Kabsnow

Have you overcome death?

I find everytime I think about philosophy, I think about my reason for existence, and consequently think of my own death. It scares me Sh**less.

Have you overcome fear of death? Any tips, tricks?

Reason for living? Pleasure? Pleasuring others? Making a big impact on the world?

Easytiger

It happens to everybody, regardless of their reason for living, the amount of pleasure they give or take and however big an impact on the world they've made. For some reason I find that soothing, and while I can't say I want to die, I'm not going to live my life fearing what will happen once it's over.

taliendo

I don't fear death, although sometimes I fear the act itself. I can imagine being burned or drowning or being a victim of a violent act. Even with all of that, I don't fear that someday, sometime, this person will no longer exist.

Then again, I feel like a large part of my entity is an eternal being; while I may lose my identity (body, name, history) I will never cease to be.

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pyraxis

Probably helps that I was raised religious. That's one of the perks, honestly believing you're immortal. But now, even though I no longer believe in God or an afterlife, I don't seriously fear death. Every time I start to wonder about it or worry that I'm getting too old, I just remind myself that nothing's stopping me from getting out there and living as full a life as I want. Psychological displacement, I suppose.

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"Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind." -Emerson

bermuDa

if you don't think about it, you don't worry about it. then one day you die, and you won't have been wasting your time waiting for it.

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vonstalhein

I like to cheat death by thinking that i can kill myself in a way i choose whenever i want, but i also like to keep breathing. I often thin of my own death, and to be honest, it doesn't really inspire me in any other way other than to stop sitting on my own and get a life.

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GakFace

when I was younger I somehow got to close behind someone playing backyard baseball. Aluminum bat + Homerun Hitting Softball player (One of the best in the league) + me too close = An overswing that knocks me out cold. Well, It wasn't life threatening, I didn't have my glasses on, and I was rushed to Redi-Med and got my 7 Sky Blue Stitches. Apparently you could see my skull... Well now for the part that leads up to this thread. Where the scar end and where my temple begins is practically non-existant. Now just WHAT happen if your temple is pierced?.. I have probably a centimeter (or less) of space between scar and temple. I've pondered this for a long time, because of it.. I got over the fear of death... and the unhappiness of life. I live life to be happy, nothing but. So now I'm happy and pleased with my life... from that I can die happy. If I can die happy, whats to fear?

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RoboBlaster:
Welcome to the club! Not that I'm in the club. And there really isn'a a club in the first place. But if there was a club and if I was in it, I would definitely welcome you to it.

CSflim

No. I'm not afraid of death.
I was raised a christian, so death didn't bother me, becasue I was imortal anyway.
When I lost my faith (at around age 12), the idea of dying (really dying) scared the hell out of me.
Now however, I have come to accept it. The fact that I will die someday doesn't bother me at all.

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Kabsnow

now at the same time, i'm scared of immortality. never ever dying seems just as scary as dying

pyraxis

Not me. Immortality -- not the kind where you're invulnerable to all harm, but the kind where you never die of old age or your consciousness is preserved intact beyond death -- now that is something I'd be willing to give a LOT to achieve. Shame it's probably impossible in our lifetimes.

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"Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind." -Emerson

CSflim

Yeah me too.
I mean don't get me wrong...I don't want to die in 60(?) years time. I'd like to live a much longer life....I'd happily live for thousands, maybe, millions of years....but forever now THATS a long time (especiialy towards the end).

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wilbjammin

Because we die, we suffer. The impermanence of our lives, our loves, our endeavors leaves us endlessly searching until we die. The only way I know how to handle it is with defiance. Hold my head high and choose to live in spite of it all. I will suffer, but god damn it, this will be my existence and it will be full of what I choose for it. I will die, and I probably won't like it if I see it coming, but I would rather focus on what is in my control, not on what I can't... that would just leave me crippled and stuck in a meaningless existential crisis again. No, it is time for me to live.

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Innominate.

Fibrosa

I haven't overcome my fear of death yet, but I am coping better with it. I recentally became an agnostic atheist, which basically means that my conception of an afterlife is pretty much that there is none. This of course has caused endless worry on my part. On the other hand, when death does come and take me, it's not like I'm going to be able to reflect on it.

chavos

i fear dying alone, and with out meaning. If i went down in a blaze of glory, or the arms of a loved one, its not so bad.

