|
Lets set some ground rules first. Religious beliefs and thoughts are allowed, but bashing and railing against them are not.
I guess it goes through my head a lot lately, the inescapable realization of death. Some days it scares me, some days it doesn't. I guess it just got me thinking about how others handle this inescapable thought process. Again all viewpoints are welcome
Death comes for us all. It is not something to fear, per se, although its timing and the circumstances surrounding its arrival could be spectacularly bad. One door closes, and while I would like to go on and on about another door opening, you asked us to keep religious banter out of this one. Suffice it to say that every man and woman dies. Not everyone truly lives, however, and that is something that should be considered almost every moment of every day.
|
|
Death comes for us all. It is not something to fear, per se, although its timing and the circumstances surrounding its arrival could be spectacularly bad. One door closes, and while I would like to go on and on about another door opening, you asked us to keep religious banter out of this one. Suffice it to say that every man and woman dies. Not everyone truly lives, however, and that is something that should be considered almost every moment of every day.
No, religious viewpoints are allowed, just bashing others religious view is not allowed.
Mortality ensures that no pain is forever, it comforts me.
+1. The are plenty of things that scare me, but death (afterlife or not) doesn't... either way, it's a release.
I don't want to die, but really the only thing that worries me about death is what will happen to my wife and son? I'm more worried about how my death would impact them, than anything else.
As to death itself, I used to fret more about it. At the same time, I would ponder the size and scope of the Universe. The more I thought about how tiny I am in all of it, the more I began to think that death, though gigantic to me, is also tiny to the Universe.
For me, there is both great wonder and peace, and awe and terror at the size of the Universe. I don't pretend to completely know what it is, or if there are gods or is a God, or what everything means, or if it means anything at all.
But like Jack Burton, I believe it's a pretty amazing world we live in, and a man would have to be some kind of fool to think we're all alone in this Universe. Maybe too much Tolkien and too much Lovecraft have collided in my brain, but I think they both got it right in turns:
Even darkness must pass, and even death may die. Not because of some strict, conventional belief. But because the Universe is too big, too tricky, too massive for me to fathom. So why not believe that anything - or everything - is possible?
This is why I tell my boy that I believe that if I were to die, I would see him again, somewhere, somehow, sometime. Can't say how or when. Just that my wonder informs me that the opposite - not seeing him - is somehow the less likely of the two.
Don't fear the reaper!
Death seems like something I'd very much like to procrastinate on.
Hear, hear.
It's hard to say my view really well,and even if I did I'd only be quoting Ryan Clark,so I'd suggest listening to Carry Me Down by Demon Hunter. Just about sums it up.
A phrase always stuck with me: Death is certain; life is not.
Though one were strong as seven,
He too with death shall dwell,
Nor wake with wings in heaven,
Nor weep for pains in hell;
Though one were fair as roses,
His beauty clouds and closes;
And well though love reposes,
In the end it is not well.
Pale, beyond porch and portal,
Crowned with calm leaves, she stands
Who gathers all things mortal
With cold immortal hands;
Her languid lips are sweeter
Than love’s who fears to greet her
To men that mix and meet her
From many times and lands.
She waits for each and other,
She waits for all men born;
Forgets the earth her mother,
The life of fruits and corn;
And spring and seed and swallow
Take wing for her and follow
Where summer song rings hollow
And flowers are put to scorn.
There go the loves that wither,
The old loves with wearier wings;
And all dead years draw thither,
And all disastrous things;
Dead dreams of days forsaken
Blind buds that snows have shaken,
Wild leaves that winds have taken,
Red strays of ruined springs.
We are not sure of sorrow,
And joy was never sure;
To-day will die to-morrow
Time stoops to no man’s lure;
And love, grown faint and fretful
With lips but half regretful
Sighs, and with eyes forgetful
Weeps that no loves endure.
From too much love of living,
From hope and fear set free,
We thank with brief thanksgiving
Whatever gods may be
That no life lives for ever;
That dead men rise up never;
That even the weariest river
Winds somewhere safe to sea.
Then star nor sun shall waken,
Nor any change of light:
Nor sound of waters shaken,
Nor any sound or sight:
Nor wintry leaves nor vernal,
Nor days nor things diurnal;
Only the sleep eternal
In an eternal night.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
|
I, too, made the mistake of thinking too deeply about my own inevitable mortality. The thought of sudden oblivion shakes me to my core. Selfishly, I want to be for as long as I can.
