Personality type and attitudes toward death and infinity

[Speed Gavroche]

I think death would be an exciting thig.

 

[Betty Blue]

I don't fear death but i do fear for the people i leave behind that are dependant on me, i'd like them to be sorted first. I have come close, i have flatlined and actually it was quite a dreamy feeling of euphoria so thats ok.
As for an afterlife... i like to imagine i'll be back, haha, not in a christlike way. Just floating around somewhere in the cosmos, or regrowing from the earth.
It's interesting thinking about organ donors and the effects on whom organs are donated to...hmmm, tangent.

 

[cgs]

Hi,

I just wanted to join to give my two cents.

I found this website by googling "fear of death and infinity". Simple enough. I haven't gone through the few google result pages that showed up but this was the only link on the first page that actually combined the topics of death and infinity into one. I was mostly googling to find a way to pinpoint my fear more accurately.

I was a little disappointed to find that nobody from this group had come back with a discussion of whether or not this fear could be characteristic of a certain type of personality. A little disappointed; but not surprised. I know how irrational it is to fear things that are inevitable, and that is what makes the fear all the more difficult to fully try and deal with and settle down when I have an onset - both the frustration that I am allowing myself to go through with thinking about (and fear) something that I can't change as well as the cycle of reminders that "it's coming. what have I done that was truly important today? how much longer?"

I do plan on exploring this site more and, if anyone cares, I will try to figure out a bit about what type I am. But since writing about this, right now, is making me feel better I'm just going to keep going with my story for a bit. it's an old thread; no harm, no foul.

I don't have any phobias. I'm not a big fan of spiders or heights though. I have a hard time enjoying things. I usually feel this misplaced guilt or regret. Hard to explain. I have a nice life; great life compared to a large portion of the world.

This fear of death isn't of the actual dying. Like: accident, old age, disease; however it happens, it happens and I can accept that (at this moment that it's not happening, at least). I mean drowning would be pretty horrific. But my actual cause of death doesn't concern me much. I am very fearful and protective of my family and loved ones though. Like probably fairly anxious about things concerning my wife and kids and my parents.

The fear of death for me is about "the end". Of this consciousness, of (my end of) these relationships, of the possibility of learning the great secrets that no one will actually ever learn. According to my family I started fearing death real young. Definitely way before I ever experienced someone close to me passing away. I wasn't raised in a religious household. I have an early memory of being real shaken up about death and my mom having to dig out the old hippy bible they had called "The Way". There was some passage in there about the mansion in the sky with a room for everyone. That worked for me for awhile. I am an only child. I guess I was afraid of being alone forever.

I never did grasp onto the idea of a person-in-the-clouds type of religion. But I grew up fairly confident that we each had some kind of "spirit" that animated us from some sort of spark. Mini Big Bangs for everyone. As the universe is not a wasteful container, I thought that as we died, our spirits would continue on in some capacity that is completely beyond our reasoning. I was comfortable that something would happen that I couldn't understand. And that I wouldn't be alone, I guess.

Now I'm reaching the lower end of middle age. I've got a wife and kids. My professional life is a bit scattered and I've returned to school. I've got no time for worrying about things that are going to happen whether I worry about them or not. Yet this happens. Once every three or four years. I have been deep in it in the past. Like: hard-to-get-dressed deep. And I feel selfish and weak. And then hopeless because we're all going to die anyway. This time it's just on the edge of my inside consciousness. I'm just on the cusp of being "worried" about it. It's this swirling realization that I can think about this light turning off and then.......

Nothing. There's not even a nothing. It's gone. And like the eternity that existed before I came about, there will be an eternity that continues on completely beyond my senses. And yes, if I'm not conscious or cognizant (putting it mildly), then what worry of mine is an eternity without 'me'? But that is the nature of not responding rationally to the thought.

I thought in the past about whether the fear of death was only the uncertainty of there being an after-life of some sort. But now that I am fairly certain that there can't be one, I've realized that it is the eternity of non-existence. And now, having typed that, I can guarantee that the prospect of an eternity of life-in-the-clouds (or the other place, if you like) isn't any better. Perhaps once we shed this coil, and it turns out that there is actually something to this form (besides just the unbelievably good luck to have been born a biologically grown computer with a certain shelf-life of RAM that wipes upon powering down) that goes on after, there is a different dimension or existence to which time (and therefore eternity) is not applicable. That would be a pleasant turn of events. Like a movie ending. Though not a movie like A.I. like that other guy said.

The "infinity" side of the fear doesn't factor in in any other capacity. The universe is fine for me. I think about it often. The micro-universe going on everywhere within and without fascinates me.

It's just this death stuff. And feeling completely alone I guess. Though, when it's worrying me, it doesn't seem like I'm consciously thinking that I'm going to be alone forever. I don't imagine any sense being there whatsoever to "feel" alone.

So not just my two cents afterall. My whole buck fifty.
I've half a mind to hit delete. But what the hell? It's relatively anonymous. An anonymous cry for help. Or understanding.

