You know, all that thought you did before [hopefully] finally crashing would probably shape who you're gonna be for the rest of your life. Your brain's natural compulsion to lock all that "important" stuff away is gonna end up being your doing.
Death isn't what scares people, it's the cessation of life. The thought of never being able to experience anything for eternity strikes up feelings of terror in most people. I'm unsure if its a matter of self-preservational fear to keep us from carelessly dying, or something deeper only present in advanced sentient life, but I still feel that terror when I think about death despite knowing that death itself is nothing to fear. Odd bit of cognitive dissonance.
I agree with you. To start, it's a common trait among all sentient beings to avoid death. If we think about fear itself, it's an emotion - a mechanic that can be used to sway us toward or from something. I applaud the idea that most have an instinctual fear of death present as a mechanic for self preservation. This, coupled with the common desire for love, companionship, and a family, helps to promote the continuation of our species. In short, some believe that the fear of death, much like the drive for sex, is an evolutionary/instinctual mechanic that promotes the continuation of our species. Personally, I find it hard to rationalize my fear of death but I feel that I can best attribute it to a fear I had when I was a kid. As a child I often found the act of falling asleep to be scary. The reason I found this to be scary is because, when I slept, I was not conscious. I would wake up with no recollection of what happened when I slept (aside from the dream, possibly), and I had a basic, child's understanding that I did not hold my senses while I slept. In a sense, it felt like I was nonexistent during that time and it frightened me. Being older, of course, I have since outgrown this fear but the basis of it is still there. I fear nonexistence. I fear the time in which I would cease to exist and would never exist again. I fear never being able to hear, see, feel, think - exist - again.
Is it not some consolation knowing that although *you* will not experience consciousness/life again, it will however continue to be experienced by the universe which you are a part of?
insiderunner It is and it isn't. I believe everyone is at least a bit selfish in a sense. We have to force ourselves to see the world from other perspectives, and so if I sit and think philosophically I can hold onto enough appreciation for the world without me to make the thought of it less morbid. I'd like to think most people feel that way to a degree, at least those who aren't entirely narcissistic.
There are some who say that its very likely in cases of inevitable death (in cases like a bear charging you and you know you dont have bear mace or a gun etc) that your brain releases tons of hallucinogenics and you really don't know what plane your on much less that your going to die. I hope this is true.
The counterargument to the FOMO argument (that you missed out on the past and didn't care) doesn't quite work because you do get to experience the past... by being aware of it -- something that can't be said for the future. Additionally, the future holds the answer to where we (as a species) are ultimately heading. That is definitely something we will miss out on.
Do we really ??? I mean have knowledge of the past. How much of it is hearsay and myth and propaganda ?? How much of it is unintentional bias and mistaken observation. Similarly how much of the general prediction of the future is the same. Sure we know a few concrete facts but not everything. My arguments doesn't completely invalidate urs but well it does shake it a bit. Besides knowledge is way different than experience. Just read about skydiving and actually go skydiving to see the difference .
if death is a permanent state, it must be permanent for all time(p,p,f) which would mean that what we call life is just a movement of permanence but the fear which death or the idea of dying gives suggests a separation between life and death but that very separation is time. So, what we call death is the death of fear because time brings with it its own end. So, you are not death but fear which is time.
“I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.” -Mark Twain
What's "it's" refer to in your sentence? If by 'it' you mean inevitability, what do you make of the following reasoning? I will inevitably die. Therefore it is impractical to let the fear of death motivate me, as that would be a practical affect of the fear of death. It is impractical to let the fear of death motivate toward making decisions designed to improve of extend my life and the lives of those that will live after me. If fear of death had any were practical affect, then it should motivate at least some of us to fear dying before I have achieved at least some of these other-directed goals. But it isn't practical, because when I die does not matter. Tragedy is to be feared, but no death is a tragedy whenever it comes, so we should not fear death.
