Are you happy to know you will die?

Rofl.

 

Now that's funny... lmao!

 

That's already the case. And i would be surprised that most would worry about those things.

 

I think a lot of people worry about those things, even if just in an impotent kind of way.

But also.. like, having to clean out the attic or deal with a difficulty at work. There has got to be some things going on in any life at any given time where you could be like, "oh phew, thank god I'm about to die. Now I don't have to *insert situation here* "

 

I guess if i were to face years in prison, become paralyzed, or be infected with some harsh or incurable disease, i'll most likely think along those lines. I guess everyone has something that makes them tick. I just pray for the strength and courage to commit suicide if need be.

 

Which part is "like my opinion, man"

I covered a lot of ground there, most of it involving culturally how death is perceived and handled.

Then, as it seems certain psychedelic substances would allow us to map and understand after death states, I suggested that we gain what we can from them and then reform our cultural practices surrounding death in accordance.

 

I like how the involving culturally how death is perceived and handled part

 

We can't say if certain psychedelic states are similar to an after death state or not with any degree of certainty. It may appear so, but that's a subjective experience had by people who are still living.

 

I disagree with you on so many levels that it's astounding...

That's not necessarily a bad thing though, it gives me an opportunity to probe the mind of an individual whose views are fairly antithetical to mine.

You present in your first paragraph the notion that people are materialistic and only concerned with earthly delights believing their time will never come. I couldn't disagree more. I think people are naturally able to understand that the meaning of life doesn't come down to money or material objects, furthermore I feel people know very well that what happens after death is an uncertainty.

For your second paragraph, again, I could not disagree more! The key is to realize that everything is on track, that everything is okay, and to not worry, it's like Wei Po Yang, the Chinese Taoist alchemist said Worry is perposterous. You don’t know enough to worry’…

For the third paragraph, again, I could not disagree more! Death needs to be confronted, it needs to be understood and prepared for. ...after that point your paragraph looses coherence and goes on a tangent about ego and frailty.

Then your last couple paragraphs were not on topic, and were hardly coherent, I tried to get something out of them, but really, there wasn't much there, just some tired old statements about greed, human nature, and materialism...

Insincerity and shallow levels of passion are hard to conceal, but I suppose it better that you are thinking about these things, though if I could make a polite suggestion it would be to "be real" and to react in a humble, open, and honest manner to the situations and people with which life presents you.

 

Nobody should ever be "excited" about dying.

Understanding death, and not fearing death, DOES NOT MEAN WELCOMING DEATH.

Any body who wants to die was obviously missing the point just as much as someone who wants to live forever.

 

We must be living in two different societies. Maybe where you live (Narnia, I presume) people aren't obsessed with material acquisition, but here in America they most certainly are.

Worry is the beginning of deeper thought on the matter. Wei Po Yang's statement is idiotic. The fact that there isn't enough information is exactly what causes people to worry.

You can't prepare for death, and the only way to understand it is to die. Those who do spend time trying to understand death do so because they fear it, and they fail in understanding it anyway. The best we can do is to realize that all men die, that all men are small and frail, and to stop supporting a system that raises some men up to godlike status. That's the closest we can come to facing our own mortality.

No, they were perfectly coherent. You're just a bitch who doesn't know any better than to try and make shit that isn't personal personal.

I don't have to defend myself or explain myself to you. You need to get off your damn high horse, because honestly, you're not very intelligent or profound yourself. You're a goddamned hypocrite who needs to learn to respect others and keep his foul mouth shut.

 

Well, I guess that's just, like, your opinion, man, because people in cults do get very much excited about dying.

 

Mostly people certainly are obsessed with material gain in one form or another. Sensory pleasure, gratification of desires.

Fully agree that worry isn't something we can or should try to escape by quoting platitudes. If we knew for instance what occurs after death we might not worry about it - it's the fact that we don't and can't kow that makes people anxious.You're right also that worrying about something can be the start of deeper thinking on the problem.

