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Death Anxiety

Lark

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Is it possible to move from Death Anxiety to a life affirming death awareness?

This is the title, or a close approximation, of the title of a book by an author called Firestone which I found recently, I cant afford the book and it seems over priced so I thought I'd start a discussion on the topic instead. What do you think? Is it possible?
 

SpankyMcFly

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Is it possible to move from Death Anxiety to a life affirming death awareness?

This is the title, or a close approximation, of the title of a book by an author called Firestone which I found recently, I cant afford the book and it seems over priced so I thought I'd start a discussion on the topic instead. What do you think? Is it possible?
Yes. I am "death aware" vs. death anxiety. I think religion has a big role in this. I am an atheist ftr.
 

INTP

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Define those terms.

Or is it just anxiety of dying and awareness of that you have died?
 

citizen cane

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Yes. I am "death aware" vs. death anxiety. I think religion has a big role in this. I am an atheist ftr.

I'm curious, how does the absence of religion in your case alleviate any possible death anxiety?
 

miss fortune

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eh... death happens... if I die I don't think I'll care about it in the least, so why bother worrying about it now? :huh:

if you think about it rationally, death really isn't that big of a deal :shrug:
 

SpankyMcFly

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I'm curious, how does the absence of religion in your case alleviate any possible death anxiety?
Well since relgion was not a big part of my upbringing (resists urge to quote Adam Corolla) I didn't develop this fascination with what happens when I die, i.e. hell/heaven. Death just is. It is this "fear" that I think a lot of theistic people share and strive to alleviate by creating/buying into the concept of an afterlife.

@ Lark, yes it is possible.
 

citizen cane

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Contemplate ceasing to exist. That always ties my mind in knots.
 

Such Irony

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eh... death happens... if I die I don't think I'll care about it in the least, so why bother worrying about it now? :huh:

if you think about it rationally, death really isn't that big of a deal :shrug:

I know I'm just a little speck in the universe and that earth is just one planet in the vast universe. If you look at it that way, death isn't a big deal. Yet I can't help feeling death anxiety. I think about it several times a day. Most of the time I'm able to set the thoughts aside and do what needs to be done and enjoy the moment but I still have the thoughts enter my mind more than I'd like. I know that assuming that I live until life expectancy, I have the majority of my life yet to live. Yet when I think about what I have actually done and learned as opposed to what I want to do and learn, I just don't see how I can do it all in the alloted lifetime or even close. I'll barely scratch the surface. And I find that thought very unsettling.

Maybe as I get older, I'll have a different outlook and some of the things won't matter so much. Maybe if I live long enough, I'll get bored with life. Yet, there's so much that I can't imagine ever getting tired of. Such as my hobbies, good food, good music, etc.
 
A

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I've seen death, and it doesn't scare me.

What scares me is what happens to cause my death. Ie, the final two minutes. (burning in a house fire, car wreck, or in sleep.)
 

miss fortune

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I know I'm just a little speck in the universe and that earth is just one planet in the vast universe. If you look at it that way, death isn't a big deal. Yet I can't help feeling death anxiety. I think about it several times a day. Most of the time I'm able to set the thoughts aside and do what needs to be done and enjoy the moment but I still have the thoughts enter my mind more than I'd like. I know that assuming that I live until life expectancy, I have the majority of my life yet to live. Yet when I think about what I have actually done and learned as opposed to what I want to do and learn, I just don't see how I can do it all in the alloted lifetime or even close. I'll barely scratch the surface. And I find that thought very unsettling.

Maybe as I get older, I'll have a different outlook and some of the things won't matter so much. Maybe if I live long enough, I'll get bored with life. Yet, there's so much that I can't imagine ever getting tired of. Such as my hobbies, good food, good music, etc.

yeah... the thought that there is so much out there to learn and experience that I will never experience or learn is depressing- though I know that no matter how long I live I'll never get what I want that way- nobody can learn or do everything. There's something about the thought that there IS an end to things is reassuring though- a chance to just cease being- a chance for peace...

sounds strange when I actually type it :laugh:
 

Totenkindly

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Siggy: Bob ?
Bob:Yeah ?
Siggy: Are you afraid of death?
Bob: Yeah ...
Siggy: Me too. There's no way out of it. You're going in to die. I'm going to die. It's going to happen. What difference does it make if it's tomorrow or in years. Do you know how fast does time goes ?I was like ten yesterday.
Bob: me too
Siggy: I'm going to die! You... are going to die!