Yz Fool The word isn't about 'never fear to die, or don't care to extend it'. It is about the fear, that some people overestimate and freak out when they even think of it.
"Therefore, either way, death is nothing to fear" - my problem isn't that.. it's more like being afraid of not being able to "wake up", feel nothing or interact with the outside world as if I never existed in the first place
then starting to doubt whether your present existance matters... you fear because you care about the world. this loops but can totally freak you out. if you consider how much does the world really worth to you, maybe this will change(could go worse too) that's definitely something to try to solve your existential crisis. or if you manage to convince yourself of having had enough fun (or produced enough value). No fearing death?
Here's a interesting story that explains death in the first person. May 17, 2015 I died of a massive heart attack. For me it was a dreamless sleep. No pain even though I was electricuted 5 different times I never felt anything. 8 days later in a CCU the doctors told my kids that it was over they could do no more. Now (granted my son told me all this stuff after.) My kids were to return in the morning at 8 am and say good bye. The staff would then stop the machines keeping me alive. That night or morning I don't know, but I woke up, I felt the tube in my mouth and began to chew on it, my chewing set off the alarm and the nurse came in to the dark room turned on the light and saw me looking at him. It sounded to me far away but he yelled He's alive. From that point forward I felt everything that had been done to me. Coming back is the same as being born, nothing works, I had to relearn my life, walk, talk, just like a baby, it's been 5 years and I feel great, 1 big stent in the front of my heart fixed me. You know I can sometimes feel it. 😏
Me to, i really want to be a wise badass old grandpa, but unfortunately this also means loosing my physical abilities, my greatest fear is genuinely just not being able
So according to your logic, getting a broken bone is worse then death. If you break a bone, pain is imminent, if you die, you either die painfully or abruptly.
but these are just physical pain,,,,,, mental pain is worse, the death of children, parents ,family around you,, living so long everyone around you is dead... being painfully alive is worse the death. even a painful death
Exactly. I wouldn't fear death at all if I could just close my eyes and be dead in a click. It's the thought of being tortured by disease or intense physical pain that scares me.
I don't fear death. What i fear the most is inability to control my life, which also includes a possibility of ending it. Thought of having a complete paralysis is what i fear the most.
+Nahuel Deltrozzo John has arguably thought the most about death of anybody in the office. I can't say that definitely though because i don't know anyone else
I'm not trying to be apathetic so sorry if this is insensitive, but if we were dead and lost our sense of emotion, wouldn't we be unable to feel empathy for the sadness of our loved ones or be able to sense thier sadness?
Non-existence doesn't necessarily scare me - it just makes me extremely sad. Here I am, a person, with thoughts, feelings, dreams, fears, quirks, favorite colours, favorite dishes, memories of childhood friends and school trips to the ocean etc...and all of that will one day be completely destroyed at my death. Everything that I've cultivated in myself will be gone forever. I'm just so sad for this person - born, loved, lived and lost. And it's the same for everyone. People live through trials and tribulations that form their character, endow them with wisdom, and make them better people...only to be utterly destroyed. Why does it have to be that way?
Biggest concert in history in the late 60's i believe There were so much people and drugs that 9 months after it was over the birth rate in the usa significantly increased lol
I don't think we are supposed to know what happens at death. But I know that anticipation is the worst part of anything we perceive as scary, so fearing death is probably way worse than death itself
How can you be aware of your own nonexistence. This may be debatable but to exist is to be have a sense of awareness (of your existence). If you're dead, you lack all senses which means it's impossible to be aware of your own nonexistence. Kind of a paradox but yeah.
@@flora6360 i know its dumb. Thats why its an irrational fear. I've recently just kinda transitioned from that fear into a general fear of death after some personal development so I guess thats cool.
It is at this episode, where I felt truly peaceful. This change in perspective of death has opened my eyes to how temporary everything is. With this new found knowledge, I feel happier now. I no longer worry about the future or the past. I'm just happy to live and experience it all.
