Are you afraid to die?

[gaira]

Basically, do you have any fear of dying that affects your daily/weekly/monthly/yearly routine, and/or do you contemplate the existence of death versus the alternative? thinking this young(er) audience might post some fairly interesting responses.

[Kajii]

no
gtfo with that emo shit

[gaira]

not talking about suicide or anything like that, just the realization of non-permanent existence and any reflection upon it.

but thanks for helping me clarify the topic.

[Tyche]

Haven't humans developed a psychological defense mechanism that prevents this from happening? I remember reading an article about it some time ago.

[Headspace]

I'm not afraid to die, because I know I'll be hand in hand with God when I pass.

[bechyni]

no it's going to happen sooner or later

[Mizango]

No.

[isladar]

Shit, son, I woke up this morning, punched a fucking Viking, bathed in the blood of my enemies and banned six motherfuckers. Then the 'Hawks won Game 1. I EMBRACE MY GLORIOUS ENTRANCE INTO VALHALLA.

[Tyche]

Here it is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Denial_of_Death

[Raen Ryong]

The first line of that article is quite amusing.

The Denial of Death is a work of psychology and philosophy written by Ernest Becker and published in 1973.[1] It was awarded the Pulitzer prize for general non-fiction in 1974, two months after the author's death.

[Despain]

Its not that I'm afraid of dying... I'm afraid of the way that I'll die.

I mean, I want to die in my sleep when it happens, but of course, with my luck I'll get decapitated.

[Siniroth]

Not really afraid to die myself, but I get really depressed when I think about people around me inevitably dying.

Part of the closing remarks of the Dr Who two part episode (silence in the library/forest of the dead, see below) put me in a ridiculously shitty mood, even though the entire episode before it is awesome etc

Spoiler: show

River Song saying 'Everybody knows that everybody dies'

[Despain]

Also I read somewhere the decapitation isn't even an instant death. You stay conscious for a few seconds or some shit.

Fuck life.

[Sylvrdragon]

I would certainly try to prevent my own death by any means necessary, but as for being afraid of death? I don't think so. If I found out that I had terminal Cancer or something, I could see myself just shrugging my shoulders and continuing with whatever it was I had been doing in my life.

While I'm sure the process of dying sucks badly, it's not like it's painful after that... It's simply... nothing.

I would absolutely never consider suicide as an escape from anything because death means you lose. Since I firmly believe that there is NO afterlife, then death is always the worst thing that can happen.

However, if my death would help to propagate my genes (sacrifice myself to save my children, etc), then I wouldn't consider it unnatural to give it up. Depending on how many it would potentially save,my age, and my ability to have more children, I might decide to say "Fuck that shit. Sorry about your luck." Hard to say on that front though. I'm not sure how far I could go against any potential parental instincts I might have.

[Budonez]

Its not that I'm afraid of dying... I'm afraid of the way that I'll die.

I mean, I want to die in my sleep when it happens, but of course, with my luck I'll get decapitated.

This is how I feel.

[thetruepandagod]

I want to die from blood loss after getting into a 5car accident with various things protruding from me.

But im not worried about death, as far as im concerned it would be smilar to sleeping since i hardly ever dream anyway.

[Qalbert]

you could die in your sleep whilst causing said accident. best of both worlds

[pahnphoenix]

Here it is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Denial_of_Death

ehhhhh, i don't know if the denial of death is quite what it sounds like you're thinking of in the original post. it's more like an existentialist/continental philosophy kind of book... in fact, if i recall, it doesn't make any empirical claims.

---

anyway, to answer your exact question, no, fear of death does not influence how i live my life (i do watch my ass, but that's mainly the wish not to be robbed and/or fucked up by someone). however, whenever i think about the fact that i will inevitably die, i feel a very visceral horror. i am very afraid of death. if i could do something to prevent my own death, i would.

all that said, everybody dies, there's nothing you can do. living your life in reference to an inevitable event that you have no power over would be very foolish. SO smoke cigarettes.

p.s. i quit smoking a few weeks ago;_;. i fucking love smoking. still, it costs money, it fucks with endurance, it limits one's chances to fuck various people (though it enhances one's chances with other people, so in general that's not a great reason), and it interferes with one's beer tasting palate. when it's vice vs vice, i choose beer.

p.p.s. becker's whole thesis is nonsense. death may give life some extra mmph, like may kasahara or various cylons or heidegger say, but life is robust enough for people to develop motivations and desires and such. it's also bad to go too far imagining that a metaphorical event is sufficient to motivate someone... attaining metaphorical immortality through being remembered or making great art or something sounds great, but it's crucially different from when, say, a serial killer does some metaphorical psychosexual shit. the metaphorically immortal person can be like, "whoop de shit, i'm sort of immortal now," while the serial killer's metaphorical instantiation of his subconscious, unattainable desires yields an orgasm. orgasm = motivator.

[*Shinzon*]

Not so much afraid of dying as I'm afraid of the uncertainty of what's after. I'm not so sure I belief in an afterlife in the purist sense, but I'd really like to hope there is more than just a never ending sleep.

[Mizango]

As far as decapitation goes this is based on a lab study but undergrads. Ask any of the participants of the study if they have tested their hypothesis and to what conclusion they came up with after the fact.

Death is mysterious, therefore it is painful and just terrible. I mean seriously, I know people that WONT donate or be cremated after they are dead because they hear that your nerves are still aware and will signal pain to your brain. Whats funny about these people is the fact that they completely ignore the fact that you first have to survive a post mortem necropsy. Oh how silly we can be.

I myself am an organ donor. How about you guys? Im sure most of you are on that Imhotep type shit and wish to take all of your earthy belongings with you into the netherworld right? You organs or tissue could some day save one of your children or distant relatives, you just never know. Lord knows none of us need them after we pass.