View Full Version : Are you afraid of Death?
Proletariat
11-27-2005, 00:20
I'm more afraid of living a boring life.
Soulforged
11-27-2005, 00:22
I'm only 20 years old, much better things to do...But to be sincere yes I'm. Then again all humans are afraid of death, many fears that we've are an expression of that primitive fear.
Kanamori
11-27-2005, 00:27
Right now, I'm not afraid of it. It is impossible to say, with certainty, how I will feel when faced w/ it more directly.
LeftEyeNine
11-27-2005, 00:31
No not at all.. Experience makes you feel ready.
Strike For The South
11-27-2005, 00:31
when my numbers up its up
Adrian II
11-27-2005, 00:32
Not afraid of death. I am afraid of dying, particularly in a painful, untimely or ungainly fashion. The yearly Darwin Award shortlist always reflects some my worst nightmares.
https://img259.imageshack.us/img259/6645/sunglassescool5el.gif
Big King Sanctaphrax
11-27-2005, 00:32
Not really. An eternal life would get hugely boring, so a timely death is a blessing, if you think about it.
As others have said though, I do fear dying in a horrible way. Anything that involves dismembering I'd hope to avoid.
I was a few years back but now I don't think about it anymore.
doc_bean
11-27-2005, 01:00
I only fear dying because it will leave a lot of unfinished business behind, so i voted Gah!
You cannot live forever. But I am afraid of other people dying.
Byzantine Prince
11-27-2005, 01:17
LOL, the poll is hillarious. Look at all the people who try to act tuff. ~:joker:
As for me, I do not think I'm afraid now, but that changes all the time.
Togakure
11-27-2005, 01:18
Not afraid of death. I am afraid of dying ...
That sums it up for me. Part of me yearns for death; it's the dying that complicates things.
Red Harvest
11-27-2005, 01:22
No not at all.. Experience makes you feel ready.
So you've been dead before?
LeftEyeNine
11-27-2005, 01:26
Quite close.. At least I have a taste of how it feels when you're dying..
Yes - Because it's a serious case of the unknown mixed with psychological heaviness, possible pain, and the supernatural.
No - Because I'll get to see my dog again.
Mouzafphaerre
11-27-2005, 01:30
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Whoever replies "no" is contradicting with a law of nature. ~:handball: Pointless question with one correct answer.
.
LeftEyeNine
11-27-2005, 01:35
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Whoever replies "no" is contradicting with a law of nature. ~:handball: Pointless question with one correct answer.
.
Well of course as a living organism, you strive to survive . Ones who replied "No" are not anyone throwing themselves into a road.
I say no because, when death comes into my mind, I react saying "If it has to be, so be it" and I don't feel anxious at all. I love living and am not bothered with death idea, I mean.
Kanamori
11-27-2005, 01:35
In this instant, I perceive no imminent harm to myself, so I see no reason why I should be fearing death now. Also, there are people that commit suicide. Thus, that supposed law of self-preservation is not univeral.
Mouzafphaerre
11-27-2005, 01:41
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As a person who lived his one and half year with the constant thought of suicide, although never attempted, I can detest that. Every living organism fears death. You may overcome that fear, in which LEN's case for instance fits though. But it's there and it will always be.
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Sjakihata
11-27-2005, 01:42
I am not afraid of death in the death sense. Im more afraid when you ponder then what, is everything over... that gives me the creeps
littlelostboy
11-27-2005, 02:33
I'm not afraid of death cause I'll get to see my grandma and Jesus.
Somebody Else
11-27-2005, 03:08
Who's death?
Or indeed, who's Death? Some anthropomorphic being with a big scythe?
Seriously though, I suppose I'll just have to see what happens - it's the unknown, always a scary thing that. Like the mind of a woman. Scary.
Byzantine Prince
11-27-2005, 03:11
Who's death?
Or indeed, who's Death? Some anthropomorphic being with a big scythe?
I'm more afraid of somebody else. :stare:
Grey_Fox
11-27-2005, 03:16
If you are not afraid of dying then you have lost the will to live, and that's not a pretty thing...
LeftEyeNine
11-27-2005, 03:27
If you are not afraid of dying then you have lost the will to live, and that's not a pretty thing...
Don't be so sure about it mate ~;)
Let's party !
~:cheers: :thrasher: :hippie: :thrasher:~:cheers:
bmolsson
11-27-2005, 05:56
A more interesting question would be, how many have actually faced death and not been afraid.... ~;)
Strike For The South
11-27-2005, 06:11
respect knuckles for JAG
I'd have to say Gah, because I really can't give an honest answer. A part of me says no, yet another part says yes. Only time will tell.