We are all version of each other, variations of the same theme - Being Human, Being Alive.. When each of us dies, "living" goes on - in others. We all, after all get to say "I am". And though our memories are different, they are similar. The joys and sorrows recur - joys of discovery, love of a parent, falling in love, loss, reflection, fear of death, admiration of the beauty of it all. We all together live for all those who are no more, for all those who are yet to be. All of us, together serve as "a way for the cosmos to know itself". So we should live the best lives we can, with each other and those who will come after us in mind. Take it easy.
Adriano Me while the genes may be selfish, they are not conscious. So the selfishness is an allegory. Though they are struggling for survival without being aware of it, in the process they created a species to house them and in turn gave rise to cooperation, to love, to the sense of beauty and compassion. Those of us who are not that way are to a large extent outliers, just very visible ones.
In stark contrast, I am afraid of the fact that an afterlife might in some capacity, exist. I am afraid of infinity, as such I find solace in the thought of complete cessation of self entering a dreamless sleep.
I feel like these ideas are rationalizations that help us accept what seems inexorable, but they are not fundamental, any more than death is. I submit that nobody wants to die, and we'll figure out before too much longer how to prevent it. Mortality has the same level of inevitability as our former inability to fly. It's just something that takes time to figure out.
+OzixiThrill I think you are on the right track here. It is important to make that distinction. We may find ways of rejuvenating the body or slowing / preventing / reversing aging. And we know this is essentially possible because there are living things that do not appear to age. But I don't think that everlasting immortality is going to be attainable. Also, there are big population and sustainability problems if a large portion of humanity is living super long
Zhuangzi's idea is exactly what I was afraid of thinking. I always felt bad because I didn't really find dying a bad thing. I wanted to be happy for them, but I felt like people wanted me sad. I'm happy I got to see this, because that's a perspective I didn't know existed. This something to look into. I'ma pay attention to his name to see if I see it again.
13 years ago my father passed away, I didn't cry because he died but because he's moved on to another new journey, however, it's without me. I didn't feel left behind I just miss seeing him, hearing him and hugging him. The very things I enjoyed while he was alive, I never took anything for granted but before he passed I never thought I'd those little things about him.......about life with him. I don't fear death because whatever happens after I die the worst that can happen to me is not seeing him again and not be able to tell him my life story.
I believe that death brings about true peace. Peace is often defined as the minimization of suffering. Following that definition, is death not the harbinger of ultimate peace? You are truly absolved of all suffering. The burden of living is lifted from you. You no longer need to push the rock up the hill and watch it fall in a perpetual cycle for there is no you to move the rock. Once I adopted this perspective, I accepted death for what it truly is. The ultimate absolution from suffering. The true bringer of peace.
Death IS the end of all suffering but you can experience this end of all suffering while still in this world! Seek Enlightenment! Union with the Supreme and you will NEVER suffer again!
Death is literally my greatest fear in life. And yes, I did use literally semi-ironically. My number one goal in life is to become immortal. After all, when I'm immortal, I'll have lots of time to do other things.
I have never understood why people want to be immoral? Why is one life not good enough for you? It's your own fault if you waste it. I think death, in any form, is peaceful because we just stop being. (I believe that) there is nothing after life so why should we be afraid?
"When it's time for the people you love to move on, the worst thing you could do is hold them closer" I think I heard Hank tearing up a bit at that, and I don't blame him at all.
If I lived the exact same way that I did yesterday, thought the same thoughts and did each action exactly like yesterday, what proof is there that I am a new me compared to tge one yesterday? What proof is there that I have grown?
@@flora6360 proof then is that only your physical body is growing older. but is that what you value? staying alive just for staying (physically) alive? If that's what you want to do, then people will advise you that yolo :P
Socrates' reasoning leaves much to be desired. If this short life we have is the only time that we have a body, we should focus exclusively on things that require a body. We'd then have all eternity to cultivate our minds.
