Time of Death
 

This is something that I've been pondering over lately and I thought I'd share it with everyone here and get your reactions/ideas. I have come to the conclusion that when you die it is your time to die no matter where, when or how it happens. Say for instance I am to die in 3 days. I can get in a car, plane or boat and no matter which I choose I will die somehow. Some people say if you fly alot you take a big risk. I don't believe that. I fly all the time and thankfully, I've been ok so far :) I think that when it's time it's time. What do all of you think?? Yeah i know it's a tad morbid..but death is the only guarantee in life right?

I personally do not belive in predestination. If that is the question. I believe in free will. I believe that everything that has happened has happened but that does not mean they HAD to happen. But yes everyone must die someday. And no you do not take a big risk if you fly. That is a commonly believed myth. You DO take your life into your hands any time you get behind the wheel of a car though.

No.

While Death is an inevitability, predestination trumps free will.

But then we could have an interesting discussion on the nature of time as a dimension.

You can go,
no reason nor rhyme.

I learned this back when I was 16, during a significant event in my life.
A split second made the difference between me being here or headless.
And no one was at fault, it just happened.

Do what you need to do, do what you want,
the only difference anything really makes is how you interact with others.
Everything else is pretty much your own choice and even then it can all go anytime.

It's your own responsibility to make yourself content while you are here.

I agree with BBtB, predestination..(I could open a can of worms about that word) is a falsehood engrained into our heads by our parents and there parents before them. we not living by some big clock in the sky here....we choose our own path and take our own risks and we die when we die, there's no great mystery here. your born and someday your going to die. that's all there is, so enjoy it while your here and hope you do somthing to make this place a little more enjoyable for those that will follow you.

It kind of depends of you believe in Kharma. I'm not sure I do but it is an interesting concept. I find my self sometimes having random thoughts about death. Not morbid thoughts, just trying to concieve some of the mystery.

My existence will continue until it ceases. I may never know what made that particular time matter.

If the universe was fair bad people should only live among us a short time and good people a long time. The universe is uncaring and random.

I believe that our "time to go" is probably just a random occurance but we should live as if it mattered.

Would you live as a better person if you knew the time of your departure? Since you don't, shouldn't you live that way all the time?

Death may not be the end, it may be the beginning, but it may not be something from Sunday school.

What if this is the learning stage in a continued existence?

wow, i totally believe in predestination...and have given this issue much thought.

for someone who worries a lot about everything (like myself), believing in predestination is probably the best remedy around.

just yesterday my (very outgoing) partner decided she wanted to go skydiving. i used to worry my ass off every time she would even go out with friends or get into someone elses car. now, i'm very at peace with these types of things.

anything can happen. anywhere and for any reason. with that said, if one choses to worry about someone skydiving then they should also be equally worried about crossing the street the traffic. it's only makes sense.

i can fly in planes again, i am comfortable with any crazy things my partner wants to do, i can even.......walk into a dark forest with a flashlight (for lack of a better example).

i am a firm believer in predestination...and it gave me a whole different outlook on life.

Hmm... this thread reminds me of a movie that I've seen...

Neo: But if you already know, how can I make a choice?

The Oracle: Because you didn't come here to make a choice, you've already made it. You're here to try to understand why you made it.

Ah the philosphy of the matrix. Let us just remember that the matrix (as a movie series) has not made any new philosphical statements. It has merely pointed out that they are all around us allready.

it all sounds good...... God knows when i'll die and I'm A-okay till that day.... no

if you go down the wrong lane drunk, God will prolly let you die, period, from being dumb.....

i think we do have a type of script for our lives but we adlib and have to make most choices on our own.

we'll live to our time if we play it smart

reminds me of an article I once read about a business man who has such bad luck that the majority of the flights he takes involves emergency equipment on the airfield when the plane lands! According to the article, the other people at the office wait for him to book his flight, then book a different plane. :) With all that "bad" luck though, he's still alive and well. So what kind of "luck" is it after all?

I think everything happens for a reason and when your number comes up, it's time to go. Makes one realize they should make the best of the moment rather than dwelling on the past or the future.

We all gonna die.


Ain't reason to be stressin' over it.


The Reapers got yo number.

remember this on your deathbed. believe me, it isn't that simple.

I don't like the idea of predistination. I like knowing that I'm in control of my life. I've been close to death many times before, but I don't feel that I'm still here because some sort of cosmic force prefers that I die later on.

I believe too that there is a time of death and it will happen no matter where you are. I am not real sure why I believe that, but I do. I also believe that everything happens for a reason, so if something bad happens, then eventually you will see why it happened.
Also, if it is meant to be, then it will be.

I think I will go with the common view, and say free will is what rules...and predestination is something to make people who lost someone feel better.

I don't believe that there is an appointment set up out there already for me to die. And if there is, I believe it's written in pencil and available for rescheduling. I also don't feel that on any of my close calls that I've cheated death. I guess I don't look at death as any kind of mystical occurance. I think it happens to all of the living creatures on this earth as a matter of fact finallity.

But when the time comes, I only hope that I'm conscious when it happens. If this is the last thing that's going to happen to me, I'd like to be aware of it while it's going on. I wonder, if you die in your sleep, do you know you're dying? If not, that would have to be the worst way to go.

I believe there is a predetermined expiry date built into your genes, at which point your body will start to break down. You can die before then due to accident or freak disease, of course. The whole predetermined fate viewpoint is not quite my thing.

