Do you Fear Death?

[OMEGA]

I used to alot.......

but I have realized know that death should not be something to fear.

I have been noticing that everything in our society is geared to the avoidance of this inevitable event.

the cosmetic indudtry tries to keep you looking young.

the food and supplement indusrty is supposed to make you feel young.

the medical industry, and drug companies try to prolong youngness.

the media try to associate age with negative qualities. that reward youngness, and penalize age.........


is the fear of death a contruct that we have been conditioned to accept and follow....?

I do not know

I choose to embrace death

 

[Test boy]

I'm fairly sure that I will die someday.

There are a few forms of death that concern me. Drowning in an avalanche is disconcerting. I got trapped underneath my snowmobile a couple times. I was quite concerned.

 

[acuraman]

It's all a part of life you are born then you die

 

[Test boy]

It's all a part of life you are born then you die

Thanks to our liberals...many die before they are born.

 

[OMEGA]

I'm fairly sure that I will die someday.

There are a few forms of death that concern me. Drowning in an avalanche is disconcerting. I got trapped underneath my snowmobile a couple times. I was quite concerned.

well of course the process of death would be a concern

burning alive, and suffocating would definatly be unpleasant,

but I am talking about the "IDEA" of death...

think about it......evaluate the definition of what death generally means in this society.......and ask why this general definition has manifested itself this way?

 

[boss]

i have cheated death twice.........kinda feel like final destanation..........so do i??????.........no

 

[Test boy]

well of course the process of death would be a concern

burning alive, and suffocating would definatly be unpleasant,

but I am talking about the "IDEA" of death...

think about it......evaluate the definition of what death generally means in this society.......and ask why this general definition has manifested itself this way?

Since you asked the question this month...I do not want to die.

Had you asked in November...maybe another answer.

 

[theoak01]

the idea of death doesnt scare me,what scares me is not making a difference to anybody in this world and just going through life being a nobody and a bum

when its my time i welcome death with open arms ,all i want is to tell all my loved ones how i feel

 

[OMEGA]

Since you asked the question this month...I do not want to die.

Had you asked in November...maybe another answer.

indeed

the feelings associated with death probably ossilate back and forth........if you care to share......why NOVEMBER?

 

[OMEGA]

the idea of death doesnt scare me,what scares me is not making a difference to anybody in this world and just going through life being a nobody and a bum

when its my time i welcome death with open arms ,all i want is to tell all my loved ones how i feel

imo this is a wonderful statement

 

[Mdguy]

Death is generally ignored and cheapened in society today. People years ago died in dignity with loved ones at their bedsides, now many just rot and drown in their own bodily fluids in 'death mills' unaware of neither their surroundings nor their families.
Life doesn't seem to mean as much today and in the past and think this translates into general apathy towards death. Witness all the death we see on television and the news..it definitely desensitizes one after awhile.
It's another story about what you bring up about how important the perception of youth is in the modern world. It's weird how we must stay alive and youthful, seemingly at all costs. I see no problems with Euthanasia-I wish people would think about quality of life vs. quantity of life and look out in the best interests of their sick family members-not their own selfishness.
I'vehad many loved ones/friends die in my life..I am used to dealing with it and not scared of it at all. That doesn't mean I want to die tomorrow and do very risky things, but if something happens, so be it. Who knows...hell might be on Earth!

 

[Test boy]

indeed

the feelings associated with death probably ossilate back and forth........if you care to share......why NOVEMBER?

November sucked because of:

Post cycle crash from a cycle that went too long.

WTC affected everybody with a spirit.

Lots of new competition surrounding my ad in the yellow pages.

NO new business in November...usually a good month.

Phone company really screwed up one of my ads.

Joint problem (elbow) makes it unlikely that I will ever supplant Shwarzenegger.

My 6 PM buddies disappeared after confessing to only being a top 2-5%er in the Johnson category. Mostly a coincidence...mostly.

I like summer and sun. I don't like short days and icy roads.

I had not been laid since Labor Day vacation.

Economy is REALLY effecting the business. I actually took a Christmas job and learned what it is like to work for a living...ugh!