I think what he meant is that if you spend your life learning to cherish and train your mind you won't miss your body (you never cared about it, why should you the moment you have none left?). But if you spend your life only enjoying physical activities not only will you come unprepared in the after life but you'll have spend all your time cherishing something you knew you would lose, thus making the loss unpleasant. It's not a question of "efficiency" it's a question of feelings. The question as not much importance though as an afterlife make little sense ^^
Well, in a way, but I would say it's more a question of priorities. You know what you are missing, you just don't care about it whereas you wouldn't spend your whole life enjoying your body if you didn't care.
Yoann Gouon I'd argue that many people at the end of their lives are already ready to let go if they feel they've lived a full and good life. So I can imagine having had a life of bodily joys puts you in a much better place than someone who will have to spend eternity listening to other people how great it's been. But then again, the premises here are junk so it's not really worth thinking too much about it. It's only that if the video didn't dumb Socrates' argument down a lot, I now have a bit less respect for the man who supposedly was really sharp.
An interesting thing to point out is that you die constantly, technically speaking. The physical matter that makes up your body breaks down and is completely replaced very quickly. Granted it might be the same _type_ of matter, but not that _exact_ matter. Although your body is efficient at recycling matter, it's an immutable law of nature that no system is 100% efficient. Likewise, your consciousness is just information and signals between your neurons, so as your mental state changes significantly, you as an abstract being die too. The ideas that make you _you_ change all the time, and if they don't then that's when you have the most problems. You now and you 10 years from now will be, for all practical purposes, completely different people. That's just entropy; all systems break down over time. The illusion of "living" comes from us being able to repair ourselves faster than we break down, both from a physical and mental perspective. Evolution, then, is really just the process of systems becoming better at repairing themselves through trial and error.
5:35 But I do feel a sense of loss at what I missed before I was even alive. Also, it's important to distinguish between the fear of dying, and the fear of being dead. The former is a lot harder to get rid of.
One of the reasons we don't worry about events we missed is because we can see the effects and consequences of them. Civil rights, abolishment of enslavement, the inventions of cures, we can see those now. We fear missing the future after we die because we won't be able to see the consequences.
There was a few mistakes in this video. Epicurus was definitely not a stoic philosopher. Stoics were "against" epicuranism. Also some greek phrases were a bit off in the English translation. From Hellas (Greece) with love. Keep up with the good work!
And that isn't the only mistake.. I'm a dutch philosophy student, and Epicurus has nothing to do with yolo or hedonism how it is generally explained. His Epicureanisme was about modesty. The hangover explanation is therefore also wrong. Epicurus condemned even drinking a lot because of the hangover; the pain from the hangover is more than the pleasure of the alcohol consumption. He even said gif me a pot of cheese so I could choose when I could feast... but the doesn't fear death part was right
Yeah, sorry, but the annihilation of all my memories, thoughts, and emotions; the loss of all my family and friends for all of eternity; and the eventual death of all humans and the decay of every single human idea, story, or piece of art *scares me*. And it should. All people fear the death of their loved ones, at the very least. Even religious people cry when their family members die, even though they probably wouldn't cry if they'd simply moved away somewhere very nice. Every human on some level understands that death is a terrible final ending. Fearing death is like fearing a giant monster with claws and sharp teeth. It actually makes a good deal of sense, because death is basically the worst possible outcome. You say it's a tragedy when someone dies at 20, because they missed out on so much life. But if we could live for 200 years, dying at 80 would seem a terrible loss. It's only because we _have_ to die so soon (currently) that we rationalize and pretend like it's okay; it's too hard to look at it straight in the face. And if some species never had to die at all, the existence of death itself would seem a deeply terrible tragedy, and that's exactly what it is. We only pretend otherwise because it's inevitable.