Tachikaze
11-27-2005, 09:19
I said yes, but death could be great--after the dying part anyway.
Geoffrey S
11-27-2005, 11:53
Not afraid of death. I am afraid of dying, ...
That's the one. So, no. I mean, let's face it, once I'm dead I'd probably be the last person to be bothered about it.
A more interesting question would be, how many have actually faced death and not been afraid....
~:)
Just the thread I need, today my father died exactly 2 years ago. Death nah, you won't be there to enjoy being it (although some pretty strange things happened back then the following days, who knows). But the part where you die I kind of dread, must be scary. I have little intention to find out in the near future so I think I will stay alive for a while just for fun.
When climbing I have faced a situation where I might die. I was scared, but was too busy trying to stay alive than thinking about death.
Yeah I fear death. It's the unknown.
Kagemusha
11-27-2005, 15:22
Im not afraid of death, because to me it is something i cant avoid or beat. To be born is natural, so is to die. So what is the point of to be afraid of something like that. What thinking of death makes me emotianally is that it makes me sad. Its the loosing your loved ones that is hard.
So if you would ask me do i prefer life over death? The answer would be yes. But do i fear it? No. When my time comes, it comes.~:)
Just A Girl
11-27-2005, 15:37
im not afraid to die, But i will be terribly dissapointed when it happens.
Im more afraid of the death of stars, than i am for the death of Humans or animals.
When all the stars die, thats the end of the game,
So I am afraid of that,
so do i say yes or no?
Meneldil
11-27-2005, 17:00
I'm afraid of thinking that the few people I really love will die before me.
scooter_the_shooter
11-27-2005, 19:19
Hell yeah! I am afraid. I dont wanna die. I am a fan of living you know~D
I have not done enough yet. Who wants to die before they have had their fun?
A.Saturnus
11-27-2005, 19:28
It´s not the problem that you have to die but that you have to stay dead!
Yes, I´m afraid of death and that´s a challenge I have to overcome.
Byzantine Prince
11-27-2005, 19:30
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Whoever replies "no" is contradicting with a law of nature. ~:handball: Pointless question with one correct answer.
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Not necessarily. The only way to not be afraid of death is to completely ignore that it will hapen. If we stopped talking about something it would cease to exist.
scooter_the_shooter
11-27-2005, 19:32
And thats what I was doing right before this thread popped up~D (seriously I was)
Divinus Arma
11-27-2005, 20:00
DEATH? No.
The process of getting there?
YES.
But courage is not the absence of fear. It is the conquest of fear.
I'm impressed by the amount of naysayers. (Just voted), my answer would be Yes. I'm terrified of death (Quietus literally means Death). Fourteen+ billion years of nonexistence in this universe, you pop in as a unique consciousness in ~80 years and disappear once more permanently.
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Whoever replies "no" is contradicting with a law of nature. ~:handball: Pointless question with one correct answer.
.Mouzaf, I'm talking about natural death not abrupt death. Secondly, it's a given that everyone's telling the truth in the poll.
im not afraid to die, But i will be terribly dissapointed when it happens.
Im more afraid of the death of stars, than i am for the death of Humans or animals.
When all the stars die, thats the end of the game,
So I am afraid of that,
so do i say yes or no? You already voted correctly; you're not sure of an answer. So, Gah!
Gah! There is no point in being `fraid of death. Your instincts handle that perfectly themselves.
Reverend Joe
11-27-2005, 21:30
Yes. I am afraid of death- but, more than that, I fear the process, especially if it involves drowning in a thick liquid. I have a horrible fear of drowning in quicksand, or a boggy marsh or something; or possibly tar.
KukriKhan
11-27-2005, 23:20
I plan to live forever.
So far...
so good.
so: Gah!
master of the puppets
11-27-2005, 23:27
my life seems so pointless at this moment i have no reason to fear death. i more fear that after death i will not be remembered or shamed, for a memory is as telling as your life itself.
I fear the death of those close to me, or what my death would mean to them. My own death? Not really since I hopefully will not know!
like someone has said before...
I´m not afraid of dying......I just don´t want to be there when it happens.
Divinus Arma
11-28-2005, 04:09
I have faced immediate death twice. Once with knowledge and once without.
The first was as a Corporal in Afghanistan. Some jackball decided to launch chinese-made surface-to-surface missles at the U.S. embassy in Kabul where I was deployed back in early '02. The alarms went off and we all went to our "battlestations". I paced the hallway, but I was ready to die and ready to kill. Others were not, and it showed in their eyes. Perhaps I was ignorant, perhaps I was bold; I will never know. Because they never came. The missles were the end of it. No invasion, no assault, nothing futher. The missles blew up in front of us and behind us.