....
Dr. Marvin: "It's DEATH THERAPY, Bob!" *cackle*

I dunno, I just don't think about dying anymore, except maybe as a motivation to live. What point does it serve? The truth is that as soon as I was born, my clock started ticking, and one day it's going to stop. I didn't get a choice in the matter. I guess it was paralyzing for a little bit, but when you know something is going to happen, why waste time thinking about how it's going to happen? I could die tomorrow. I could die in 40 years.

In a way, it's kind of liberating to accept your eventual demise. I think it's harder to risk your life and yourself if you think you have a chance of survival; when you accept that you are mortal and eventually will die, well, then it frees you to try whatever you want, since you can't save yourself anyway in the long run. All you can do is make your life worth living. (I think Steve Jobs hinted at the same thing in that valedictorian speech from 2005 that's been passing around the 'net too.)

How many times do we have to see what happens to those who flee death? Starting from the ancient story about the man who fled to Samarra, only to find Death waiting, to something as recent as Harry Potter where Valdemort spent all of his energy futilely running from death while Harry embraced his own. Running from death devalues life; embracing one's death gives value to life.
 

Mole

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Winnowing

All animals fear death. And being animals, so do we.

But death is natural selection's greatest creation, for death ensures the gene pool is always fresh.

Have you never wondered about the deep down freshness of things? Well it is simply natural selection winnowing the gene pool.
 

sleepy

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I thought about making a thread today that asked how long it would take if you died for people to report you missing, or check up on you. But I don't have the energy, so will write about it here. It's simple. I thought it may be an indicator for your operating level of fear, how connected you have made yourself.
 

Fluffywolf

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I think being scared of death in most cases is actually people being scared of what comes after death. The afterlife. Someone that feels they have not lived up to their beliefs might be terrified of dying for example.

I don't have these issues since I'm not bothered with beliefs. When I die, I die.
 

Qlip

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I've seen death, and it doesn't scare me.

What scares me is what happens to cause my death. Ie, the final two minutes. (burning in a house fire, car wreck, or in sleep.)

Yeah, this. I don't understand being afraid of death. I do understand being afraid of dying horribly.
 

Saslou

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Contemplate ceasing to exist. That always ties my mind in knots.

I think that is a valid point but when you have a belief about life after death then it is not so worrying.

Good point about having this kind of belief is if it doesn't happen then it doesn't really matter as your dead.

Win win situation.

No, i am not scared of dying and have no anxiety regarding death. I have read so many stories about people crossing over and coming back. If anything it sounds like a glorious welcome home.
 

Aquarelle

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Death doesn't cause me undue anxiety, but disease does, which is kind of similar, in a way. My irrational fear of disease is under control now, so it no longer causes daily anxiety, but I'm not sure it could ever move to a "life affirming awareness" of disease. I think it would depend on what level of anxiety we are talking about... if we're talking about just a normal fear of death (or disease), then I think yes, probably one could transition to an awareness of death but without fear. If it's an irrational anxiety that interferes with every day life, I think someone can learn to control it (whether through medication, relaxation techniques, therapy, etc), but will probably never be totally at ease with the idea.
 

King sns

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I think about death sometimes at night while I'm praying, (or- meditating is a better use for me.) And I can come to terms with it fine. (By "it" I mean actually being dead, of course.. it's just something unfamiliar.) I see a lot of death in my field, it forces you to evaluate it. I'm really afraid of the cause, like Saturned mentioned. It often looks difficult even in the most natural causes. But when I think about it too much, it starts to cause this disregard for life a little bit... The knowledge that most of my existence (or nonexistence even) won't be here. It makes me a little sad about life in general, the things that passed and already "died" in a way-so quickly. I don't know if it's possible for my own mind, (and many human minds) to think deeply about death without having some sense of emotion, (even if it's not fear- some people may find relief thinking about death.) I have trouble at this point of my life separating thoughts of death from thoughts of the meaning of living, I'm not at the point where I can just say "yeah, it'll happen someday!"

So yeah, to make more sense of the post, I've come to terms with death itself, but have trouble being happy about life if I focus on the topic.
 

ICUP

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I never think about death. I figure it will happen when it happens, and it will be over quickly enough.
 
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