It's true, but it's selfish, not just for yourself, but for all of our species, it's very sad that we acctually plan as a species to stay around all we can, We are a cute little, whimpy accident in a wet infinitesimal rock that we'll probably never leave, so you should probably trash all your desires of transcendence and wait and greet the inevitable (Sorry if i misspelled anything, i'm mexican)
+John Doe I think that all humans actually have an innate fear of the Unknown, which death classifies as. Once you accept that you won't ever actually experience death, as touched upon in the video, you realise that there is no unknown to fear it's just the cessation of existence
The Gerasimos Spanodimitris argument: "Why do we fear death?" "Because what happens next is unknown." "Nonsense. Then I should be afraid of Gerasimos Spanodimitris." "Who is he?" "I have no idea." (Arkas) Just some modern greek philosophy, along with dark bitter humor.
What if, when we die, we just continue living as if we never died without realizing that we have already died? In other words, we could be dying every second but we just don't remember it.
Most people don't dread the fact they didn't exist in the past because they already exist in the present. If you are alive in the present, being "dead" in the past doesn't matter because the past no longer effects you. We care more about the future than the past because the future will eventually become the present and the present has the most impact on us. Not existing in the future will permanently interrupt everything in your life. Also, it's not mentioned in the 'fomo' argument that we loose contact with everyone we care about. If it makes sense to dread loosing one person in your life, surely it's bad to loose all the people in your life by being forcefully separated from them by death. The video is still very interesting.
Since this is a video about death and guy fieri is famous for his signature line " a trip to Flavortown ". Guy fieri slathers on BBQ sauce on the bullet and gun he intends to kill himself with. As he puts the loaded gun into his mouth , he utters his final words " One last trip to Flavortown "
This video is a very nice piece philosophy. Everybody instinctively fear his death of their beloved ones. However I still think somebody dying at the age of 20 is a tragedy, and sometimes not only because he/she missed 60 potential years. Avoidable deaths, caused by medical negligences or some car accidents, are more than tragedies. They are homicides, and in this case I don't share the time definition made by the end of the video ("When it's time for people you love to move on, the last thing you should do is to hold them closer"). I think we would find some comfort reporting them, fighting for a fairer world.
The one thing about missing out things in the future is not knowing things that are going to happen in the future. Meanwhile most people went throught history class and still remember a good amount of it. So yeah death sucks.
Dying made the world better in the first place, so think of death like a quantifier of life. In contrary immortality is probably the worst innovation man ever created. But it's one of the earliest ones too, so...
I think you hit the nail on the head there. Thinking about it, if right before death someone came to me and told me everything that was going to happen - "your great-great granddaughter becomes a famous artist", "humans achieve faster-than-light travel in this year", "poverty is eliminated in this year", "first-contact with alien life occurs in this year. This is what they are like and they are from this star system" - I think I would take it much better.
If it makes you feel any better, think that when you are religious (at least christians and muslims) you should consider there is a chance you will be tortured for ever. And not juste a chance, a statistically overwhelming chance considering the number of religions punishing unbelievers to an enternity of suffering (And that's not even talking about how you must behave to access paradise). Whereas we atheists think we will pretty much be the way we were for trillions of years before we were born so... Aren't we the lucky ones?
Alan You still have to fear that you backed the wrong horse though. And you almost certainly are. Meaning that if you believe there is a hell and that unbelievers go to it, you likely are one yourself.
Yoann Gouon I'm not sure I follow. If I believe in Christianity, I reject all other religions. Therefore, I don't believe that I am going to hell. If I feared that I chose wrong, then I won't necessarily believe that there is a hell, because my belief in hell comes from my belief in Christianity. IF hell is an objective physical reality that exists independent of what our beliefs are, how are you, the atheists, the lucky ones and those who follow religion the unlucky ones?
