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I'm amazed how no one seems to fear death

Such Irony

Honor Thy Inferior
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Public speaking and spiders rank much higher on the list of most common fears.

Whenever there's a thread posted about death, I'm always surprised by the number of people claiming not to fear death at all. I sometimes wondering if they are seriously depressed or just in denial. Not too many people seem to be openly willing to admit that they fear it and that they are deeply unsettled by the thought.

I fear death more than just about anything. The only thing I think I fear more than death is living on unfullfilling and meaningless life or not making any valuable contribution to society.

When you die, you lose *everything* you've come to love and appreciate. You have no more contact with your loved ones or friends. You can't eat any more tasty food, listen to any more music, or see any more beautiful art. You can no longer do the things you love. You can no longer contribute to the betterment of society. You can no longer gain knowledge or insights on things. Death is far worse than major losses in life. If you lose a loved one, at least hopefully you have other relationships you can depend on. If you lose your hearing and can no longer listen to music, you still have your vision and can appreciate a sunset or beautiful art. But when you die, that's it. It's *all* gone.

Maybe I take this viewpoint precisely because I don't believe in any sort of afterlife. However, I've heard several atheists also say they don't fear death either. The people who claim to not fear death are not necessarily depressed or nihilistic either. Some are very well adjusted people who currently enjoy life. And I'm not sure age has much to do with it either. It's not just old people who are saying that. I've heard that from 18 year olds as well.

So are there others who share my attitude? I don't think I'm the only one. Or am I really on a different wavelength from others?​
 

rav3n

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Death is inevitable. Why fear this? When dead, you're not going to care about anything. You're gone.[/atheist position]
 

entropie

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Yea, why fear death ? You know it will be coming and you dont want to know when. I rather fear spiders aswell, cause you never see them coming and when they come you're still alive to shit your pants.

I've lately seen a nice episode of Avatar, where the old man was asked if he at his old age doesnt get surprised no more. And the old man said, there is only one thing left to surprise him and he better doesnt want to know when it happens. I liked that quote very much
 
P

Phantonym

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I guess I could call myself an agnostic, if stating that matters in any way. I don't fear death either. At least not in a way that I would feel paralyzed by the fear. Of course I'd prefer to die at a comfortably old age and not go through immense suffering before I do. But other than that, I have no control over death (I'll leave suicide out of the equation for the moment), no way of avoiding it or any means of controlling what happens after I do die. So why should I worry about it? I'll deal with that when the time comes, but for now I'd rather concentrate on living instead. Worrying about it would only take away the precious time and energy that would be more beneficial for keeping on living and enjoying various things life has to offer.

All the things listed in the OP, things you've come to love and appreciate, I don't think any of these matter to you personally anymore once you're dead. You've been given time to love and appreciate these things, but you're not supposed to hang on to them forever. Once you've fulfilled your purpose it's time to move on. And since nobody knows what's going to happen once you do move on, the only thing to worry about is living your life and enjoying it as best as you can.
 

Fluffywolf

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I've no fear of death, that said, I do hope it comes later than sooner for me. Much much much later. Preferably a few million years later. But when it comes it comes. Not much can be done about it. :D
 

gromit

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I don't want to die. Or rather, I don't want to not exist. To be honest, I am pretty scared of that. Though the couple times I've come close to death I've been remarkably collected about it (during). Maybe when the time comes I'll be ready for it.

Who knows what happens after life anyway?
 

erm

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Ever considered that they are lying or deluded? I'd guess most who claim not to fear it are in one of those two categories.

The evidence is that the vast majority of the population fears death very strongly.
 

Randomnity

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Everyone dies. I try not to be afraid for my entire life because well, that sounds kinda shitty.

I don't do anything to severely hasten it, though. I certainly don't want to die, but as a young healthy person, it's kinda silly to dwell on it, don't you think?

Quality of life is important too, not just quantity.
 

Thalassa

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I fear death. I feared death so much at one point I had to be given medication for anxiety. Of course, I dealt with a lot of death at a very young age, so I see it as more of a reality than I think some people do.

I also think it just had to do with having panic disorder. I know it also helped me a lot when I was with my ex. I sometimes had this feeling when I was with him that I didn't care if I died.

What that tells me is that I don't want to die alone.
 

Thalassa

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I should say I don't fear death, but dying. Being dead doesn't scare me. The dying part does.

The only thing that scares me more is living through some horrendous act of fiery violence and having half of my body burned, etc.
 

erm

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The only thing that scares me more is living through some horrendous act of fiery violence and having half of my body burned, etc.

The few times I've experience large amounts of pain, the fear of death is overpowered by the fear of continuing that pain.

In all other situations, though there are often things of higher priority than my own survival, the fear of death is the greatest one. I can only imagine how hard it would be if I was forced to enact that priority (and how high my odds of failure would be).

The one time I've been threatened with immediate death, it was one of the most powerful feelings I've ever experienced. Lots of experiences may have been more important to me, and certainly more favoured, but I can only think of two other experiences that out did it on raw strength and depth of feeling (one being the pain scenario).
 

Beargryllz

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Do you fear the setting sun? A flock of geese flying overhead? Do you worry about whether or not the socks in your sock drawer are sometimes inside-out and then wail in agony?

Fearing the inevitable is silly, but accepting the inevitable is not easy for everybody.
 

Siúil a Rúin

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So are there others who share my attitude? I don't think I'm the only one. Or am I really on a different wavelength from others? [/INDENT]
I fear death more than spiders or public speaking. I think death is unreal to a lot of people. It goes beyond what the mind can process and is dismissed. This is more true the younger the person is. As you get older death becomes more real and it changes a person psychologically.
 

