Are You Afraid To Die?

[Piastre]

Man's innate fear of death is the very reason for the existence of religion...no fear of death, no need for heaven, nirvana, paradise....etc.

 

Man's mind cannot cope with the thought of ceasing to exist.

[Jack]

I agree with you Piastre, it is somewhat difficult/impossible for the mind to perceive a world without them, since then there would be no viewpoint to view the world from.

 

I also agree with what you said - religion does partially seem to be originating from man's fear of death, as a way of comfort in death.

 

However, I may fear death but I am not religious. I am however far more concerned about an immediate family member or my loved one dying than than about my own demise. I also wouldn't fear death if it was for a reason, saving someone or something precious to me.

 

I know this is not entirely rated, but a little quote I remember from somewhere...

 

"If a village asked you to climb a dangerous mountain to fetch them a rose, knowing you would die in the process, would you?"

 

"If a village asked you to climb a dangerous mountain to fetch a rose which symbolised peace, gave hope to and had a profound meaning to all members of the village, knowing you would die, would you?"

 

[Jiggy9]

Thats a great point Piastre, about man being unable to cope with ceasing to exist...

 

But..Energy lasts forever ; so says science. Yet all matter originated and consists of energy; maybe you could even argue that we are energy.

 

If we are made of energy, and energy lasts forever....do we?

[Piastre]

Interesting point Jiggy...

 

It might be important to remember that in science, while energy is CONSERVED, it is also converted from one form to another.

 

So if we're made of a "life energy" for want of a better term, then perhaps after we're dead, that life energy is converted to some other form. That is of course assuming that the total amount of matter in the universe is always constant.

 

Interesting meta-physical discussion!

[Zaknafein]

Hi, its me again!

 

I like to think that I am not afraid of death, only because I have this weird assumption that nothing could happen to me. i mean, I drive at twice the speed of the limit on a road because I KNOW I cant die. As for passing away on a bed and in my sleep, thats 70 years away...aint gunna happen anytime soon.

 

Anyho, when I actualy do think of the reality of things, that I am not invinsible, and that a second turns into a minute and a minute turns into an hour and etc. until years pass, and youth turns into old age, I do feel a little afraid (phoow, long sentence). I am a very religious (sp?) person, and I do live my life as truthfully as possible, and I try my best to help anyone I can. It is not of what comes after death that I am afraid, more about not getting to see and experience more of the world. Also, I just hate thinking about what my family would be feeling after my death.

 

As for swapping my life for another, I was reading Jurasic (*sigh* sp?) Park one time, and they were at the part when the T-rex gets loose and it was from the lawyers point of view. Well, as most of you ppl prolly know, the guy was a wuss, but he was always thinking before that he would be brave and cauragous (...this board should have a spell check..) and manly. And maybe get a few chicks while he was at it..but he was the first to loose his mind and get killed (and there were two kids with him..). Maybe some of you guys are more sure about this kinda thing than me, but we do weird things in situations like that. The human being, in most cases, is a survivor, the instinct was ingrained and evolved in us from our decendants (and im not talking about a few generations back either. look back all the way to the first few bacterial lifeforms).

 

And on the 'religion was formed to explain death' topic, I think that it may have played a part (not sure how big though). Personally, I think that it was curiosity that lead to the creation of religions. I mean, humans are incredibly curious. Why do we spend enourmous time and resources to build telescopes? (sigh, this post is getting a wee bit long, so Ill um,um forego all my most powerfull arguements on this subject, ehehhe ..hey! I did have arguements, you know, and they were powerfull, too..)

 

-Zak the Longwinded Coward

 

 

[Jiggy9]

Exactly Piastre, I did consider saying :'if energy lasts forever then do we in one form or another?'....

 

But about the constant matter, I think what is more definitive is constant energy, as Im sure youve seen anti matter and matter (such as positrons and electrons) colliding to form energy; and ofcourse vice versa.

 

Btw Zak..It's courageous

 

[g]

evolution makes us afraid to die

 

simple no comlicated ****. we might be able to fight against this natural reaction but i dont see the point

[taezee]

anyone claiming to be not afraid of death is either..stupid or crazy..or lying...or a combination of all

 

_________________

 

Javier l Rosario

 

bayshore new york

 

instructor taekwondo/hapkido

 

"whenever youre lazy enough not to train .someone, somewhere is training very hard to kick your ass"

 

[ This Message was edited by: taezee on 2002-01-14 10:17 ]

[Aikidoka]

What's to fear? The unknown? If so, I wouldn't open my eyes in the morning for fear of what I might see. Oblivion? If I simply disappear then I won't know anything about it. I don't pretend to know anything of death except that it is inevitable. It will be interesting to see what comes next (if anything).

 

 

[Slider]

 

Your a nutcase if u dont fear death..but thats my opinion

 

Hasta!!

 

Slider