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Death anxiety and death awareness

Lark

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Some time ago I read Irving Yalom's book, Staring At The Sun, which dealt with the whole idea of "death anxiety", which apparently is a psychological and emotional trouble on the rise, particularly among more affluent sections of US society in middle age, and one of the ways of countering this apparently is to reframe it as "death awareness", therefore you do things like objective calculations of likely time scales until your demise, plan and progress life goals to do with career, family, friendships/relationships, community involvement etc.

What do you think about this? Is it a recent development or does each generation go through a version of this? Have you gone through a version of this? Do you think you're ever likely to go through a version of this? Is the majority of human effort throughout human history about the "Denial of Death" (I've been reading the famous book of that title and found it has more to do with the author's love of Otto Rank and musings about the hero and heroic in human history than it has to do with what I expected from reading the title or wikis about it)? Is everything merely a distraction or diversion from the inevitability of the deaths of loved ones and then the death of your self?
 

Spectre

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Some time ago I read Irving Yalom's book, Staring At The Sun, which dealt with the whole idea of "death anxiety", which apparently is a psychological and emotional trouble on the rise, particularly among more affluent sections of US society in middle age, and one of the ways of countering this apparently is to reframe it as "death awareness", therefore you do things like objective calculations of likely time scales until your demise, plan and progress life goals to do with career, family, friendships/relationships, community involvement etc.

What do you think about this? Is it a recent development or does each generation go through a version of this? Have you gone through a version of this? Do you think you're ever likely to go through a version of this? Is the majority of human effort throughout human history about the "Denial of Death" (I've been reading the famous book of that title and found it has more to do with the author's love of Otto Rank and musings about the hero and heroic in human history than it has to do with what I expected from reading the title or wikis about it)? Is everything merely a distraction or diversion from the inevitability of the deaths of loved ones and then the death of your self?

hmmm

I would have thought that these thoughts on death came later on in life for most people, like when your body starts to crumble or your peers die off.

Anyways, it seems reasonable to process some loose ends before it is too late.

Perhaps it has to do with if an individual pursues happiness or meaning. If its the latter I imagine planning is very important, to ensure you have made everything you should have.

Thoughts?
 

deathwarmedup

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Sign of a sheltered society. People used to be surrounded by death. British men in 1900 had a life expectancy of 48 and many children still died before adulthood. The more we have the luxury of insulating ourselves from this and of indulging in our vanities and our little projects in immortality (careers, "life-goals", families that we unquestioningly expect to see grow to adulthood), the more it bites us on the ass when it comes our way. There's probably been few cultures that have been less spiritually prepared for death. Our acceptance is only an intellectual one. Declining religious belief might not be helping either.
 

Spectre

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Sign of a sheltered society. People used to be surrounded by death. British men in 1900 had a life expectancy of 48 and many children still died before adulthood. The more we have the luxury of insulating ourselves from this and of indulging in our vanities and our little projects in immortality (careers, "life-goals", families that we unquestioningly expect to see grow to adulthood), the more it bites us on the ass when it comes our way. There's probably been few cultures that have been less spiritually prepared for death. Our acceptance is only an intellectual one. Declining religious belief might not be helping either.

So what do you propose as a solution?
 

Doctor Cringelord

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We're all star stuff, I guess I take comfort in knowing I'll eventually be returned to and recycled in the great cosmic whirlpool.
 

deathwarmedup

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So what do you propose as a solution?

Assuming there's a solution. Assuming it merits one. Assuming - most of all - that my idle riffing is correct. A less individually egocentric society, more socially connected, principally among kin.... conferring a greater sense of continuity between past and future. It's telling that it most keenly affects the affluent, that most socially atomised section of society. (For example, if you're kids are an expression of your own ego more than individuals in their own right aren't you just projecting your ego, and therefore your social insularity, into the future? Mortality comes knocking....)
 

