Death and what happens next?

It doesn’t scare me. It will happen to all of us and there is nothing we can do about it so I have decided not to fear something I have no control over. I shall live my life to the fullest until the very end.

i like what poet e.e. cummings had to say about death

dying is fine)but Death
e.e. cummings

dying is fine)but Death

?o
baby
i

wouldn't like

Death if Death
were
good:for

when(instead of stopping to think)you

begin to feel of it,dying
's miraculous
why?be

cause dying is

perfectly natural;perfectly
putting
it mildly lively(but

Death

is strictly
scientific
& artificial &

evil & legal)

we thank thee
god
almighty for dying
(forgive us,o life!the sin of Death

For a good number of people a home where air conditioning is never needed.

Not existing? What about before you were born?
I can't help you deal with being scared and yes I have felt the way you have. I am no longer scared because we all have to deal with the thought of dying. I have no words of wisdom. What I do is live life each and every day and I don't bother to think of my death because I don't have any control over that.
Everyone deals with death in their own way and most likely no one can tell you how to deal with the thought. You have to find that on your own.

I used to be afraid of death myself; but, someone shared with me the Bible definition of death. Psalm 146:4 "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; In that very day his thoughts perish." In other words, once we die, we will no longer be conscious of anything, so wont feel pain, grief or anything at all. Ecclesiastes 9:5-6,10 also defines death similarly. It is also described in the Bible as "sleep," because people can be awakened from death by means of resurrection. [John 11:11-14] But, resurrection doesn't happen instantaneously. There is a specific appointed date for when the resurrection of the dead is to take place. If you have any other questions related to death, let me know, and, I will give you the Bible answer. :~)

The whole world is in darkness. Darkness, sleep, death, it's all the same. Reality is a dream, man fell asleep within. You pass from dream to dream, without and within. Ever changing moments, within the illusion of the mind.

"Death" has been on my mind a lot these past few days. Not so much human death, but that is an automatic next step of thought. You see my little pup got hit by a car a few days ago and he was so damaged he had to be put to sleep.
I loved him so much and now I wonder if dogs have a spirit and if he is aware of what a naughty pup he was to keep digging holes under the fence to escape when there was really no need for him to do that. He was born with that wanderlust in him. So am grieving, and naturally that involves a death.
There's a show on TV called "Sensing Murder" and until I started watching that I was never sure about what happens to a human after we die, but these two "mediums" have been able to communicate with dead people and have been able to find out who killed them. It is no hoax. It is for real. But what I can't get my head around is that if there are people who can do that... really communicate with the dead... I sure feel sorry for famous dead people... they'd never get a moments peace. For an example... take Princess Diana. Imagine being communicated with ... again and again. Or Houdini? Or Elvis Presley or Michael Jackson? We could go on like this forever. There have been no scientific reports confirming genuine communications with 'the dead' apart from what I've been seeing on "Sensing Murder".
Your fear of not existing is a sticky one. Have you ever actually sat down and made out your Last Will and Testament?
That ought to help you to accept the inevitable. Once you start working out what you want done with your possessions after you are no longer around to do it yourself.. you will start to get a glimpse of what it is going to be like after you no longer exist with the luxury of knowing that for the time being you DO exist. It's a spooky feeling. Well that's the way I described it when I had to make out my own will. But I also wanted to do more, so I got a special journal and started writing down in it who I wanted to have certains items, like my sewing machine, computers (have a good laptop as well as a desktop) and other sorts of expensive "appliances". And my huge collection of knitting yarns. The list goes on. When I die my son wouldn't have any idea about what to do with my things so it's better I put it all down in writing now before it is too late.
Once a person starts thinking along those lines, it seems to take the uncertainity of dying out of the equasion.
We become resigned to death and dying.
Still on the subject of 'death'. I think my biggest fear of dying would be if I was no longer in control of my body... like with dementia. Already I have decided that I don't want to be kept alive when I am no longer aware of what is going on around me. I watch documentaries about people who have to go overseas to places like Sweden so that they can die peacefully with their loved ones beside them without anyone else getting into trouble with the law. At my time of life I think of death and dying a lot. The older I get the less worried I get about the actual event.
My own real worry is that there may be some people who will miss me and grieve for me after I am gone.
I wouldn't want anyone to feel the dreadful pain I have been feeling since my little pup Tyke died on Wednesday afternoon.
That is more worrying for me than me worrying about no longer existing. If I can arrange for the head stone and grave that I want to end up in... no matter what... I believe I will still exist... in someone's mind, every time someone looks at my grave. I think when people are cremated and their ashed spread about.. and there is no plaque to represent their last resting place, that, I think, is when we may "no longer exist".
While someone is thinking of us, we still exist. Take the ancient Egypt pharaohs.. King Tut, Cleopatra... and everyone else who once lived and is still remembered. We just need to make sure that when people do remember us, they are good memories...not bad ones.

Been close to death. Ruptured duodenum. The pain was so intense, and not able to draw breath, I would have welcomed death.

Think of it as going to sleep. Something you do most days, unless you have a drug habit.

Once you exist, you can never not exist. Death only affects the living, because they can't interact with you anymore. You are not in a body of their existence, but they are in a body of your existence, the existence of mind, not that of matter.
The world is in darkness, the world is asleep. Who will awaken, in the Resurrection of the mind?

What if the notion of 'heaven and hell', being good and evil, are properties of this 'life', as for some life has attributes and sins that would characterize 'hell' and some have a moral rectitude and 'self-actualized' disposition that would be characteristic of 'heaven'.
What life living is the interplay between heaven and hell?

Death does not scare me, because it is not only enviable but one of the most interesting and mysterious complements to my life. If I am proud of my life, then I welcome all aspects of it, including its natural end.

Brothers! I say, Brothers?

What have you done?
Each keeping beat,
to the sound of their own drum.

Darkness without,
Darkness within.
Condemning yourself,
imagining sin.

I don't know why the thought of death scares some people.

It doesn't scare me because I never think about it. I am nearly 73 years old and fully realize that, statistically, every new day could be my last. Why should that scare me or why should I give it any thought whatever? It is, clearly, beyond my control; I don't spend time worrying about things that I can do nothing about.

I welcome each of those new days and try to live it as though it actually were my last. I'm mildly curious about 'death', but that's all. I live one day at a time and have been doing so for many, many years. Fear of death has no dominion over me nor do I intend to let it have any.

There is no end.

Like others in this thread, I'm not afraid of death. It'll come when it'll come, and the only thing I can do is live until then. And like trying2learn said: you have to come up with your own coping mechanism.

If it'll help, I'll gladly share my belief on the subject:

When you die, rather than ceasing to exist, you go into an afterlife tailored personally to you based on how you lived your life in general. Kind of like heaven and hell, but more shades-of-gray-from-white-to-black rather than pure black-and-white.

You continue to dream, only the cares of this world do not bother you anymore. Heaven is in the mind of the minds of the children of light. Hell is in the mind of the minds of the children of darkness.
Two realities, one will be cast into outer darkness in which there is no end, the other remains in the light from whence it came.

Just think about the time you were a egg in your mothers womb and your farther gave you life, then remember the day you were born and took your first breath, you will then realize that death is exactly the same.... It's something you have no control over accept being able to shorten the living part. ;-).

If you're trying to change my beliefs, know that you won't. Until I see with my own two eyes evidence that proves without a doubt that you're right, I will continue to be content with my own beliefs.

Death does not happen.
Death is only an idle superstition.

Death is only molting off your outside covering, like a lobster.





David