My current rationalization is that I am part of the great tree of life, and that if my two boys each have two kids, and so on for the next 20 generations (500 years or so), I will be the origin point of over 1 million lives, expanding exponentially down the generations. I’ll be another anonymous, yet essential progenitor of my particular brand of the human race, which is the only thing that will outlast personal memories of myself.
Unfortunately, it’s not a great consolation, as I now want to see it all happen. I want to know how it all ends. Will my potential grandkids be happy? Will the human race survive the next 100 years? What type of society will there be in 1,000 years? 10,000? 100,000? 1 million? Will we colonise other planets? What’s going to happen when the sun supernovas?
It has kind of changed my perspective on things – for example, I now look at the people I love and think “This is the only life you’ve got as well. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure it’s the best one you could possibly have”.
I also keep thinking about the disembodied heads in Futurama and how sweet that would be.
I think Joe Diffie said it best:
Well I ain't afraid of dyin', it's the thought of being dead
I wanna go on being me once my eulogy's been read
Don't spread my ashes out to sea, don't lay me down to rest
You can put my mind at ease if you fulfill my last request
Prop me up beside the jukebox if I die
Lord, I wanna go to heaven but I don't wanna go tonight
Fill my boots up with sand, put a stiff drink in my hand
Prop me up beside the jukebox if I die
|
|
I, too, made the mistake of thinking too deeply about my own inevitable mortality. The thought of sudden oblivion shakes me to my core. Selfishly, I want to be for as long as I can.
My current rationalization is that I am part of the great tree of life, and that if my two boys each have two kids, and so on for the next 20 generations (500 years or so), I will be the origin point of over 1 million lives, expanding exponentially down the generations. I’ll be another anonymous, yet essential progenitor of my particular brand of the human race, which is the only thing that will outlast personal memories of myself.
Unfortunately, it’s not a great consolation, as I now want to see it all happen. I want to know how it all ends. Will my potential grandkids be happy? Will the human race survive the next 100 years? What type of society will there be in 1,000 years? 10,000? 100,000? 1 million? Will we colonise other planets? What’s going to happen when the sun supernovas?
It has kind of changed my perspective on things – for example, I now look at the people I love and think “This is the only life you’ve got as well. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure it’s the best one you could possibly have”.
I also keep thinking about the disembodied heads in Futurama and how sweet that would be.
I guess I have similar thoughts, I don't have the comfort of religious belief in a next life eternal. I'm an atheist, but an optimistic one. I don't believe there is something after I die but part of me still hopes there is. I always keep telling myself that if I accomplish the things I deeply desire then I will be more fulfilled when that inevitable time comes. That if I explore Europe (which I will be moving too in 6 months). If I see the mountain temples of Tibet, the Tiger Monastery of Bhutan get to the foot of Everest. See castles of Scotland, climb up to Machu Pichu. I will be fulfilled and die with peace. But I don't know if that will happen.
|
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
|
I guess I have similar thoughts, I don't have the comfort of religious belief in a next life eternal. I'm an atheist, but an optimistic one. I don't believe there is something after I die but part of me still hopes there is. I always keep telling myself that if I accomplish the things I deeply desire then I will be more fulfilled when that inevitable time comes. That if I explore Europe (which I will be moving too in 6 months). If I see the mountain temples of Tibet, the Tiger Monastery of Bhutan get to the foot of Everest. See castles of Scotland, climb up to Machu Pichu. I will be fulfilled and die with peace. But I don't know if that will happen.
The ultimate end of that line of reasoning gets you into some serious Charlie Sheen-type hedonism where you try to wring every last drop of enjoyment from life. The problem is that even if you enjoy life to the fullest, one extra year of living to do more awesome things is even better!
For reals, folks shouldn’t care about the dyin’ part. They really should be more concerned about the livin’ part.
No point making up stories of what could happen when you could be payin’ attention to what IS happenin’.