I get freaked out about it once in a while...and sometimes faith helps, sometimes just forgetting about it is what does the trick. I know so little personal experience with dying, its somewhat pointless to consider ATM.

Rodney

When considering death, it's always handy to remember that most of us know what it feels like to be immortal. I honestly didn't consider my own death until I was in my mid-20s. Death, and old age, were not factors in anything that I did.

Now, I do acknowledge death, because I am older, it is closer, and because I have seen relatives and even a few friends my age die. It's a little hard to wrap one's brain around nonexistence, but that's okay. Death is a natural part of life. The fact that my life doesn't go on forever is no tragedy. I would like to live a long time and be mentally and physically fit and functional for all my span, but I want that because I do think that I improve with age and, barring some mental breakdown, that I can continue to improve with age. I'd like to see what kind of person I've grown into by age 80 or more. I know some awesome 80-90-year-olds.

While I do not believe in a traditional life after death, the universe is a strange place, and it may be that I and all of us have immortality of a sort. Various theories of the universe and the multiverse postulate that there are a finite number of ways that matter can be arranged, and given a large enough universe, or alternate universes, all possible configurations currently exist somewhere. If that is true, there always has been ( and always will be) a Rodney. As far as immortality is concerned, that would be good enough for me; and if that's not true, well, I'm also fond of the idea that a self-conscious life form is just a way of the universe expressing itself and observing itself. When I die, I'll still be part of the universe. In some other form.

isis

I'm incredibly afraid of death. Due to this, I try to control every aspect of my life ... whether I can or not. I'm also incredibly afraid of heights.
I take personal risks, because I feel like I know my limits, but I think the real fear is me being killed at the hands of someone else .. ie. car accident or something.

I don't think my faith (or lack thereof) plays any part in my fear of death. I don't really worry about WHERE I'm going, but I think I worry about what I'm leaving behind.

VF19

I had a near-death experience, really changed my life.
But just try not to think about it.

Kabsnow

that's what i've been doing.

it appears, ignorance is bliss.

jokeR`afk

I'm not afraid of it simply because I don't believe in an afterlife, and I don't really care what happens to me because after the fact, I'll only have my memories of the event. And after dying, that's the end, so what will I remember? Nothing.

I'm not very liked due to my tendancy to take the "magic" out of everything.

My only reason for living would be my parents, probably. Existance can only be what you make it and that's all I can think of no matter how hard I try. I really only draw any pleasure from providing others with it, that and I have no will to take my own life. You can bet I'm going to be signing some papers later on regarding the use of life support being a no-go.

ARTelevision

Death is my constant companion.

I don't overcome inevitable things.
I accept them.

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almostaugust

Yeah, death is a constant companion. I think our society has some serious problems with how we treat the whole death process. Most people have never actually seen a real corpse. We hide death away in hospitals and such. I think it is healthy for people to come to terms with the nature of life. Owning pets as a small kid i guess is a process whereby we have to deal with losing a loved one. I remember being upset for a long time when my pets died. When i was fifteen i found a dead body in the bush- it was also a bit troubling. But, overall i think dealing with it is better than not examining the feelings we have toward death.

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'And it's been a long December and there's reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last
I can't remember all the times I tried to tell my myself
To hold on to these moments as they pass'

Eviltree

I agree. I fear endlessness more than I fear death. It just goes on, and on, without stopping, and when you're tired of it, thats too bad, because it just keeps on going. That's what creeps me out late at night.

GoldenOuroboros

Immortality would be great.. I'm not the quickest of learners but I like to do it when I'm up to it.

What I fear about death shakes me sometimes. The fear of not exsisting.. the fear of not being able to be.. Not being able to think and perceive..

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bijou

I am incredibly afraid of death, not just my own but that of the people I love. I cannot say goodbye easily and I am enough of a control freak to want to be able to hold it back or choose when it will happen.

Suicide is always at the back of my mind, as a solution when things get bad. But if I would ever have the courage to actually do it, who knows?

I am an atheist and often envy people that believe in an afterlife, it must be so comforting. But I cannot delude myself into believing it is real and the idea of nothingness, of not existing at all, is very scary to me.