, knowing that you would survive it. If you knew you would live to old age, you wouldn't have to worry about being so careful all the time, when younger. You could indulge in fatty food, smoke, drive fast, take up extreme sports, etc and know it wouldn't kill you. In some ways you could be more carefree.
On the other hand, you would always be haunted with the knowledge of your upcoming demise. Life would become one big countdown to the end. Would you want to keep being reminded that you only have X number of days or years left? I would think such knowledge would be depressing. It's already depressing enough to know that I'll die someday and all good things must come to an end. And what if you scheduled to expire at a young age? Think about the impact that could have with the little time you have left? Sometimes its better to be blissfully unaware.
For me, its enough to know that I will die someday and that by looking at life expectancies and statistics that I have some approximate sense of how long I may have left of my life. Of course there are no guarantees and I could die in a car accident tomorrow. So I already life my life as if today could be my last day and I don't take too much for granted. Therefore, personally, I don't see how knowing the date of my death would be beneficial. The only exception might be if I had some incurable terminal illness and knew I was dying soon anyway. Then I may want to know the date of my death, so I know how much time I have left to get my affairs in order and say my last goodbyes to my loved ones, etc.
Personally, I would not want to know.
But I could see how knowing would be advantageous. You could plan for your death and ensure loose ends are tied up. You could also inform your family members and loved ones and insure that all business between them was taken care of (assuming of course your date of death is far enough away to give you sufficient time to do that). Let's say you come down with cancer at age 50 but you knew you weren't due to expire at 80. You could breathe a big sigh of relief, knowing that you would survive it. If you knew you would live to old age, you wouldn't have to worry about being so careful all the time, when younger. You could indulge in fatty food, smoke, drive fast, take up extreme sports, etc and know it wouldn't kill you. In some ways you could be more carefree.
On the other hand, you would always be haunted with the knowledge of your upcoming demise. Life would become one big countdown to the end. Would you want to keep being reminded that you only have X number of days or years left? I would think such knowledge would be depressing. It's already depressing enough to know that I'll die someday and all good things must come to an end. And what if you scheduled to expire at a young age? Think about the impact that could have with the little time you have left? Sometimes its better to be blissfully unaware.
For me, its enough to know that I will die someday and that by looking at life expectancies and statistics that I have some approximate sense of how long I may have left of my life. Of course there are no guarantees and I could die in a car accident tomorrow. So I already life my life as if today could be my last day and I don't take too much for granted. Therefore, personally, I don't see how knowing the date of my death would be beneficial. The only exception might be if I had some incurable terminal illness and knew I was dying soon anyway. Then I may want to know the date of my death, so I know how much time I have left to get my affairs in order and say my last goodbyes to my loved ones, etc.