I don't know if you can prepare for death or not. Some religions say you can. Even Catholics when they say the Hail Mary ask her to pray for them 'at the hour of our death'.
Many Hindu sects also regard life, and certain spiritual practices as a preperation for the moment of death.

On a mundane level, I have some life insurance so my family won't have to pay for my funeral - I guess in a broad sense that's me preparing to go.

 

Spent a lot of my childhood fearing death, man I was so scared!
Now the only thing I fear is what my kids and grandkids will feel..
I hated watching my parents pass... I'd rather go in my sleep, be easier for everyone.

Have you got your funeral payment sorted? I would hate to put my family in debt as well as grief... grief I cant change.

 

My funeral is simple.

Some years ago I bought a model wooden viking longship. I need to build it, but basically my ashes will be placed into the boat, and I will be set alight and floated off down a stream or river of my choosing. Possibly the Rhine, but also possibly just one that's a little more personal to me, somewhere intimate.

Although I don't like the idea of having to die and get old, I do adore thinking and fantasising over my boat floating down a stream, ablaze with the fires of the bowels of Hells glory!! Sinking peacefully to its resting place, while my ashes disband in the current, sending the dusts of my remains, into all of the oceans of the world.

Maybe my Lady will be on the riverbank as witness, maybe I will have children to see me off, or friends, who knows. But in spirit form I remain with them as long as I physically can. If I have any consciousness after death, in my spirit form, and/or have any say in what happens, if I am still aware of my surroundings, I will stick by my family, 100%. I will haunt folks.

 

All of this material gain raises one's status, which is what I have a problem with. It's like putting pearls on a pig. We all end up dead, no man any more living or dead than the next. Six feet under or blown by the wind. And all of this status means nothing. All are forgotten. To quote the Bible, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. If people understand the meaning of life so well, then why all of this status? Why does a rich man walking down the street make people giddy? Why all of this ubiquitous celebrity worship? Why this drive to climb the social ladder?

Death can come at any time for anyone, or even all of us at once. And I don't see much modesty at all. We can't seem to come to terms with just how small and frail we are. We escape our frailty by propping others up as being universally loved and important. But even they are utterly forgotten in a generation. I believe this is directly related to an attempt, psychologically, to escape the great waylayer, Death. I believe all of this status is an attempt to elevate ourselves psychologically in order to escape, during life, the inevitability of our own demise. As if we can live forever and won't be utterly forgotten in some sense of the word.

The only hope for eternal glory is in the bowels of the human heart, though. It isn't in the books or the newspapers or the magazines. In the minds of men, all will be utterly forgotten. In the heart, maybe this isn't the case. Which is why we should be humble on Earth and spend our lives doing good works instead of just trying to accumulate wealth and popularity.

I just don't think we can truly face our own mortality. Even funeral arrangements are something we put in the back of our minds. It's not front and center. You can't treat it like it's "just one of those things." You can't walk into the office and say happily to Doris, "Oh, I'm just planning my funeral!" "Oh, really? What kind of casket are you going to get?" "Oh, I don't know, I was thinking something plain, but elegant." Etc.

This is the second thread in which rk has picked a fight with me for no reason, and it irks me that he has something personal against me. If you disagree with me, that's fine, but don't say it's because I'm incoherent or proud, because I'm not.

 

I suspect he's the same guy as Lysergic and Phenethylamine.

 

Maybe that's why he's got something personal against me. Because I said I had sex with the girl on the bus. Which, to my mind, should be obviously not true, but I wasn't thinking that he also believes she is a poster here, so he probably did get jealous.

I don't care what they do with my body after death...as long as they don't put it in one of these newfangled fancy coffins with all the cushioning and pillows. I find that very disturbing. I'd rather be put in a really creepy oblong box.

 

As long as he keeps it civil and has some on topic stuff to share, lets give him another chance!