Lark

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Public speaking and spiders rank much higher on the list of most common fears.

Whenever there's a thread posted about death, I'm always surprised by the number of people claiming not to fear death at all. I sometimes wondering if they are seriously depressed or just in denial. Not too many people seem to be openly willing to admit that they fear it and that they are deeply unsettled by the thought.

I fear death more than just about anything. The only thing I think I fear more than death is living on unfullfilling and meaningless life or not making any valuable contribution to society.

When you die, you lose *everything* you've come to love and appreciate. You have no more contact with your loved ones or friends. You can't eat any more tasty food, listen to any more music, or see any more beautiful art. You can no longer do the things you love. You can no longer contribute to the betterment of society. You can no longer gain knowledge or insights on things. Death is far worse than major losses in life. If you lose a loved one, at least hopefully you have other relationships you can depend on. If you lose your hearing and can no longer listen to music, you still have your vision and can appreciate a sunset or beautiful art. But when you die, that's it. It's *all* gone.

Maybe I take this viewpoint precisely because I don't believe in any sort of afterlife. However, I've heard several atheists also say they don't fear death either. The people who claim to not fear death are not necessarily depressed or nihilistic either. Some are very well adjusted people who currently enjoy life. And I'm not sure age has much to do with it either. It's not just old people who are saying that. I've heard that from 18 year olds as well.

So are there others who share my attitude? I don't think I'm the only one. Or am I really on a different wavelength from others?​

I'm a theist, a practicing Roman Catholic to be precise, now what you say about death is actually what I think about death myself, whether there is an afterlife or not and we cant really know that for certain, we can hope but that's it so far as I can tell and I'm speaking from personal experience or personal revelation rather than doctrine or dogma or Church teaching so no one try and catch me out as being inconsistent or whatever I'm not insterested in games of that kind. The thing is that whether or not you do believe in personal survival of death, of a continued existence or consciousness, life and those things specific to it, its enjoyments and happiness, are over too.

I dont believe that I fear it or dread it, its one of those things and reactions of that kind to it, I dont know, its a little like seriously dreading or fearing that you will wake tommorrow and it will rain all day, it wont change that and you cant change that. Although it may be a question of what sort of fear you mean or what you mean by fear, I may experience a sort of disquiet, an ongoing disquiet about it, as a believer I link this with doubts however rather than a shock or horror at the finite nature of life. Sometimes, and I know this will seem strange to a non-theist/athiest, I fear living a disappointing or unworthy life, falling short of the divine expectation, although that's to do with my understanding of my relationship to a deity, which is one similar to that of a worldly love relationship.

The only thing I think I fear more than death is living on unfullfilling and meaningless life or not making any valuable contribution to society.

This I think is the best point in your post, I share that sort of feeling too, I have fears about losing my eye sight or being some how disabled because I know how people who are are treated by my society and I dont believe it is well, I know the constraints it would place upon me and I love reading and writing.

The only thing which I would say about your description of death is that if you dont believe in any continued consciousness or existence beyond death then how would you experience loss or be worried by it? You wont experience anything, most of the things you described as terrible about death are not really things terrible about death but terrible about life or problems for the living, being deprived for food, music, art, social intercourse, those are things to be feared about life or a life marked by those things would be experienced as one of deprivation. I take some consolation that if my faith is vindicated then I will experience serenity rather than troubles, if it is not vindicated then its a moot point really? I'll not experience anything then.
 

Ming

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I don't know, I don't really fear death. I have at times looked forward to death; but I'm scared of the pain. It's like when you've been electrocuted, and then you self-taught your childish self 'DON'T TOUCH THAT TV CABLE 'CAUSE BLUE LIGHTNING THINGS SPARK OUT'.

I have more of a fear of cockroaches - I don't know how to deal with them. I don't like them, but I don't want to step on them and kill them..
 

nolla

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Public speaking and spiders rank much higher on the list of most common fears.

They fear. Death is a kind of an invisible fear behind the other fears. Why would people make their lives "safer" all the time? Just look at the adds on tv. "Our car is now safer than the other cars", "Make your kitchen germ-free with our Kill-Em-All detergent". If no one was afraid, these adds wouldn't be there because why would anyone bother?

Whenever there's a thread posted about death, I'm always surprised by the number of people claiming not to fear death at all. I sometimes wondering if they are seriously depressed or just in denial. Not too many people seem to be openly willing to admit that they fear it and that they are deeply unsettled by the thought.

Maybe I take this viewpoint precisely because I don't believe in any sort of afterlife. However, I've heard several atheists also say they don't fear death either. The people who claim to not fear death are not necessarily depressed or nihilistic either. Some are very well adjusted people who currently enjoy life. And I'm not sure age has much to do with it either. It's not just old people who are saying that. I've heard that from 18 year olds as well.

I don't fear death, since I don't believe there is anything there. It is a bit like saying that I still have bad dreams about the time when I wasn't born yet. If I don't have any thoughts or feelings or memories, then what would I be afraid of? I'm pretty sure I'm not in denial but who knows... The thought about losing other people feels worse for me.

In fact, I think the idea of death makes me want to live more while I still can. I don't really bother with all kinds of abstract safety nets like insurances and all that and just go with the flow. I see this safety industry making people feel afraid. They have to, otherwise they wouldn't sell. They never tell you straight up that they scare you with death. They just imply that anything can happen and you need to be in control. That's bull. Life is fun exactly because anything can happen!

EDIT: If I'd have to guess why I think like this, it's because I've spent quite some time in sort of an uncertainty financially and philosophically. That was quite depressing. The only way out was to start enjoying life as something totally uncertain.
 
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