Which Do You Fear?

I am one of those "who who believe death is the end period". I do not fear death, but I am concerned about the dying process. Because of that, I have made plans to take matters into my own hands, if and when the need arises.



Perhaps for some, but I think that it would work the opposite way with many people. I think if there was a belief in the afterlife, many people with serious illness would not fight hard enough to stay alive, believing in a better life in the "hereafter".

I have a fear of death, predicated upon a pure, physical cowardice. Were i guaranteed of going off gently into that good night, i would be content. I am an atheist, for the simple reason that there are no gods nor godesses. When you die, you're worm food, sorry, that's it, game over, no reset. Fear of the unknown, or, more superstitiously, of the consequences of entering an afterlife, are the province of the credulous.

Hmmmm - I think I fear the process of getting to be dead more than anything.

I do not tend to think there is too much that needs to be done to make most of us want to stay alive - it seems to be a strongly inbuilt thing - at least once we are mature - adolescents seem rather prey to suicide "clusters" when one in a group does suicide.

Generally, people seem to have to be pretty despairing to kill themselves - or have an immature appreciation of what it really means.

I think fire and brimstone and such were more a product of our fears and a need to control our behaviour while alive than anything.

Do not forget, when most religions were invented, there was a pretty dramatic ongoing struggle for most people to stay alive at all - think of how short the average life span was, and how many lives ended in the cradle - and probably much less time to worry about how happy you were.

phoenix "I have made plans to take matters into my own hands, if and when the need arises"
i totally agree but offer questions such as how do you determine "need" and what happens if you become incompetent to act? these are questions running thru my mind currently

I don't fear death as such, cos it will happen no matter what. Though I have no desire to hasten it's arrival. That would scare me rigid.

My major fear is my "ball & chain" when she gets the real 'ump with me, starts giving out a load of verbal and with it a severe dose of ear ache.

No Fear.

Setanta I think that many who don't believe period, seem to think that those who have faith are somehow less intelligent or backwards or something, and I don't think that's accurate. For many people and I am one, there is a natural connection to something beyond this, or on "the other side", and this feeling is as natural as an itch or the involuntary act of breathing.

It's our interpretations and usage of this connection in our everyday lives that convolutes it and drives people away from it I think.

You either have it or you don't, and that's why they call it faith. It certainly cannot be proven rationally, I agree with that.

And if you have faith and then die and it was bullshit you've lost nothing, but if it's true some folks may be in for a surprise, and I don't mean a nasty one full of fire and brimstone necessarily, but a surprise nonetheless.

Then again, I'm just the karaoke man........

I honestly though I was in terror of death -- but when I faced up to the non-Hodgkins lymphoma treatment, I found out that I was almost blase' about it.

At no point during my illness -- which included me dropping in weight to 114 lbs. and looking like an extra in Schindler's List -- did I ever come even close to fearing the end.

I wasn't happy with what was going on -- the avenue I was taking to what looked like the end -- but I never even thought of trying to hasten it.

I simply dealt with it in a way that makes me tremendously proud of myself.

I hope when the real end comes, I acquit myself as well.

I agree that there is a rational "holding of the nose" as far as religion and "beliefs" are concerned, but I think it is a recent phenomena.


As to your question, I was sure you were asking which do your fear -- Philosophy or Debate? (I was going to choose Debate, since I fear public speaking. )

About Death? My mother always told me that it would be an experience not to be missed and as natural as being born. I see the wisdom in that.
As a parent and spouse, there is a greater fear to be the survivor.

Hmmm. I don't know that I fear death so much as not living anymore, if that makes any sense. Pain, suffering -- these things irritate me when the crop up, but I don't really fear them, per se -- but, then, I don't really have any fear about, say, being bitten while breaking up a dog fight. If it happens, it happens.

But I really want to continue being alive.

I'll thank you not to characterize me this way. That's a load of crap. BPB asked for peoples' thoughts, so i gave mine. I find that i treat the religious lunatic fringe with a good deal more courtesy and consideration than do others who hold religious beliefs which are less extreme. That was an unnecessary cheap shot.

Is It Rational to Fear Death?

Well, I am not scared of death, I know that it is inevitable, but I am scared of two things: the process of dying (it depends on cause of death, in case it is cancer it can be very hard) and the possibility to get to the Hell (I make some efforts to avoid such an outcome, but only God knows whether I have succeeded).

Being a survivor has always been my fear, too. Being alive and in anguish over loss, or in extreme pain take a kind of courage I don't understand, or want to experience.

On the other hand, Dyslexia's fear of being alive but disroriented and finally helpless, with Alzheimer's or some other debilitating condition, would be something I'd want to avoid. Phoenix says she made arrangements, and that's what I'd want, too. But how do your loved ones decide when it's time for you to go, if you're too incompetent to decide for yourself? I'd rather be dead than put into a nursing home to rot, that's for sure.

Setanta, what is it you object to -- my characterizing this as "holding your nose"? That's a cheap shot? Forgive me. I am astounded at your thin skin and irritability. Or is it that I think it is a recent phenomena?

For you who just said 1) there are no gods or goddesses, 2) there is no afterlife, and 3) that those who believe in an after-life are superstitious or credulous, or both... it is hard to take your complaint at face value. How courteous and considerate can you be when you've just said someone must be superstitious if they believe what they may?

I do think that there has been a rational rush away from belief and it is relatively recent. Is that incorrect?

let's don't fight kids, it makes me a sad bear.

I couldn't characterize what you call a rational rush away from belief as being recent or not, in that i see no evidence of such a rush. Superstition is the belief in supernatural agents, for which noe cannot provide any evidence. Theism falls squarely into such a category. To believe what cannot be demonstrated, and for which no one provides replicable evidence that such a demonstration is possible, is to be credulous.

Yes, it is your use of "holding your nose" to which i object. I lose my temper and get irritable, as does anyone else. On the whole, however, i treat people well, and i do not belittle them for their beliefs. In the context of fora such as these, characterizing what you may choose to believe as superstition does not constitute an active effort to insult or belittle you. I feel that the use of such an expression as "a rational holding of the nose," however, does.

I love ya Boss!

Me also errr well I try.

so long as it's not an angry bear. squinney's been feeding you lately, right?