A few questions concerning death...

HeXp£Øi±

HeXp£Øi±

Well-Known Member
Let's break it down into the three things we know about life. Logic, fears and wants.

How do you think you will die?
How do you fear you will die?
How do you want to die?
(Try and guess how old you'll be for each one)

I think i'll die between the ages of 58-65 of heart failure.

I fear i will die from serious drug abuse within the next five years.

I want to die of natural causes between the ages of 79-85(in my sleep when my family is on vacation).
 
In terrible pain from a raging disease, probably about 50ish.
In terrible pain from a raging disease, probably much sooner.
And Not at all.
 
Ravaged by cancer, 20ish years
DIY
In my sleep, after my kids have found their lives.
 
HeXp£Øi± said:
How do you think you will die?
How do you fear you will die?
How do you want to die?
Click to expand...

1) Car accident - I keep dreaming about it. Probably in my 40's
2) Cancer - seems unavoidable no matter what anyone does. Cancer runs in my family...I'd put it in my early 60's
3) A stroke - a big one. The night of an afternoon family reunion. That way, I've seen everyone and have had the chance to tell people that I love them. I know that it sounds selfish, but I want to die before my sister, my wife and my son. I don't relish having to bury any of them.
 
Probably miserable and alone of some sort of cancer in my 50's.

Even though they say it is pleasant right before the end, I'm scared I'll drown in my pool or the ocean in my 30's.

I'd like to die painless and undisturbed in my sleep - with how life is going lately I'd prefer it be sooner than later, but I'm trying to remain positive - maybe when I'm in my 80's?
 
Winky said:
I don't fear dying
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:bs:

People i would believe when they say they don't fear death:
The Schizophrenic/psychotic
The suicidal
One who has already died and been brought back to life after seeing the light.
 
HeXp£Øi± said:
:bs:

People i would believe when they say they don't fear death:
The Schizophrenic/psychotic
The suicidal
One who has already died and been brought back to life after seeing the light.
Click to expand...

You forgot a group there Hex (If there's nothing, what is there to fear?). ;)

Answers:
1. 65-70, Heart attack.
2. Any age, fully aware with no control over my body (makes me shudder to even think about it).
3. 90+ in a 150 mph motorcycle get-off with noone else involved. :D
 
chcr said:
You forgot a group there Hex (If there's nothing, what is there to fear?). ;)
Click to expand...

Sorry Ch, even Atheists/agnostics are at the very mercy of animal instinct. However we men also succumb to not wanting to admit when we're afraid. That is just as natural. :D
 
HeXp£Øi± said:
Sorry Ch, even Atheists/agnostics are at the very mercy of animal instinct. However we men also succumb to not wanting to admit when we're afraid. That is just as natural. :D
Click to expand...

I disagree, Hex. Survival instinct is very different from fearing death. You're talking about two different things. You're right about one thing tough, a lot of atheists/agnostics fear death (for whatever reason). A lot don't, just like a lot of theists don't. I have no problem admitting I fear things (snakes, heights, etc.) but we're all going to die, lot's of folks already have. What's everybody so afraid of?
 
With the utmost respect Ch, to have a survival instinct is to fear death. If you didn't fear death there would be no need for the survival instinct. What is fear of death but fear of lack of life. Fear of death does not necessarily mean fearing just the nothingness that you believe is on the other side but fearing a lack of life. For this reason most(i would argue nearly all including myself when i was a purebred athiest) athiests will cry like a baby as the plane plummets towards earth. I have seen this proven time and time again.
 
HeXp£Øi± said:
:bs:

People i would believe when they say they don't fear death:
The Schizophrenic/psychotic
The suicidal
One who has already died and been brought back to life after seeing the light.
Click to expand...

WTF are you thinking?
Everything that lives dies.
Fearing death is a form of insanity.
Being born and dying is something we all have to do.

If you want to fear something, fear not living life to the fullest.
 
HeXp£Øi± said:
How do you think you will die?
Click to expand...

what a stupid, morbid, question.

How do you fear you will die?
Click to expand...

Don't fear it. Most people don't fear death, they fear the pain associated with death. Death itself doesn't hurt, the moments before is whole another story. We all want a quick painless death but in contrast to a unchallenged, unimagined, potential wasted life few weeks bed ridden in a hospital hooked up to a machine isn't painful at all.


How do you want to die?
Click to expand...

Death isn't a trendy faux pas or a chic new thing to talk about....you die you die...either way is fine.



I'll die as I came...with nothing so I expect nothing out of death. I'll die, i'll be forgotten, the world will move on. I don't expect heaven and I don't expect hell....I just expect the same out of death as I do out of sleepZ: you close your eyes, some random thoughts flow around untill it all shuts off and you go off into a bliss where it all finally stops: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
 
Winky said:
WTF are you thinking?
Everything that lives dies.
Fearing death is a form of insanity.
Being born and dying is something we all have to do.

If you want to fear something, fear not living life to the fullest.
Click to expand...

You can fear both you know. Yes everything that lives dies. It's also true that everthing that lives fears death(well,thinking animals anyway). It's built into the molecular structure and somehow i doubt that you've overcome this in all your great wisdom. Somehow i also doubt with as much time as you spend on this BB that you are living life to its fullest and have conquered the fear of death. Fearing death is not insanity. If it weren't a built in mechanism we would not be very successful animals on a planet with so much gravity and pointy sticks.
 
I don't know that I fear death so much as I have trepidation for the unknown. When my mom was dying, she told me that dying wasn't hard, it was living that was hard.

I will confess that sometimes at night I lay awake and get scared of the thought that nothingness will overtake me. I have so much living to do --- 58 is just getting started.

If genetics plays any part, other than my mom, all the women on both sides of the family have been extremely long-lived --- most into late 80s, early 90s. All fully capable mentally, and with not too many physical ailments. I think my maternal grandmother would have lived much longer had not the death of my grandfather come so suddenly and so unexpectedly.
 
TexasRaceLady said:
I don't know that I fear death so much as I have trepidation for the unknown. When my mom was dying, she told me that dying wasn't hard, it was living that was hard.
Click to expand...

I think it's natural that as you get older and a little more satisfied with the life you've lived that the fear of death diminishes.
 
HeXp£Øi± said:
With the utmost respect Ch, to have a survival instinct is to fear death. If you didn't fear death there would be no need for the survival instinct. What is fear of death but fear of lack of life. Fear of death does not necessarily mean fearing just the nothingness that you believe is on the other side but fearing a lack of life. For this reason most(i would argue nearly all including myself when i was a purebred athiest) athiests will cry like a baby as the plane plummets towards earth. I have seen this proven time and time again.
Click to expand...

Well, I don't agree. Think you can live with it? ;)

I would say instead that survival instinct is a hard-wired response to a dangerous situation. Fear of death is specifically a fear of what comes after, whether or not you believe you know what it is. I would further argue that most if not all people on your hypothetical airplane would not cry like babies regardless of their faith or lack thereof. I've never had the opportunity to be on an airplane that was about to crash, but from what I've heard people in general are amazingly calm in such situations. There are always those who panic, but they are usually in the minority. Feel free to disagree with me, I can live with it. ;)

*Per Leslie's sig, that "think you can live with it" thing was a joke. You did understand that?*
 
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