The second was as a Sergeant doing routine police work. I was setting up traffic cones along a rainswept highway when I stopped in-place for no reason. I literally stopped moving for no reason that I can explain. And instantly less than 6 inches from the tip of my nose passed a large delivery truck at 60 mph. It was that quick. Stop, swoosh. To this day I cannot explain why I stopped, because I fully intended on walking forward.
On reflection, the second scares me more. Death at a time and place I can neither predict nor control. No bravery. No heroics. Just over. And a wife and family to continue on without me...
Papewaio
11-28-2005, 04:24
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Whoever replies "no" is contradicting with a law of nature. ~:handball: Pointless question with one correct answer.
.
Nope, if your death means more copies of your genes survive you are obeying a strategy of replicators.
As far as your genes are concerned if there is a choice between you or 3 of your siblings from the same parents, then your death will serve your genes better.
If you are beyond your reproductive years and it is your death or your childs then it will be your death that is more productive.
You while fertile and your death or 3 of your children... genes will do better if you die.
No.
My place at Odinn's table is secured. I’ll enjoy battles during the days and feasting on meats and mead at night.
On a serious note; as a survivor of two serious car-crashes (both of which I should have been dead) and a knife wound, dying do not seem so frightening. As I have a good life insurance, I could die without my family getting into economic difficulties. This combination makes me not fear death.
But courage is not the absence of fear. It is the conquest of fear.It could be that because one has conquered death trice, the fear of it is conquered also.
Im not afraid of dying when my time here is up, im more afraid of what comes after the whole dying part.
Dutch_guy
11-28-2005, 17:58
hmm this one kind of scares me
The second was as a Sergeant doing routine police work. I was setting up traffic cones along a rainswept highway when I stopped in-place for no reason. I literally stopped moving for no reason that I can explain. And instantly less than 6 inches from the tip of my nose passed a large delivery truck at 60 mph. It was that quick. Stop, swoosh. To this day I cannot explain why I stopped, because I fully intended on walking forward.
it reminds me of thatt movie..Final Destination, it's basicly about death being ''planned''bij Death himself.
Maybe you still have some really important things to do in life, so your ''allowed'' to live.
Now, I'm not a supernatural person...and don't believe in god either, but that sort of thing does make you think about both ~;)
:balloon2:
Divinus Arma
11-28-2005, 18:39
Now, I'm not a supernatural person...and don't believe in god either, but that sort of thing does make you think about both
Agreed. I believe in God, but I believe his greatest act is the choice not to. By not intervening, he gives us choice. Which makes us pretty unique creatures, in that we may choose to follow his will or not. Unlike animals, which are essentially pre-programmed automatons.
But yea. This definately opened my eyes as to how little I actually know. It solidified my belief that existential certainty is an arrogant impossibility. And even that perspective is, by the very nature of its content, uncertain.
Byzantine Prince
11-28-2005, 19:18
Agreed. I believe in God, but I believe his greatest act is the choice not to. By not intervening, he gives us choice. Which makes us pretty unique creatures, in that we may choose to follow his will or not. Unlike animals, which are essentially pre-programmed automatons.
But yea. This definately opened my eyes as to how little I actually know. It solidified my belief that existential certainty is an arrogant impossibility. And even that perspective is, by the very nature of its content, uncertain.
I don't understand. If you believe that God exists that is a certainty for you. If you think that he might not then you are agnostic, and not a deist as you state. If you believe in God you should not be afraid at all. That's why I feel kind of bad about not being a Christian anymore.
The problem with the concept of death is we make a connection with time, which is itself unreal. Eventuality has it that one "moment" you cease to exist in a conscious way. This is not a moment however, because the very concept is intagible. Dying is the passing from being in this world into not being being in this world. It cannot be pinpointed in a moment. Perhaps you could say that it is an infinitely small moment(an infinitesimal).
Kommodus
11-28-2005, 20:00
If you believe that God exists that is a certainty for you.
Why does faith necessarily have to imply absolute certainty? Why can't it simply imply being convinced of something enough to act on it - that is, to trust it, or to "bet" on it?
No intellectual discipline that I know of can possibly promise absolute certainty - neither science, nor philosophy, nor history, nor any other. Yet that doesn't stop us from acting on our discoveries in those areas. Why? Because we have established certain principles with a degree of certainty (less than absolute) that we feel more or less comfortable with.