Worry makes people great storytellers because they're makin' up crazy complex stories about things that haven't happened yet.
|
|
I guess I have similar thoughts, I don't have the comfort of religious belief in a next life eternal. I'm an atheist, but an optimistic one. I don't believe there is something after I die but part of me still hopes there is. I always keep telling myself that if I accomplish the things I deeply desire then I will be more fulfilled when that inevitable time comes. That if I explore Europe (which I will be moving too in 6 months). If I see the mountain temples of Tibet, the Tiger Monastery of Bhutan get to the foot of Everest. See castles of Scotland, climb up to Machu Pichu. I will be fulfilled and die with peace. But I don't know if that will happen.The ultimate end of that line of reasoning gets you into some serious Charlie Sheen-type hedonism where you try to wring every last drop of enjoyment from life. The problem is that even if you enjoy life to the fullest, one extra year of living to do more awesome things is even better!
I guess I could see that, but I guess there is still so much I want to do and see.
RPG Superstar 2013
|
When we're young, the idea of death is foreign and spooky from a distance. As we get older, we go to more funerals. We see our kids mature and we realize that there's only so much time. We start wondering about the awesome character ideas we won't live long enough to play or the things we thought we'd get to that seem forever put off by life. Our health changes, our savings look like there's no way we could ever retire. It sucks, thinking honestly and soberly about death. And it's inevitable once you get to your middle years.
So I advise everyone to recognize while we have energy and youth that we don't know everything. Do some challenging things you'll be proud of when you're older. It doesn't have to be to climb Everest before you're 30. Do something that rewards someone besides just you, but that definitely rewards you.
This year, I am taking a missions trip to Turkey. Ephasus, Corinth - isn't it amazing that these places have no exposure to the gospel? The seat of the early church starving and without liberty, and in need of the grace of God.
Then there's that. We all believe different things. We're, hopefully, smart and intellectually honest people, and tolerant of one another's differences. That's one of the reasons I love this community. But I recommend to you the grace and lordship of Jesus Christ. Don't be so grounded in your critical beliefs that you don't have the courage to ask God if He's real and interested in your life. If you ask honestly, He'll answer.
I know it's a long post. Death is a serious matter, and whatever our attempts to keep it at bay, as our lives wax, it's inescapable that we don't have forever and we aren't promised tomorrow.
I think saying we aren't afraid of death cause we can't change it is a mechanism for giving the suject the stiff arm. Almost no one who is in the act of dying feels that way - the subject is real. It's easy to enjoy our youth and not consider the ideas of afterlife and religion and judgment. But those are real questions, and there is necessarily a truth out there.
Ask me some time. I'll tell you why I chose. But don't wait forever. I might not be here tomorrow.
|
|
When we're young, the idea of death is foreign and spooky from a distance. As we get older, we go to more funerals. We see our kids mature and we realize that there's only so much time. We start wondering about the awesome character ideas we won't live long enough to play or the things we thought we'd get to that seem forever put off by life. Our health changes, our savings look like there's no way we could ever retire. It sucks, thinking honestly and soberly about death. And it's inevitable once you get to your middle years.
So I advise everyone to recognize while we have energy and youth that we don't know everything. Do some challenging things you'll be proud of when you're older. It doesn't have to be to climb Everest before you're 30. Do something that rewards someone besides just you, but that definitely rewards you.
This year, I am taking a missions trip to Turkey. Ephasus, Corinth - isn't it amazing that these places have no exposure to the gospel? The seat of the early church starving and without liberty, and in need of the grace of God.
Then there's that. We all believe different things. We're, hopefully, smart and intellectually honest people, and tolerant of one another's differences. That's one of the reasons I love this community. But I recommend to you the grace and lordship of Jesus Christ. Don't be so grounded in your critical beliefs that you don't have the courage to ask God if He's real and interested in your life. If you ask honestly, He'll answer.
I know it's a long post. Death is a serious matter, and whatever our attempts to keep it at bay, as our lives wax, it's inescapable that we don't have forever and we aren't promised tomorrow.
I think saying we aren't afraid of death cause we can't change it is a mechanism for giving the suject the stiff arm. Almost no one who is in the act of dying feels that way - the subject is real. It's easy to enjoy our youth and not consider the ideas of afterlife and religion and judgment. But those are real questions, and there is necessarily...
Thats a very well thought out post Steven. I know I am only 27 but I still think about death in a philosophical way quite a bit. So I'm wondering if that fear of death diminishes as we get older.
|
RPG Superstar 2013
|
I'm sensitive to your post, Lazar. I, too, have a dill weed sperm donor. I have no relationship with him at all these last decades, and I won't.