 

[OMEGA]

heh

TEST BOY

good to hear that you weathered that storm. that was a doosey!

in general business has been bad for every one, but there are positive sign in the economy that things will pick up, even despite the recent layoffs.......

isn't amazing and starteling the effect menatlly post cycle is'nt it????

when my "freinds" beginer pansy cycle ceased it definatlley elicited a mental response, good and bad.......but mostly bad.......

it only lasted about 2.5 weeks though.

 

[OMEGA]

Death is generally ignored and cheapened in society today. People years ago died in dignity with loved ones at their bedsides, now many just rot and drown in their own bodily fluids in 'death mills' unaware of neither their surroundings nor their families.
Life doesn't seem to mean as much today and in the past and think this translates into general apathy towards death. Witness all the death we see on television and the news..it definitely desensitizes one after awhile.

even concepts of what it means to have freinds , be a participant in a family, and a participant in society have vanished as well.....

the spirt of giving, and coprimise, and understanding of the seriuosness and value of life have been supplanted by a new value strucutyre stressing the self, and personal gain above everything else......

in a addition the perservation of that construct is an absolute necessity.......cus it is all that people have now...hence another reason to fear death.........

sad........

 

[Test boy]

heh

TEST BOY

good to hear that you weathered that storm. that was a doosey!

in general business has been bad for every one, but there are positive sign in the economy that things will pick up, even despite the recent layoffs.......

isn't amazing and starteling the effect menatlly post cycle is'nt it????

when my "freinds" beginer pansy cycle ceased it definatlley elicited a mental response, good and bad.......but mostly bad.......

it only lasted about 2.5 weeks though.

That particular storm damn near kilt me.

I do believe that the economy is picking up significantly. I see a brave new world ahead. Feeling quite decent for past few weeks.

I now have lots of challenge in my life...I seem to thrive on that.

 

[Test boy]

the spirt of giving, and coprimise, and understanding of the seriuosness and value of life have been supplanted by a new value strucutyre stressing the self, and personal gain above everything else......


sad........

I friggin hate what the religion of psychology has done to our society. Psychology is tied with the media on my shit list.

Funny thing though...I enjoy the thoughts of mb who is immersed in both of those worlds.

 

[Mdguy]

even concepts of what it means to have freinds , be a participant in a family, and a participant in society have vanished as well.....

the spirt of giving, and coprimise, and understanding of the seriuosness and value of life have been supplanted by a new value strucutyre stressing the self, and personal gain above everything else......

in a addition the perservation of that construct is an absolute necessity.......cus it is all that people have now...hence another reason to fear death.........

sad........

Yes, basically with the diluted emphasis of friends/family/giving as you eloquently state, many don't fear actual death perse, their primary fear is the loss of their material possessions

 

[OMEGA]

I friggin hate what the religion of psychology has done to our society. Psychology is tied with the media on my shit list.

Funny thing though...I enjoy the thoughts of mb who is immersed in both of those worlds.

I agree 101%

pop media and pop psycholgy is poison, and essentially degrading of the human condition.

the media view the body politic as a herd to be harvested, they plant ideas, support those ideas with other peripharl support meachanisms, and illicet a response for the poulation that benifits the herd controllers.

it started with war propoganda....now it is being even more skillfully used in the perpetuation of inferiority complexes..(fear of death included) in the population to get them to buy goods and things like that

 

[Island Son]

-----
Whether people be of high or low birth, rich or poor, old or young, enlightened or confused, they are all alike in that they will one day die. It is not that we don't know that we are going to die, but we grasp at straws. While knowing that we will die someday, we think that all the others will die before us and that we will be the last to go. Death seems a long way off.
Is this not shallow thinking? It is worthless and is only a joke within a dream. It will not do to think in such a way and be negligent. insofar as death is always at one's door, one should make sufficient effort and act quickly.
----
Human life is truly a short affair. It is better to live doing the things that you like. It is foolish to live within this dream of a world seeing unpleasantness and doing only things that you do not like. But it is important never to tell this to young people as it is something that would be harmful if incorrectly understood.(Hagakure, 1716)
----

 

[Puc]

actually I am utterly afraid of life right now... death is a thought I lack the courage to consider, it is still beyond me... one day I will begin to ponder the "why" and "how" of my own ending, but not yet.