Suppose I say that I believe in God (which I do) to the point that I act on it (seek Him, trust Him, try to follow His will). Is my faith made false when I admit that I sometimes have doubts about anything and everything, and that I know nothing at all with absolute certainty? I prefer to think that makes me honest; even the strongest believers have doubts, sometimes frequently. Many thoughtful atheists will admit they sometimes doubt their own worldview - some have said as much in this very thread.
Certainty is something I don't think we as humans have been given, though some of us claim it for some reason. We have to take risks, acting on information that's less than perfect or complete. It's a little frightening, but it's also exciting and adventurous.
scooter_the_shooter
11-28-2005, 20:07
I dont get all the no answers! I bet if a gun was put to every ones head who said no, they would be pretty afraid of dying then~:rolleyes:
Divinus Arma
11-28-2005, 22:20
I dont get all the no answers! I bet if a gun was put to every ones head who said no, they would be pretty afraid of dying then~:rolleyes:
It's not death itself that is scary. It's the getting dead part that blows.
No. I've actually spent a lot of time thinking about this. I don't mind a messy death, either; if I'm going to snuff it, I'd might as well make someone clean up. A friend of mine said something to me on this subject, once: "There's no reason to be afraid of people. The worst they can do is kill you."
doc_bean
11-28-2005, 22:54
A friend of mine said something to me on this subject, once: "There's no reason to be afraid of people. The worst they can do is kill you."
Wow, does he have a limited imagination ~:rolleyes:
Nope, if your death means more copies of your genes survive you are obeying a strategy of replicators.
As far as your genes are concerned if there is a choice between you or 3 of your siblings from the same parents, then your death will serve your genes better.
If you are beyond your reproductive years and it is your death or your childs then it will be your death that is more productive.
You while fertile and your death or 3 of your children... genes will do better if you die.
Depends on the person though, some people really aren't wired for the whole self sacrifice thing. A purely selfish tactic can be effective from a genetic point of view.
In the first case, it might be that you've inhereted genes your siblings have not, and therefor spreading YOUR genes would be more important to you. Also about 10% of all people isn't from the father they think, so putting yourself above your siblings would seem like a valid strategy.
In the second case, you're right of course, but your reproductve years go on for quiet a bit, especially if you're male. Most people would sacrifice themselves for their children if they were old and given the choice, some will not. Those are probably a special case of the next situation.
In the third case, if you're male, 3 children can easily be replaced from a biological POV. Some people concetrate on raising a limited number of children giving them everything they can (see all the 1 child families in Europe and in the last few decades) while some people (mostly men) concentrate on producing as many children as possible, not really caring about what happens to them. Both are valid survival strategies for your genes, so it is very uncertain what the best option in situation 3 would be, and what you will do by instinct.
Gotta love neo-darwinism ~:)
Perhaps you could say that it is an infinitely small moment(an infinitesimal).
It's a bit like space I guess, if it were infinitly devisable the turtle would never catch the hare, therefor there most be a lower limit to the amount of space that can be crossed.
Ja'chyra
11-28-2005, 22:57
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Whoever replies "no" is contradicting with a law of nature. ~:handball: Pointless question with one correct answer.
.
With the correct answer being no, why fear the inevitable?
I refuse to live in fear of something I cannot change ~:cool:
Or to put it philosophically, shit happens.
Craterus
11-28-2005, 22:58
Not really any more...
If you believe in an afterlife, it's not a bad thing at all.
yesdachi
11-29-2005, 00:09
I’m not afraid of death, I am afraid of how it would happen and the things I will leave behind unfinished or uncared for (family, friends, pets, my last savegame of MTW, etc.).
The afterlife sounds like a grand adventure, I have a coin in my pocket and my heart is ready for the scales! ~:)
LeftEyeNine
11-29-2005, 00:39
yesdachi, I am convinced that you are a hardcore MTW fan like me. Yeah, a savegame before seeing the Golden Horde would be an unfinished game, God bless MTW -a fully enjoyed one before death. ~:)
yesdachi
11-29-2005, 16:19
yesdachi, I am convinced that you are a hardcore MTW fan like me. Yeah, a savegame before seeing the Golden Horde would be an unfinished game, God bless MTW -a fully enjoyed one before death. ~:)
I can’t even imagine taking a dirt nap with a turn left before the GH appear! Could heaven be, my savegame waiting for me! The possibility makes me even more comfortable with death. ~:cheers:
Side note: I have been playing for years and just finished my first GA game where I didn’t try and take over the map. I was the HRE and it was glorious! Nearly 250 GA points and I still had 10 rival factions alive.
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