Are you afraid of death?

I will do everything in my power to avoid it for as long as I can.

 

I expressed my feelings on the other thread, but anyway, let me go a little deeper: I do have an extreme fear of death, of nothingness in particular. As much as I like to make myself come to terms with it, it sounds impossible. The thing is, even the idea of not fearing it makes me cringe a little, but don't get me wrong, I still live life not worrying if I am going to die, however, every time I stop and think about it this strange feeling goes through my spine...

 

I'm a person that's full of guilt, so I'm not afraid of death but rather the consequences of my death. I know that there is no paradise, or purgatory for me, only oblivion (I'd prefer it that way), yet the thought of leaving my sister and mother behind to grieve is wrong. I'm guessing that's the only thing that stops me from taking my own life from time to time.

 

I seriously need to change my name on here... :eusa_doh:

 

I'm sometimes scared but I just don't think about it

 

I wouldn't say I'm afraid of death. I would say, however, that I am curious as to what actually happens when we die. Does everything just get dark? Do we get reborn? What happens?

 

I'm not so much afraid of me dying as of others losing me. I could die happy, for the most part, if everyone I knew were gone first.

 

When I stop and think about it I do wonder what happens when you die but I don't know if I am afraid of death, I think I am more curious... It is something that fascinates me and makes me confused at the same time.

 

More than death, I fear not getting the most out of life. I fear reaching death and realizing I had not lived.

I am presently learning about stoic philosophy, and their practice of daily contemplating their own mortality. The consequence? Contrary to what most would take as a morbid predisposition, the realization that each and every day (or night) could be your last has the paradoxical effect of increasing the value of every breath and motivates the desire to seek joy (over mere pleasure).

For those who brush death aside, who absurdly think they will live forever, there is a tendency to waste one's days...if you think about it, this is a form of suicide...The one who knows his days are numbered values each day to the fullest, and seeks to maximize the experience of life. The stoics also realized that the goals of fame and fortune are the royal road to a mis-lived life, these are not the true things of value in a life.

When one has a coherent philosophy of life, one tends to be more accepting of death. Someone with a coherent philosophy of life will know what in life is worth attaining and by knowing what is worthwhile, such as doing one's social duty for one's fellow man, he will probably have attained it, or come near to it as befits his ability to do so. Consequently, when it comes for him to die, he will not feel cheated.

This is the greatest fear that people feel in their old age, it's not the infirmity, or the pain, their greatest fear is the realization that they may have mis-lived.

One final point about the stoics. In their zeal to do their social duty, they often annoyed the powerful and were often put to death or exiled. To many of us in our time, this seems absurd. Why rock the boat when you could get in serious trouble? To many, there is the idea that nothing is worth dying for and that no principled stand should get in the way of our pleasures...The stoics rejected this, and would respond by asking whether a life in which nothing is worth dying for can possibly be worth living.

 

I fear dying...but not death. I hope that when I reach the end of my life ( in many years!) I will die easily and peacefully. Once I'm dead nothing will matter to me because, obviously, I won't exist anymore.

 

When I was younger I felt that I had all the time in the world. Starting in my mid 40s, I begun to notice that the clock is no longer in my favor.

Nearly 5 years ago I asked myself the question would I regret not acting on my gay side on my death bed. This was a very powerful clarifying question that has led me on the journey to EC.

Once in my 50s, I began to worry that I've been so busy earning a degree from a prestigious university, building a prestigious resume, raising a family, and supporting a straight lifestyle that's not me - that I haven't truly lived. This fear of death and not having lived a life true to myself compelled me to start coming out at 51.

So my respect of death has driven this introspection and the need to accept my true self before it's too late.

 

I used to be absolutely terrified of death and eternity to the point where even seeing the word "forever" made me flip out but at some point I just kind of accepted it and it's actually a very fascinating topic to me now.