Death
How did you come to terms with the idea of nothing happening after you die?
I still have issues with the fact that one day I'm just going to shut down like a PC and that's it. I'm not expecting an afterlife, heaven, hell and all that made-up bullshit, but I still can't fully accept it.
Some suggestions, own experiences would really be helpful.
Tags: death, end, nothingness
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Matt Coulthurst on -
Think back to before you were conceived - that's what it will be like :)
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Permalink Reply by Matt Coulthurst on
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I was being flippant - I apologise.
I actually find the idea of non-existence pretty terrifying. Not the experience of being dead - because there won't be an experience - but the thought that there simply won't be a me any more. In an instant everything that I am and have done will be gone. No backsies, no returns. (Although I'll never again be the guy that gets to the teller at the bank without my effing slip filled out). That IS scary to me.
Perhaps that is why I find a humanist outlook to be so much more courageous than a theistic one. We know we're not going somewhere else. We know that there is no second chance - that if we fuck up here and now there is no sky daddy to pick us up. No magical father figure to give us a harp and a cloud (or some virgins) as a reward.
But we go on anyway. We look reality straight in the eye and say, "Give it your best shot, because I'm ready!"
And all jesting aside, the first comment is really another consolation to me. I didn't exist for 13+ billion years and I certainly have not suffered for it. Death will be no different.
Is there a particular aspect of death/non-existence that concerns you more than any other? Or is it the general nature of 'non-existence' that is giving you problems?
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Permalink Reply by Julien on -
I actually find the idea of non-existence pretty terrifying. Not the experience of being dead - because there won't be an experience - but the thought that there simply won't be a me any more. In an instant everything that I am and have done will be gone.
What you said here is exactly how I'm feeling too.
We know that there is no second chance - that if we fuck up here and now there is no sky daddy to pick us up.
Believing in a god and fucking up at the same time is even worse. You die thinking you're going to hell, not that you get a second chance or anything like that.
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Permalink Reply by IEatDinosaurMeat on -
I disagree on this point. I don't find effing up and there being a god any worse, as long as you ask for forgiveness you're fireproof *snicker*
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Permalink Reply by Julien on
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You have to really pick your moment, and really want forgiveness, otherwise it won't work. :) It won't work anyway you do it... but some forget to ask for forgiveness and desperately grab on to the little life they have left in them because they are afraid.
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Permalink Reply by Matt Peters on -
I actually find this thought VERY comforting. Before I was born, things weren't so bad for me, and they won't be after I'm gone!
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Permalink Reply by Jānis Ķimsis on -
I think about it like this - I'll worry about it when it happens. And since I will be unable to worry, no worries!
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Permalink Reply by Julien on
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Yeah, that's great... for you. But I am not like you. We are not all the same. I do worry. I am not afraid of dying, but the idea that in a moment all that I am and all that I have done will be gone scares me.
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Permalink Reply by Jānis Ķimsis on
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I understand. I've been scared of nonexistence before. I don't think it's something you can really deal with, you just have to figure out a way of keeping it of your mind.
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