Are you afraid of dying?

i'm afraid of dying instinctively. if i found myself suddenly faced with a speeding bus while walking across the road i'd elevate 10 foot on a column of shit like everyone else

but in a relaxed state i don't seem to be afraid of death, i can't be, or i wouldn't smoke or do the other things that i know have a big chance of hastening me to be sent down to push up daisies

so no, normally i'm not afraid of death... tho' ask me again in fifty years time (gods willing) and ya might get a different answer

 

I'm the opposite. I don't want to die, so the idea of being relaxed, laying there and then thinking 'mm, i'm cosy, let's think about dying' sounds horrid. A bus would at least mean I don't have any other choice than to think

'I fancy fish fingers for tea tonight, and that's a fuckin' bus.. uh oh'. ...........................................

 

Yeah, I had encephalitis a few years ago and was in and out of consciousness over a period of a few weeks with no-one giving me much hope and I don't recall seeing "the light" or anything else. I also did not feel the need to re-evaluate my life. I just put it down to another of life's experiences. I'm not sure about what happens when you die but God is no part of it in my opinion. I do not need some almighty, all powerful being looking over my shoulder to keep me in line or to give me some kind of false hope.

 

i'll always remember my dear sweet grandfathers last words "oh fuck! a bus!"



*wanders off down memory lane*

 

that's the ...ticket



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yl3UMO-TkE"]YouTube- Punch line drum

 

i was afraid of death from childhood forward to my early 40's. A deep, paralyzing, existential fear that poisoned my daily existence and helped me to justify various addictions and self-serving behaviors.

Long story, short, i came back to psychedelics after over 20 years abstinence. i didn't know what i was looking for but with the help of some powerful, mystical work with N, N, Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) i can honestly, sincerely and healthily say i no longer fear death.

No, i do not look forward to it and no i do not anticipate any continuation of self/consciousness as we understand it, but i do not think it is the end anymore and i do believe it will be an ecstatic all-one merging.

i could rant and rant (and i have elsewhere including in a book i wrote) but let me say that DMT is the most healing molecule i have ever encountered in this life. i have given up all opiates, painkillers and anti-depressants. DMT saved my life and soul. It made me realize i have a soul.


Yeah, cost of funerals and hassle of final arrangements suck, i agree. Fucking sharks have to take a bite every step of the way, eh. But, there's things we CAN do to fight this. Talk with our loved ones, plan things out in advance.

We can buy coffins from independent dealers and in the process save thousands in middle-man mark-ups and help out a small family business. We can forgoe a fancy coffin altogether and insist on a biodegradeable cardboard box.

Or even better, how about: Bury me naked or with a simple cotton shroud, unembalmed, underneath a tree. i don't need a formal service and i don't need a formal marker. It's just body stuff. The minimum to satisfy who's left living, then hopefully they will move on.

Regardless of what happens, we only get one go around and i have received the message that we need to value every single second of every single day. i have also received the message that i cannot save or change the world but i can make individual interventions to help people and animals in this world. This is where/how i choose to act to try to self-actualize what time i have left on this world and in this reality.

Peace & Love,
Spicey Cat
Meow!

 

I want to die like my grandfather did. Peacefully in his sleep. Not Screaming like the rest of the people in the car.

Peace Out,
rev J

 

I apologize if that really happened and this offends you, but I found that statement quite funny.

 

you are just dreaming monkey..

 

Don't fear the reaper

 

When I was young, say around 10 or 11, I first began to think of death as "the great nothingness." The whole concept of eternity and not being anymore was overwhelming and scared the hell out of me. I also worried for my parents, but for selfish reasons - I didn't want them to go away and leave me. I used to get the terrors thinking about death, so much so that I would lose sleep over it. It would make me shake all over.

Later, when I was nearing young adulthood, I learned to control that whole "losing myself to the fear" thing, but I would still occasionally be frightened at the aspect of my eventual demise.