 

[skylights]

yeah. it's weird, to think like that. suddenly everything that is real becomes... less real, somehow. you feel alone because you're the only one who has control over your thoughts, because you're the only one who can really decide how you feel about what comes next, because somehow it seems like there's the possibility of just being the sole lucky observer for a short, short period of time in this world that, right now, to us, means everything, and of the possibility of never ever making those connections again.

but the universe goes on with us, somehow, doesn't it? through each and every person dying - unless it's really just solipsism, but what's the point of assuming that? in a strange way... regardless of whatever happens to our consciences... we'll continue being part of the world. we'll become part of the ground, and the sea, or the sky. not just dust to dust, but of stardust we're made and to stardust we will return. parts of us will become parts of other living beings, somehow synthesizing to make greater wholes again. that's one comfort i find in the unsettling void of pondering death. yes, someday we'll be gone... but only in moving on to become a part of new forms of matter, new life, new experiences. we'll never be alone in that the particles that make up ourselves will always continue to exist, either as matter or as energy.

and who's to say that after death, the rules don't totally change? "time" is just a big series of physics laws that describe our singular universe. leave our universe, as some part of us appears to do at death, and who knows where we'll end up. maybe we can revisit things again, maybe this concept of "time" that we see as a linear one-way road becomes more of a tree, or even a river, or a sea? and the rule of our singularly-contained minds... many people believe that our consciousness is "returned" to the "universal consciousness" after death. that instead of evaporating and scattering, we in fact come more together... what if our "individuality" is just a peculiarity of this universe? what if the ability to experience things just once in time is a just peculiarity of this universe?

and hey, statistically, i think we have infinity on our side. because while there's 1 single distinct possibility of non-existence after death, there are millions and millions and millions of different possibilities for different continued existences after death.

i'm an eternal ENFP optimist, i guess. hope for a good future because even if the afterlife isn't really what we're hoping, there's not too much utility in worrying ourselves about it now... even though it's certainly hard to escape these thoughts sometimes. i've been skirting restrictive rules my whole life, and i intend to continue doing so throughout my life, so i'm kinda hoping i get to skirt restrictive rules in the afterlife too. anyway. i'm a fan of the sci-fi movie ending too.

welcome to the forums, cgs. i hope you enjoy it here

 

[Such Irony]

Hi,
I was a little disappointed to find that nobody from this group had come back with a discussion of whether or not this fear could be characteristic of a certain type of personality. A little disappointed; but not surprised. I know how irrational it is to fear things that are inevitable, and that is what makes the fear all the more difficult to fully try and deal with and settle down when I have an onset - both the frustration that I am allowing myself to go through with thinking about (and fear) something that I can't change as well as the cycle of reminders that "it's coming. what have I done that was truly important today? how much longer?"

The fear of death for me is about "the end". Of this consciousness, of (my end of) these relationships, of the possibility of learning the great secrets that no one will actually ever learn. According to my family I started fearing death real young. Definitely way before I ever experienced someone close to me passing away. I wasn't raised in a religious household. I have an early memory of being real shaken up about death and my mom having to dig out the old hippy bible they had called "The Way". There was some passage in there about the mansion in the sky with a room for everyone. That worked for me for awhile. I am an only child. I guess I was afraid of being alone forever.
.

I totally relate to this and you may also be interested in this recent thread:

I'm Amazed How No One Seems to Fear Death

I didn't see much personality patterns in that thread either between those who fear and those who don't.

 

[Sunny Ghost]

Many people say that they are afraid of or feel anxious about the idea of infinity or eternity (for example, an infinite universe). Many people also say that they are very much afraid of death. I don't recall ever being afraid of death or infinity as thoughts. On the contrary, these thoughts intrigue me. I have sometimes been afraid of death in situations where I think I'm dying on that instant but I have pretty much gotten over those fears.

I was wondering: does this have something to do with personality type? Or the eight functions? Are certain types more prone to fear death and infinity?

I have been afraid of death, at one point in time. But it was at a point where I felt as though my life was misguided and that I had not achieved enough on this plane of existence to comfortably enter the next.

I'm now much more comfortable with the idea of death. I have often felt as though life after death would be quite an experience, an adventure. I don't think it all ends when our bodies do.

I'm tried to enter infinity, if you will, by trying to summon out of body experiences. There are many tricks on how to do this online. I tried one: Imagine having a balloon in you left hand for each color of the rainbow, plus a pink balloon. Starting with the red balloon, with your eyes closed of course, imagine passing the red balloon from your left hand to your right hand, watching the balloon as it passes. Then continue on down through the rainbow, with the orange balloon next. Last, is the pink balloon. Once you pass it from your left hand to your right hand, you literally hear a loud click and you enter infinity or whatever you want to call it.
I tried this a couple of times and freaked the hell out when I heard the click and switched over... quickly waking myself.

I'm intriqued by the ideas of it all. But scared when it comes down to it.

 

[Sunshine]

I hate death. I want it to die.

 

[guesswho]

Did the obsessive thoughts about death "pop" in periods of stress?

Any maybe your first reaction is to say: "no, they're completely random". Think again, is there a pattern?

There is no need to suffer, try going to a psychotherapist, I'm sure you can receive the help you need, and even if those thoughts don't disappear completely, their intensity will be reduced.

 

[Sunny Ghost]

I hate death. I want it to die.

Did the obsessive thoughts about death "pop" in periods of stress?

Any maybe your first reaction is to say: "no, they're completely random". Think again, is there a pattern?

There is no need to suffer, try going to a psychotherapist, I'm sure you can receive the help you need, and even if those thoughts don't disappear completely, their intensity will be reduced.

wait... is this directed towards me, or a general question?

i'll answer anyways.
definitely times of stress. who thinks about death when they're happy go lucky?

 

[guesswho]

Nope... it was directed to the guy with the one page post.

This is anxiety...it doesn't have much to do with death. Why?

Because it has a strange way of clinging to your greatest fears, and making you obsess about them. So anxiety is pretty much personalized for everyone. And it's triggered by stress.

Repetitive fear/restlessness provoking thoughts.

Although I suspect it's this way because there's some obsessive compulsive thing added too.

And it's bio-social.
You need the biological trigger+the social trigger.

Biologically anxiety, depression and OCD have a similar root: Lack of serotonin. So if you have one of them ...you might have all of them lol.

The (obsessive) fear of death can be reduced to this:

Or maybe I'm wrong...and posting nonsense...

The non-obsessive fear of death is ok.