I have a naked picture of vanilla ice.

 

[Island Son]

but maybe it's not death they're trying to get rid of, it's dependency. Aren't we all supposed to be independent, interchangeable workers with impermanent relationships, shipped off to wherever the megacorp needs? Win the lottery, imagine the freedom.... while the worst thing is to put down roots you might not want to leave. Sharing a place, that's only 1 tv, 1 heating bill, 1 vacuum cleaner etc, instead of 3. Buy more even though you'll use it less. The worst is to end up in a nursing home (universally mocked), even though it seems like the logical progression from what the media/advertising is pushing now.

Keep the bar higher than the average person can reach, is the only way to stop us from being content with what we can do. Not 'empower yourself', it's 'you're not good enough'. Burn out, take more drugs, alcohol to escape your perfectly good yet not good enough life, compared to 'what you could be doing with/to the beautiful people'. I don't blame psychologists, they're probably the only intimacy their patients have, but as human nature some will take advantage and prolong the "treatment" instead of saying 'STFU and stop whining, pussy!'

so if youth=impermanent, disposable,new fads & age=value,reliability,unchanging then it makes more sense from advertising standpoint. Else where's the market for the Pentium4?

long rambling and ranting, it's late.....

 

[Rex]

I'm not afriad to die. I made my peace a while ago that one day I will die, and life will go on for those around me.

I'll die when its my time. Whether it be right now typing this....on a battle field someday, or when I'm an old man sitting in a lawn chair eating an orange rethinking my life.

I want to accomplish 4 things in this life:
- Go to Disney world
- Get laid
- Become a Marine
- Rear a family

So far I've got the first 2 checked off. The 3rd will happen relatively soon. The 4th in due time.

If I don't accomplish the final 2 for one reason or another, then I guess it wasn't meant to be.

When I die I ask to be remembered for what I was. Nothing more. Nothing less. Or else just not remember me at all for I'd rather be remembered for what I was rather than something I was not. Doesn't matter how it makes me look. If its false, then I don't want it associated with my name.

 

[saint808]

sometimes i embrace it with open arms...

 

[Warik]

*Klingon Voice*: "THE ONLY DEATH TO FEAR... IS ONE WITHOUT HONOR!"

 

[toga22]

Death does not scare me and to be very truthful, is not something I think about very often. It is something that I can not control, and will happen eventually, so I do not fear it. I try and live each day the best that I can......and so far am proud of the accomplishments that I have made in life. I do not have any regrets, and I feel that my family and friends know how special their relationships are to me, truly giving value and importance to my life. Legally, everything is in place in case the event would take place today. So, I find comfort in knowing that the expenses and affairs in my life will not be a burden to others. Of course, I would hope that my family would continue to be well supported and continue to live a lifetime of happiness.

~toga

 

[HansNZ]

another answer...please explain: I am not scared of death intellectually, but I am scared of it emotionally.

Even though I have no problem with it mentally/philosophically, I would be terrorfied in a situation where I might lose my life. The old survival instinct bites again!

 

[bigpopfd2]

I use to fear death, until GOD decieved me...for three years I didn't care about anyone or anything..in fact I looked foward to dying...now I am starting to belive in GOd again but I still do not fear death...

 

[Island Son]

cryonics and cloning... would any of you sign up for one of these?

 

[OMEGA]

but maybe it's not death they're trying to get rid of, it's dependency. Aren't we all supposed to be independent, interchangeable workers with impermanent relationships, shipped off to wherever the megacorp needs? Win the lottery, imagine the freedom.... while the worst thing is to put down roots you might not want to leave. Sharing a place, that's only 1 tv, 1 heating bill, 1 vacuum cleaner etc, instead of 3. Buy more even though you'll use it less. The worst is to end up in a nursing home (universally mocked), even though it seems like the logical progression from what the media/advertising is pushing now.