I never spend much time thinking about death as either free will or predestination. One day you're going to die, its inevitable, so don't worry about how. :)

It would be a huge waste of time if we all just walk around wondering why the hell we are here. I don't believe everything is predetermined, it makes my life more enjoyable to think that my freewill determines how it all pans out for me, but if it makes your life more enjoyable to feel secure knowing its all been worked out for you, then go with it...

nah.. no predestination. but i believe ultimately all of us are simply defined by our DNA which acts as a base code which develops into complex equations that decides how we react. It is however not predictable since the sets of equations are so complex, with consideration of the butterfly effect, nothing can be predicted and therefore we have an illusion of free will.. it's simply too complex for us to understand. I believe we are ultimately governed by rules...

I have my death clock set on pessimist.

I don't believe in predestination. Sure, you might be killed driving in your car, flying in a plane, or even sitting in your house, but I don't think it's pre-planned that way.

I'll die when I die, whether it be of my own doing or just my body breaking down. I'm just trying not to waste my life in the meantime.

One of my friends told me while discussing this that she thought that there's a set time, anywhere you are at that time, you go, no sooner, no later, and therefore she isn't afraid of death. My reply was, "So, want to go bungee-skydiving with me this weekend?"

She thought for a bit, and said, "You know, maybe it's not so definite. I'll stay home, thanks."

i don't care what happens tommorrow even if it is death.


i'm not finished with today yet.

For some of us it is. I mean the only reason you say that is because you are afraid of death. Not everyone is. So many people are though they find it hard to fathom when they meet someone who truely is not afraid of death. I lost my fear of death a long time ago. You will find those who are most afraid of death are those obsessed with religion and those who have none. (and if you think about it for a minute you will figure out why)

I believe time is a dimension, and that all of time exists at once. Had an interesting discussion in the park with a stranger about it yesterday. (He started it.)

My ex-landlord's friend was overweight, with bad eating habits. The doctor told him he'd have to start exercising, or die within three years. He started jogging every day.

One day my landlord was quite puzzled. Kind of sad and amused at the same time. His friend had died while jogging, he got hit by a truck. This was three months after his doctor's visit.

The moral of this story? None whatsoever.

I don't buy it, but I'll tell you what. If that's how it works, I sure as hell don't want to be in an airplane when it's the pilot's time to go.

It's interesting that predestination can be a comforting thought for some and a disturbing possibility for others. It can also lead to some dangerous behavior and create historical figures.

For example, the great Southern leader, General Stonewall Jackson, was a devout Presbyterian and a strong believer in predestination. He was convinced that he would not die in battle unless it was his time, so his forces usually made daring, risky manuevers with him riding right in front.

Northern generals were terrified of Stonewall Jackson, and Yankee women would tell their children to "behave, or Stonewall will get you."

Jackson was finally killed accidentally by one of his own men after returning to camp from a personal reconnaisance mission; a mission he would not have undertaken himself if he had not been such a staunch believer in predestination.

Frankly, I dont give a damn about death. I welcome it willingly at any time. I dong care if my actions determine when and where I die, I dont care if the place and time is set already... I'll go on living my life as I want it to be, and leading it where i want it to go.

Thankfully we will (maybe) never understand Death.


Maybe due to the fact that we do not (understandably) comprehend Life.


In the meantime


We live and give it the best we got.

Reminds me of a Richard Pryor bit:

(as a minister delivering a eulogy) - The Ultimate Test is whether or not you can survive death. So far, don't nobody we know has passed the Ultimate Test, and least of all, this n****** laying here.

I don't know if everything is preordained but I do find it strange that people jumb out of airplanes and their shoots don't open and yet they somehow manage to survie and then some one sunning themselves in their own backyard are killed when a eagles falls out of the sky or some other weird shit.

I'm not scared of death at all.. I know that it is a fact of life. Maybe it's because I do believe in Predestination. I'm not sure. I think when I really thought about it and came to the conclusion that that's what I believed in, it was then that I quit worrying about death.

I was 17. She was my first girlfriend, the love of my life, a girl I would have laid down my own life to protect, she made my heart stop she was so beautiful, and made me feel like the luckiest fuckin man on the planet for having her, was killed by a drunk driver when he crossed the double-yellow lines and hit her head-on at 80 mph. Closed coffin? No. They cremated her because what was left after they put her body back together wasn't even recognizable as human. I paid (bribed) my way in to the coroner's to see it with my own eyes and get a few snapshots (more on that in a second). We were on the phone 1 minute before it happened, when she stopped in a parking lot to call me. If we had stayed on the phone 2 minutes longer, she'd have missed the other car completely. That's not predestination, that's just bad timing. You never know pain until the last thing the person you love says is, "i love you, i'll see you tomorrow" and you don't see them ever again. I'm 22 now, and not a week goes by where I don't have a few nightmares where I blame myself for it happening. I took the snapshots to show people I tell this story to- note that this is usually only told to those i'm talking out of driving drunk. I keep them in my wallet. "You wanna drive home drunk? Look at this. (then i tell the story)" Sorry to go all sad on you guys, but it's my belief that death can be completely random, thus no predestination.

Wow, analog. That is very rough. If you don't go through life as a bitter and angry person you have acheived more than almost anyone any of us will ever meet. I am so sorry.