Alan We are the lucky ones not because we are not going to hell but because we are not plagued by the fear of its possibility. If you are religious on principle (that is if you believe something can be without needing proof of its existence) but rational you should at least think there is a 50/50 chance of going to hell for not following the Quran if you are a Christian... And then realize that through history hundreds of religions preached hell for believers of other faiths, making your chance of being born in the right one very slim. Other religions, if true, won't care if you don't believe in them because you where convinced you got the one, making it the same as if you where de facto an atheist of all religion but yours. That's what I meant, hope it clarifies.
I've never been scared of death -- which is remarkable, because I'm scared of literally everything else, from heights to horses. This video helped me come to a better understanding of why that is.
"Mourning can actually seem selfish. When it’s time for the people you love to move on, Zhuangzi said, the last thing you should do is hold them closer." ~Crash Course Philosophy #17
the non existent after life thing scares me, not because I will stop existing but because I will never ever get to talk to or see my loved ones again once they die. I just can't get over that.
I work at a hospitap and when a patient dies, one of my coworkers calls it a "graduation". I thought it was just a way to keep death 'light' but I guess it's more truth than joke.
I don't know why I get these sudden short bursts of anxiety about this...trying to define this fear whether it's my own or someone else's...overall, I just hate seeing death and I would never wish that upon anyone or anything... Tbh...I don't even know why I'm here...damn these midnight thoughts.
I had Death anxiety for years my friend. Heart beating out of my chest, arms clenching into crab-claws, face numb and tingly. Very scary. I got over it. You can too. All you have to do, is do it.
I used to be troubled by this. I realised later that life doesn't have to make sense in our limited imagination. Its just a short ocasion for us to "feel" the world and return to nothingness. If the thought of being noghing for the rest of the world, imagine living 1 milion years. Imagine living one hundred billion years. Imagine living this one billion times again and again. And that would be just a grain of sand compared to the infinity. I would better go to sleep forever then being alive forever without any purpose and without a way. So i get back to life and take advantage of this small window, will try to be better and leave a good impresion behind
The funny thing is, I do feel a sort of loss for important parts of human history, so it does indeed reinforce my thanatophobia. I'm at least comforted in the sense that fear of loss seems to be a natural side of appreciation of something's value.
Nice to have some non-Western philosophy included, and it made me realise that this is Philosophy and not Western Philosophy Crash Course. Hopefully there will be more perspectives like that in upcoming episodes.
I am pleasantly surprised at how pleasant this video is! I nearly had a mental breakdown with the last video on Existentialism, and this one on death is much more relaxing by comparison
Ever since I was 5 I've had panic attacks about dying. Pretty heavy stuff for a kid, I know. It's not like a had a bad childhood or anything it's just that I love existing and thinking so much and, aside from sleep, I don't ever want to stop. Surely the conscious mind is too important and spectacular to ever cease? It's a question I can't answer, so for now I keep the panic attacks away with mans best friend, medication.
I'm sorry, but am I the only one who feels like death is actually bad? Like, if death didn't exist and someone told you: "I have this great idea! I want everyone to slowly degrade over time and then after a while seize to exist!" you'd think his idea was the most horrible thing you'd ever heard. People only seem to find good things in it because it's always been there and it's forced upon you. All the arguments you hear about what makes death good, like "It makes you appreciate life more" and "It gives life meaning" just sound like rationalisations to me. If everyone were forced to be kicked in the face once a month then many people would make similar arguments for its benefits, but you'd be hard pressed to find someone who wants to participate if given the choice. I honestly believe that death can be defeated eventually, by the power of science and humanity, and I wouldn't for a second defend death in any way.
"If everyone were forced to be kicked in the face once a month then many people would make similar arguments for its benefits" "Periods tell you you're not pregnant"
Aging/death is a genetic disease that everyone has, and someday we will find a cure for it. Unfortunately, it probably won't be during this generation :-/ But if you have your body buried in a very cold region (where it will stay frozen naturally), you'll be very well preserved, in case people ever figure out a way to revive you! When you wake up, tell them about the commenter on youtube who gave you this awesome idea.