However, I don't begrudge the man heaven. People can change. Maybe too late to repair any relationship with me, but insofar as he is out of my life and I have a capable and honored stepfather as my Dad, there's no reason for me to hold eternity over the old jackleg's head.
If you get to Heaven, you won't care about your dad being there. And there's no 'if' you get to Heaven. You can know with certainty. If Heaven is a place you can get into, it only makes sense you can know whether you're invited. It would really suck if whatever path we followed, it was all a big guessing game at the end.
If death is non-existance, and my only life's familiarity is existance and perception, and sentience... it fills me with great fear to know I will lose those things someday and have no conception of what it would be like without them.
Death is scary. Guess that just makes life more valuable.
-Idle
"I know I was born and I know that I'll die;
The in between is mine.
I am mine."
|
|
All things considered, I have a rather calloused view on death. Regardless of what you believe, once someone dies, they're done. What matters are the people still left behind.
A very good friend of the family died in the Haiti earthquake a year ago. He left behind his wife and two children. Is he in Heaven? Does Heaven exist? We all have our theories on that -- but none of that helps the kids or the widow. What's nice to see is that there are still a number of families that are helping this family out a year later (in addition to us).
You'd think that I'd be in the camp to focus on death -- but I'd rather focus on helping the living.
You'd think that I'd be in the camp to focus on death -- but I'd rather focus on helping the living.
Amen. This might be your finest post yet, Moff.
To me, death is the end - which, - again, to me - means that this life is all I get, and thus something to make sure I get what I want from. And no, I don't think that will lead to hedonism, because if you only get one life, you'd better make darn sure to think hard on what it is you want with it, not impulsively jump into things because they seem attractive at the time (though sometimes, that can be a good thing, otherwise there's a risk you'll end up regretting missed chances due to thinking things over for too long). I'd say my thoughts are pretty well summed up by Phil Ochs:
There's no place in this world where I'll belong when I'm gone
And I won't know the right from the wrong when I'm gone
And you won't find me singin' on this song when I'm gone
So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here
And I won't feel the flowing of the time when I'm gone
All the pleasures of love will not be mine when I'm gone
My pen won't pour out a lyric line when I'm gone
So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here
And I won't breathe the bracing air when I'm gone
And I can't even worry 'bout my cares when I'm gone
Won't be asked to do my share when I'm gone
So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here
And I won't be running from the rain when I'm gone
And I can't even suffer from the pain when I'm gone
Can't say who's to praise and who's to blame when I'm gone
So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here
Won't see the golden of the sun when I'm gone
And the evenings and the mornings will be one when I'm gone
Can't be singing louder than the guns when I'm gone
So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here
All my days won't be dances of delight when I'm gone
And the sands will be shifting from my sight when I'm gone
Can't add my name into the fight while I'm gone
So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here
And I won't be laughing at the lies when I'm gone
And I can't question how or when or why when I'm gone
Can't live proud enough to die when I'm gone
So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here
mors certa, hora incerta. (I hope I got that right, my latin was never very good. It should mean that "death is certain, the hour uncertain")
Everbody dies at some point. It is of no use to push that fact away until it comes up on its own. From a pragmatic side of things, be prepared for your own death, meaning that you should state clearly in time how to proceed once you die.
From a philosophic view, don´t try to push death out of your life. If you have kids, try to teach them that you won´t be there for them forever - you don´t need to crush them with despair, but if a relative dies (say, grandparents), it might be good point to touch on that topic. Kids are strong enough to handle this at a certain point.
For your own life, try to find what your innermost desire is and try to satisfy that. A superficial, hedonistic "party life" most probably is not. Nobody knows for sure what, if anything, comes after death. (I don´t want to step onto anyones toes here, I know some people have beliefs that say something else - it just does not work for me. No offense intended.)
If you are angry at someone, ask yourself "If that person dies tomorrow, and I´m still angry, is that ok for me?" Most probably not, because people you get mad at are mostly people you care for. So, try to make peace with the people that have some meaning in your life - today, tomorrow it can be too late.