Now that I'm closing in on 60, and entering the final chapter, the topic does not hold so much interest for me. I'm of the opinion that the closer we get to the end, the less we are afraid of it. Perhaps it's just me, or perhaps there's something built in that buffers us in the end. I don't know, but I'm grateful not to be terrified, as I once was in my youth.

"Such a long long time to be gone,
and a short time to be there."
~Robert Hunter, "Box of Rain"~

 

conscious blocking agents are here on earth as they are in the heavens.. just cause you once felt the complete black empty void in a NDE, dont mean that it is. .. just the thought you can remember the emptiness is proof alone.. Space is vast..

 

I came to terms with any fear of death that I had when I had cancer in my twenties and the initial prognosis was iffy due to it having metastasized through my stomach and lungs.

After an initial fear phase, I accepted that there was (is) no point in being afraid of the inevitable.

Then, about ten years ago, I had a serious heart attack followed by an emergency quadruple bypass. My then 8-month-old son was there in the emergency room with me, and I was much more concerned for him than for myself, and was very sad that I might not be around to watch and help him grow up.

As an atheist, I know that once I'm dead I'll be no more than a memory to those who knew me. And when they die, I'll be nothing but a name and a statistic. I'm fine with that. I don't have to worry if I'm going to heaven or hell.

I'm not in any hurry to die, but I accept that I will and am not fearful. It's just another part of life.

When I had the bypass I'm told that they stopped my heart for 2 minutes. I don't have any memory of it at all. I do clearly remember waking up in the recovery room. The paralytic drugs they gave me hadn't worn off yet... I could feel pain from the surgery and hear everything going on around me but couldn't move or even open my eyes. Now that was a scary feeling...

 

I don't think I'm afraid to die.My wife was scared to death,then she passed away in her sleep just last week.She suffered a massive stroke.The whole death thing has come home to me,and yet I don't think I fear it.

I believe in heaven and I believe in my savior.That gives me comfort.I believe that when I do pass,I will be with my sweet wife again.As far as all the legal stuff goes,it sure is complex.

 

I'm sorry to hear that. I wish you well.

 

My condolences on the loss of your wife. May you have comfort in the memories and solace with your beliefs.

 

Homebudz I'm really sorry you lost your wife. I can't imagine waking up to the death of my life partner. I fear that more than death of myself.

I'm wondering if there is some flaw in the human psyche, as we are the only creatures that contemplate and fear death before any danger. Animals have a strong survival instinct, and fight to the death to sustain their life. I doubt though they lay around contemplating what it will be like.

I'm wondering why we have fear, beyond the basic survival instinct? Why do we have to know what is beyond life. Why can't we live in the present?

I once heard there are three times in a normal lifetime when the reality of death hots us hard. In reading this entire thread I see some patterns that suggest maybe what I read is true. The first time is around 10, when we realize and can comprehend infinity. The second time is late teens/early twenties, when the concept pf death is more concrete and clear. Then there seems to be a lull for a long time from rest of 20's to 40's where we are so busy living not much thought about death enters our brains. Then in 50's it's like an alarm clock goes off and it's UH OH!!! Time's running out! It's like the time went and you really didn't get a warning it was going to happen.

"and you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking, and racing around to come up behind you again" Pink Floyd

 

Yeah, this is quite true and when it hit me I came up with a succinct way of saying it: "More history than future."

 

I am so sorry for the loss of your wife .You have my deepest sympathy .

Melissa

 

Yesterday I found out this guy I knew was shot dead last month. Hadn't seen him in several months as he had moved to Texas, and all I know is he had traveled from Texas to Georgia, where he was shot.

We weren't really friends, and frankly he was someone you didn't expect to live to be an old man (he was just in his early 30s). He was kind of hyper and lived his life throwing caution to the wind, and perhaps he took a risk and just ran out of luck.

Still when someone you know dies young or middle-aged it throws the concept of mortality right in your face. It reminds you that anybody, including you, could die anytime suddenly and unexpectedly with no warning. And I say it's all the more reason to appreciate and enjoy life.