Keep the bar higher than the average person can reach, is the only way to stop us from being content with what we can do. Not 'empower yourself', it's 'you're not good enough'. Burn out, take more drugs, alcohol to escape your perfectly good yet not good enough life, compared to 'what you could be doing with/to the beautiful people'. I don't blame psychologists, they're probably the only intimacy their patients have, but as human nature some will take advantage and prolong the "treatment" instead of saying 'STFU and stop whining, pussy!'

so if youth=impermanent, disposable,new fads & age=value,reliability,unchanging then it makes more sense from advertising standpoint. Else where's the market for the Pentium4?

long rambling and ranting, it's late.....

lots of good ideas dude,

I can tell you are like meshing multiple topics that you have been thinking about concerning the contradictions of the perpetuation of personal "independance" tranposed over market "dependance"

in essence you are saying we are being conditioned to need goods from the market to augment our life rather than needing each other........

right?

the lack of accumulation of material possession equals no worth in this new society.

personal asscosiations and behavior included with those associations are becoming at least on a perceptual level worthless....

 

[musclebrains]

I friggin hate what the religion of psychology has done to our society. Psychology is tied with the media on my shit list.

Funny thing though...I enjoy the thoughts of mb who is immersed in both of those worlds.

Ahem. Sorry you've taken a hit from the economy lately, Testboy. Many of us have.

I think it's important to differentiate, as Omega did, between pop psychology/therapy and theoretical psychology. Although I see clients -- and only the type who interest me -- my main interest is theory and criticism. Psychology has become, like everything else in the culture, a consumer item -- something that has to be tangibly productive -- and we don't do much theorizing about how to make meaning out of life with an individual's given lot. (The concern of the latter is partly what differentiates psy from philosophy.)

In the absence of theorizing, psychotherapy becomes another common-denominator consumer item, like Wonder Bread. And like most things that operate at that level, it doesn't much feed the soul. Much of my writing and speaking, at the theoretical level, advocates the aboliton of psychotherapy, which has become so regulated by education and the state that it is nothing but a normalizing technique now. It needs, in my view, to be discarded like phrenology and replaced.

As for fear of death: Freud noted, correctly I think, that we are ruled by two great drives -- the death instinct and eros. A part of us, he observed, yearns for death, since it is the goal of all life, after all. ("Goal" was his word, but it would be sufficient to say that it is the telos of life.) The death drive, like the erotic drive, gets enacted in nonliteral ways -- mainly through the repetition compulsion, the effort to make everything stay the same. That is what's behind most neurotic behavior. In short, the psyche seems to at once desire death, as deliverance, but can't cope with the pain it suggests.

The confrontation with one's mortality, mainly by working paradoxically to disclose to the self what is beyond the self (the "unconscious"), is essential to living fully and realizing the value of love, eros.

 

[brainiac]

I don't fear death-but I don't have kids or a family and such so that may have something to do with it. Being an athiest/ agnostic, I have the highest regard for human life. This is all we get people, make it a good one.

 

[the nature boy]

I'm not afraid of it. Like toga I don't think or dwell on it. Even when i had bad depression I really didn't think of suicide. I'd say the anticipation of death is worse than death itself.

 

[Island Son]

thanks for clarifying Omega
i did consider suicide when i was younger but now the more i see of life the more i want to know. I'm not afraid of dying, only of dying without knowing

 

[OMEGA]

I'd say the anticipation of death is worse than death itself.

yep

 

[OMEGA]

thanks for clarifying Omega
i did consider suicide when i was younger but now the more i see of life the more i want to know. I'm not afraid of dying, only of dying without knowing

your welcome


thoghts of suicide occupy the minds of suprisingly many people.

I do not think for the majority it is anything that is necessarily a flaw in them chemically , but rather a self destruct mechanism that suggests that there is something out side the body.........like our increasingly superficial and selfish society of the worldS modern economies.......

when I talk to most people they sense that there is something desperatly wrong , something that is just underneath the surface almost audible, almost speakable, yet few are able to recognoze it for what it is...........

 

[daised]

i do not fear death of myself, only of others dying.

 

[OMEGA]

i do not fear death of myself, only of others dying.

me too.