My father was diagnosed with prostate cancer one and a half year (or so) ago. He will live with this for a few years - it could be two, it could be 10, nobody knows. I was close to him before that, but now that it is brutally clear that he will die sooner or later, I can´t push away that fact anymore, so I´m trying to be closer to my parents than before. Death has is a certain way intruded in my life, and I have to acknowledge that. Of course I knew he would die some day before that diagnosis came, but now that knowledge hit me squarely in face.
In short, try to find out what really matters to you, and try to live up to that. More often that not, family is very important.
Stefan
It seems that alot of the discusion here is about life itself, not death.
I am a simple man, I can't quote the great intelectuals, or great thought provoking things, but I can tell you one quote that has stuck with me through many years and tramatic events, war, loss of family members and friends.
I do want you all to understand that I am not trying to be funny or make light of this discussion. Its from the movie City Slickers.
Curley: Do you know what the secret of life is?
Mitch: No, what?
Curley: This. (Holds up his index finger.)
Mitch: Your finger?
Curley: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don’t mean [anything].
Mitch: That’s great, but what’s the one thing?
Curley: That’s what you’ve got to figure out!
To me, thats the meaning of life in its simplest form.
For me that one thing has changed over the years, and may change a few more times before I leave this world. But it has always been what has directed me. It is what has given my life meaning.
Maybe thats what your looking for.
Everybody dies, just like everyone uses the toilet or eats. Some of us will die sooner, some later. Some peacefully of old age and some with their dignity and minds long gone. Others will die young and suddenly, gone to accidents and injury. Or to disease.
And that's it. We're not coming back. We're not going to any rewards or punishments. There will be no more us. It's enough to recommend living, sometimes.
But really that's not so bad. My own eagerness to experience the conclusion of my life varies from time to time, as I imagine it does for most people. That said, from the point of view of the person involved death is just another loss of consciousness. We do that every night, and isn't that the ideal situation for dying? I've heard it I don't know how many times: Just go to sleep and not wake up. That's not an awful gig, really.
Everybody (I think) wants to die peacefully in their sleep. But for the bereaved, I think it would be nicer to have the chance to say their goodbyes to somebody dying - it makes for a better closure (is that the right word here?)
Stefan
|
Everybody dies, just like everyone uses the toilet or eats. Some of us will die sooner, some later. Some peacefully of old age and some with their dignity and minds long gone. Others will die young and suddenly, gone to accidents and injury. Or to disease.
And that's it. We're not coming back. We're not going to any rewards or punishments. There will be no more us. It's enough to recommend living, sometimes.
But really that's not so bad. My own eagerness to experience the conclusion of my life varies from time to time, as I imagine it does for most people. That said, from the point of view of the person involved death is just another loss of consciousness. We do that every night, and isn't that the ideal situation for dying? I've heard it I don't know how many times: Just go to sleep and not wake up. That's not an awful gig, really.
Sleep, those little slices of death; Oh how I loathe them.
Edgar Allan Poe
Do not ask the fool how to live, he does not know.
Do not ask the wise man, for while he knows, he also knows he cannot tell you.
Do not ask how to live, instead proceed to do so.
I'm probably quoting that wrong, but it has some truths.
Oddly enough, I read it in one of the Gor books.
|
|
Everybody dies, just like everyone uses the toilet or eats. Some of us will die sooner, some later. Some peacefully of old age and some with their dignity and minds long gone. Others will die young and suddenly, gone to accidents and injury. Or to disease.
And that's it. We're not coming back. We're not going to any rewards or punishments. There will be no more us. It's enough to recommend living, sometimes.
But really that's not so bad. My own eagerness to experience the conclusion of my life varies from time to time, as I imagine it does for most people. That said, from the point of view of the person involved death is just another loss of consciousness. We do that every night, and isn't that the ideal situation for dying? I've heard it I don't know how many times: Just go to sleep and not wake up. That's not an awful gig, really.
I guess the nothingness does sometimes scare me, or the idea of it.
I guess the nothingness does sometimes scare me, or the idea of it.
It sounds promising to me, but I am weird. By definition it's impossible for us to experience it, as we shall have ceased to be. There's no us to be lost in a void for all eternity. All that stuff is over with.
I can certainly understand being scared of dying, since who would want to do that unplanned? But oblivion itself seems fine. It's not eternal bliss, certainly, but it's not eternal loneliness, torture, cold, or anything else either. I don't understand where the fear would come from.