Death absolutely terrifies me, I have anxiety attacks about it before bed time. A million people say they have an answer, consider life on alien planets and you realize there are literally trillions of viewpoints on death therefore the only answer is "I don't know." Even anesthesia is scary as hell for me but screw epicurious because I say this fear actually makes me appreciate the wonderful miracle of observation I currently have considering the impossible mathematics required to take place for me to be able to be here. From the right amount of matter to anti matter at the big bang all the way to enough water on earth to the perfect spermies coming along to make me exist. Never pull the plug on me, I want every possible second before it's gone - even the painful bits.
When I believed in some kind of God, I feared death, but as an atheist, death does not bother me at all really, it can actually make me happy sometimes.
My thoughts exactly! As a Mormon I was suicidal because I thought that death was the only way to find out if the church was true or not. Now that I've found atheism i would never dream of taking my own life!! my appreciation for all living things has skyrocketed since I fully embraced atheism. It's a wonderful thing once you internalize the fact that you are the universe experiencing itself for a short time before you get recycled back into the atoms that make up the cosmos.
wow u guys are brainwashed idiots u dnt have to believe in god the exact way someone tells u as long as u believe he died for your sins and that he's watching over you keeping you safe that's all u need u can have your relationship with god or watever u believe in
+WxKENTAExT being an atheist is the opposite of being brain washed you moron. Atheism allows you to live this life instead of waiting for the "perfect afterlife"
what I felt, the freedom of thought really is so pure and amazing. Realizing there is nothing to worry about made me feel I light as a feather and unshackled from all the burdens in life. what an unholy experience xd.
I don't fear the process of dying, rather I fear not being able to experience life. Even when confined, you can still think and sense things around you or even things that are not there. To think of a state when I cannot think, where I'm not even aware of my existence, a state in which all of my acumulated experiences and thoughts are rendered null; now that is truly terrifying. The rest doesn't really affect me.
I would rather live forever with the pain of having to witness an endless life than having my awareness snuffed. I find joy in simply existing. No matter how miserable my life has been or will be, I was always glad to be there to experience it and I will try to always be.
I's call that a paradox, don't bother imagining not existing because when you stop existing, you won't suffer lack of sensation because you don't exist. No sense of time, not even dreamless sleep, it's impossible to imagine it correctly.
TheLivingGlitch I'm aware it's a paradox, but the nature of it being paradoxical makes it even more so terrifying. Since there is no good way to comprehend death because of it's paradoxical nature, how can you say that there is no sense of time? Or that there would be or not any sense of anything at all? The closest thing we have compared to eternity is the present moment, since it cannot be quantifyed, it happens all the time throughout our whole lives and it has no begining or end. Therefore, since your death is eternal, how can anything be perceived inside eternity? Including non-existence. Who's to say that death isn't just an endless stream of endless sensations and thoughts that you cannot comprehend or be aware of (since you cannot comprehend the things you experience in the same moment you experience them)? Since there is no good way to comprehend death, except for a drastic change in consciousness and awareness from the way they are right now, there is no way for me to feel good about that. I like experiencing life the way I do now. I want to experience the things it has to offer indefinitely, and whatever death is, it would change that. And I don't want that.
Sabin `ul That's were definitions comes to play, if you live forever you could say your immortal, and if your immortal or eternal you can't die, therefore, you cannot die if you are eternal. Furthermore, death is not eternal and there has to be an afterlife. I switched it all around simply by defining death as the discontinuing of bodily function and therefore sense. It all comes down ultimately by what you define specifically as death. We haven't even discussed souls yet...
I don't know, I've mourned at times, watching my niece and nephew grow up. Not a full "someone just died" mourning, but deep sadness nonetheless. It's sad to realize they will never be that age or the way they were again, while simultaneously exciting and joyous to see who they are becoming. I know a lot of parents truly mourn, with "Empty Nest Syndrome". So, I’m not feeling ya, Zhuagnzi.
