Are you afraid of death?

[Bator]

No, because I view death as the beginning of the next phase of our existence. Perhaps because I view the circle of birth, life, death and rebirth as something magical and spiritual, a never-ending, ever turning wheel.

 

[ichbins]

Thanks all for your answers until now! It's so interesting to me to read all these different approaches to the same end we all, well, approach.

For me, I just love life so much. But I'm also still comparably young, so my hope is that, as I get older, my love for life will wane after time, and death will be easier to accept. My mother is not afraid of death. She even doesn't want to live if she loses some abilities in life. I find this very brave. I know some things I want to do in life, I know things I can do and for me, life has already been worth the ride. In the end I will lose it all, but who doesn't? And who knows? Maybe it's a circle, maybe not. Everything seems surreal to me, and very far away, if I think about the things the human brain cannot really fathom.

 

[MrMacphisto]

I'm not so sure. If that were the case, you'd have to watch countless loved ones come and go from this world. Unless you were truly immortal (a "god" or godlike being) chances are you'd only be postponing the inevitable as you would eventually die from an outside cause, and that could be as soon as tomorrow. This may cause some people to not truly value the time we are given. You would also be taking away resources from the countless lifeforms being born into our Universe everyday.

And, at the end of the day, wouldn't being immortal take away some level of meaning?

Losing loved ones over time would definitely suck at first, although I get the impression that you'd grow numb to it after a while. Granted, this is just an assumption I'm making from the fiction that has been written about immortal characters (like vampires and such). I suppose it would tend to condition someone toward being somewhat distant or sociopathic. Still, having a basically unlimited amount of time to explore the world or learn new things without becoming frail over time would be pretty cool.

But yeah, you could still die through other means, although having an unlimited lifespan without aging past a certain point would likely make avoiding death more meaningful (or at least more important in a personal sense due to what you'd lose from death).

As things currently stand, avoiding death becomes less important as your body and mind deteriorate. Eventually, death becomes preferable.

 

[MrMacphisto]

Thanks all for your answers until now! It's so interesting to me to read all these different approaches to the same end we all, well, approach.

For me, I just love life so much. But I'm also still comparably young, so my hope is that, as I get older, my love for life will wane after time, and death will be easier to accept. My mother is not afraid of death. She even doesn't want to live if she loses some abilities in life. I find this very brave. I know some things I want to do in life, I know things I can do and for me, life has already been worth the ride. In the end I will lose it all, but who doesn't? And who knows? Maybe it's a circle, maybe not. Everything seems surreal to me, and very far away, if I think about the things the human brain cannot really fathom.

It's like the song "Jack & Diane" ​by John Cougar Mellencamp. "Life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone."

The age at which you reach this point will vary according to a multitude of factors.

 

[Skipadeedoodah]

I'm not exactly afraid of death or life being over. I hope to live a super long time and die very old so I have time to do as many of things I want to do as possible, so in that way I kind of fear the idea of dying too early. But I'm not sad about the idea of my life being over someday.

What I AM VERY upset by and worried about is how my death will impact the people left behind. I hope that my parents are long gone before I die, but I do have siblings and nieces and nephews and kids that love me and will be devastated when I'm gone. Similarly, I'm afraid of how the deaths of my parents, siblings, and partner will impact me emotionally. Grief blows.

 

[BlasterMaster]

THERE IS NO DEATH! THERE IS ONLY THE FORCE!

😀 😉