When I was a child, I used to think that dead people lived in the cemetery. They were somehow connected to their bones and conscious, unable to do anything but watch as the world went by. The more I thought about that, the more horrific it seemed. Imagine watching all your loved ones die: family, children, friends. All that you knew fades away, yet here you still are. The world just keeps getting stranger and stranger and you can't enjoy it, you can't communicate with it, you can't do anything. That's scary. It's prison forever.
Compared to that, nothingness is a great relief. :)
Posting on this thread after three Irish coffees and a shot of Irish whisky may not be the best idea, but...
In the moment that I've learned all I can in life, I'll be happy to die. Until then, life is worth living.
I don't necessarily fear death, but I don't welcome it soon either. I find comfort in the fact I will not be alone in death but be reunited with family and friends who have passed on. I don't think there is a nothingness void, I think that there is something more that our human brains cant even imagine or comprehend. I my faith makes me unafraid of death.
@Stebehil-
|
RPG Superstar 2013
|
I think it seems clear we all have ideas about death and whether there is an afterlife. But where do we get those ideas from? Samnell says with authority there's, no afterlife, nothing beyond the grave, but then notes it is impossible to experience it. On what do you base your belief?
And if all we have is belief, but we all accept there is a truth out there, and that maybe some of us have bits of it but none of us have all of it, then on what do we base our rejection of other peoples' beliefs?
I don't want to pick a fight, I simply recommend the Bible for answers. If you accept it has some truth, it bears looking into. If you don't knwo or are skeptical, that's the sort of conversation that becomes more immediately important than the one about death. And if you flatly reject it, I wonder why?
Again, not interested in flames or in insultig one another. This seems thus far to be a pretty honest and open discussion. Why would someone adopt the belief that there's absolutely nothing out there? or if you believe you'll see family and friends again, what allows you to arrive at that belief without exploring the idea of punishment or reward or the approval of a higher being or a change in your nature once you enter eternity?
I think it seems clear we all have ideas about death and whether there is an afterlife. But where do we get those ideas from? Samnell says with authority there's, no afterlife, nothing beyond the grave, but then notes it is impossible to experience it. On what do you base your belief?
Jeremy asked that we not engage in this kind of discussion herein. I have respected that request and intend to persist in doing so.
...Why would someone adopt the belief that there's absolutely nothing out there? or if you believe you'll see family and friends again, what allows you to arrive at that belief without exploring the idea of punishment or reward or the approval of a higher being or a change in your nature once you enter eternity?
To turn it around on you... why should whether a person believes in an afterlife or not affect whether they can or will read a moral/ethical life?
The point of being an ethical and good person is not for some reward in the hereafter. I intend to do the very best I can with the time I have because that makes life better for friends, family, and everyone else in this planet. If there's a reward for that in some hereafter, well that'll just be a nice surprise.
To quote William Cullen Bryant:
So live, that when thy summons comes to join
The innumerable caravan which moves
To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.
"I have known many gods. He who denies them is as blind as he who trusts them too deeply. I seek not beyond death. It may be the blackness averred by the Nemedian skeptics, or Crom's realm of ice and cloud, or the snowy plains and vaulted halls of the Nordheimer's Valhalla. I know not, nor do I care. Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content."
-Conan the Barbarian (from "Queen of the Black Coast")
Mortality ensures that no pain is forever, it comforts me.+1. The are plenty of things that scare me, but death (afterlife or not) doesn't... either way, it's a release.
Agreed. I'm often just a few steps shy of wanting said release, but too stubborn to seek it out without at least trying to be happy. But the moment I believe I can't be happy anymore, then that release sounds very good...
|
|
I think it seems clear we all have ideas about death and whether there is an afterlife. But where do we get those ideas from? Samnell says with authority there's, no afterlife, nothing beyond the grave, but then notes it is impossible to experience it. On what do you base your belief?Jeremy asked that we not engage in this kind of discussion herein. I have respected that request and intend to persist in doing so.
@Samnell thank you for respecting my wishes.
@Steven That is an excellent question however I would rather not get into theology here, more philisophical discussion on how people deal with there own morality in their minds. But I fully encourage you to restate that question in the "Civil Religious Discussion" you may even link your question from here. But the questioned posed can directly lead into a venue most aren't comfortable discussing.