Galena

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I have feared this intensely since I was a kid. This is directly tied to having a very strong sense of precisely what would give me meaning to do in life, from an early age - also feeling responsible for making it happen. I do not feel I have done enough of what this is, or completed any part of it. Fear of not having enough time is a root anxiety for me that many of my other fears grow from. I do not feel even close to being ready for death.
 

ceecee

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I know three people who are paralyzingly afraid of death. I don't know the actual reason but I suspect it's a combination of things. They also tend to be people that jump from religion to religion. When one doesn't give answers, they look to another. Being that obsessed with death mean they never actually live their life so in a sense, they're already dead.
 

á´…eparted

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I am more afraid of the physical pain of death, than death itself. I've actually spent a lot of mental energy to make myself not fear death. I don't want to be afraid of it.
 

Spectre

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I know three people who are paralyzingly afraid of death. I don't know the actual reason but I suspect it's a combination of things. They also tend to be people that jump from religion to religion. When one doesn't give answers, they look to another. Being that obsessed with death mean they never actually live their life so in a sense, they're already dead.

What kind of religions are they considering? Just curios of what kind of answers they are looking for.
 

meowington

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I've had my fair share of anxiety. Don't know if it all ultimately boils down to death anxiety.
Anyway, the only comforting thought in regards to actual death anxiety imho is "Panta Rhei" (="Everything flows", "nothing is eternal" sort of thing).
 

Abcdenfp

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I have always had a fear of death from a young age but more from an existential stand point, I'm not afraid of the experience of dying but rather the possibility of no longer existing. To just stop being all together is terrifying to me ( as is waking up and being in a small metal box). Listening to lots of Ran das, Wayne Dyer has assisted with this recently. I also like the thought that we are all star dust.
 

Galena

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The meaning of it weighs pretty heavily. So much of human anxiety can be traced back to death aversion, however abstract the path is. For that reason, it makes sense to me that a great fear of it would prime one more strongly for a very wide range of self-preservational behaviors, which becomes problematic if these behaviors are at the expense of greater things. A change in one's perspective on death could then initiate a multitude of chain reactions across one's character.

Definitely something worth trying. I think I'll move it way up in my goals.
 

ceecee

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What kind of religions are they considering? Just curios of what kind of answers they are looking for.

They all started with Christianity - one as a Protestant, two as Roman Catholic. One moved to Greek Orthodox, two to Islam. Eventually they all looked to eastern religions like Jainism, Taoism, they all hated the idea of Sikhism (not sure why). At this point, two follow Buddhism, one follows Confucianism. I'm not surprised as these religions offer less in the way of a spiritual death. Reincarnation, eternity, karma.. you never really die.
 

Spectre

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They all started with Christianity - one as a Protestant, two as Roman Catholic. One moved to Greek Orthodox, two to Islam. Eventually they all looked to eastern religions like Jainism, Taoism, they all hated the idea of Sikhism (not sure why). At this point, two follow Buddhism, one follows Confucianism. I'm not surprised as these religions offer less in the way of a spiritual death. Reincarnation, eternity, karma.. you never really die.

Hmm. I for one find it rather soothing with having an ultimate end. After all if it ends, at least it wont be bad.
A more positive way of seeing it could be: Regardless of failures and misery we all get tranquility in the end.
 

Polaris

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I actually think I would be somewhat relieved if I thought that I could succumb to death. As it is, I think, and have no choice but to think, that my awareness will continue on in some form forever. That's scary, because it means that, unless we cure human mortality soon, I might very well continue to be aware of something while my body lies in decay. It seems unlikely that it would be pleasant, although I can't really know. (I expect that at some future time, all of the dead, including my own temporarily dead self, will be resurrected in some way by technology. Hopefully there isn't an unpleasant interim between then and my probable[?] corpsification.)

I do feel the clock ticking. While I won't come to a final end, I will run out of time for those things that I want to accomplish in life. My funeral is a fast approaching deadline, and thinking about it stresses me out. That doesn't keep me from wasting hours upon hours, though. . .
 

StrawberryBoots

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Physical death doesn't worry me because I believe in eternal life with God with whom I have peace.

The night before Jesus died, he gave his peace to his disciples, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27)
 
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