fear of death and the afterlife

[puzzfuzz]

Does anyone fear death? regardless of religion?

I have really been thinking how awful it must be for there to be nothing when we die. It is on my mind all the time lately probably i am more aware of my own mortality as I get older. I was raised a Catholic but sometimes struggle with the fact that I am supposed to live after my death i am so frightened of the fact that there may not be an afterlife.

Does anyone else have this fear it seems ot be on my mind all the time at the moment. Even when i am talking to my friends about trivial things the fear of death is always there. I just keep thinking how long i have left.

[birdie1971]

“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

[birdie1971]

Puzzfuzz - “...I am not scared of the physical pain I am more scared of there not being anything afterwards that totally freaks me out.”

It's remarkable how different we are individually isn't it? Because I believe the exact opposite of yourself. I'm acutely concerned about the physical pain I may suffer in death, but not in the least bit concerned about what happens after that!

[ELVIS68]

I have often wondered about what happens once you`ve gone, you are either laid to rest or cremated, the thought of not ever walking this planet again, your family and kids carrying on in life without you, generations carrying on with yourself just a memory
It does make you think and appreciate what time you have left

[birdie1971]

If there isn't 'life' after death then I can't see what anyone has to worry about. As the quote from Mark Twain demonstrates above, you didn't exist before you were born and you had no consciousness of your non-existence. So it stands to reason that you'll have no consciousness of your non-existence after you pass away.

If there is 'life' after death then I'm probably in trouble... it depends on which one of the many Gods is the real one I suppose. I'll hope for a forgiving one if it turns out I'm wrong.

As a none believer, I think that worrying about what happens after you die is simply a waste of time. And by the tone of your question, it's a matter that is deeply worrying you.

DON'T LET IT!

You're alive now. Of that you can be certain. What you cannot be certain of is what happens after. But right now, that's of no consequence. You're alive! You're a rare and precious thing in the Universe. Embrace it and stop worrying about what happens afterwards.

If you want to live a good and worthwhile life you don't need religion or the promise of an afterlife. Just live your life by the Golden Rule - “Never do anything to anyone that you wouldn't want to be done to yourself”.

It's not perfect. But no religion is either.


Enjoy what you've got here and now.

[jake-the-peg]

Like the quote Birdie - not heard it before - I shall shamelessly steal it

The logic appears unassailable

You go back to where you came from

[puzzfuzz]

I want there to be a god and an afterlife though that is my problem. I fear that there is not and that is what mainly scares me. Some days I believ whole heartedly in Jesus Christ and other days I really question the bible. I don't really want to bring religion into it though. It was just a deep fear that there may be absolute nothingness.

I really appreciate all your responses! x

[Marijn]

But if there really is NOTHING after death, you won't exsist to worry about it, will you?

[puzzfuzz]

No that's true but I really hope there is !!!

[Lonnie]

I don't get on here to much nowadays, (time) so I haven't read any of the replies, but to answer your question from my own point of view.

No, I don't fear death at all, its the one thing thats going to happen to us all, and I don't believe in an 'afterlife'.

The one thing about death I do fear, is the manner of going, being that i'm hyper-sensetive to pain, but death its self. No.

[keyplus90]

Of course people can not se hereafter so few believe in it and few do not. But then I have not seen tomorrow either so why do I believe in it?

Without hereafter this life does not make any sense. If people say that this life is all you get then what about a child who dies say at the age of one or even younger. Someone who created this whole Universe with so much sophistication has left this matter unplanned? Thoughts and feelings about where we come from has always been in human minds and will stay with everone forever. Does not matter how much you deny that afterlife does not exist. When time comes then everyone believes in it. They have enough time to admit that or not is a different question.

[trt]

Will get back to your interesting Q puzzfuzz when I can think of a good answer, but have been feeling the same the past few weeks.

[birdie1971]

Hi Keyplus -

You propose that without an afterlife, man has no purpose. Based on your initial assumption, you further assume that man must have a purpose.

Ergo, the afterlife must exist.


This is called a circuitous argument.

It is wrong because your initial assumption is incorrect.

[Ankou]

im a bit like waldomcfrog, i dont fear death because its just a nothingness to me. its the process of getting there that leaves me with a little discomfort, any which way you look at it, screaming down a ravine, drowning at the bottom of a canal wearing concrete boots, prolonged agony from teminal illness etc etc it aint nice.

but it happens and for each of us it will be different.

as said, you need perspective. i have just received an emai l telling me that one of my hospital projects has been halted because a child is dieing in the ward next door to the works. sometimes we fear or feel uncomfortable at the thought of death for others more than ourselves i think.

[Old_Geezer]

I think that if keyplus has a problem with their reasoning then IMO it is not with the "initial assumption", which although opinion, is at least arguable. What is the point of anything unless it is part of something more we're presently unaware of ?

But the crux is that life doesn't have to have a point, we just want to believe it does. And most of us trust it does.

We haven't establish someone created the universe, that is a statement of faith. And what of folk who die early ? Unfortunately for them and their families they have died early; what had it to do with planning ?

[birdie1971]

Just to clarify and expand my above point - I was saying that to suggest that without God, man has no purpose (or that life itself doesn't make sense) is incorrect.

Man does have a purpose – to procreate and continue the race. All of life is a struggle for survival and almost all fail. It is estimated that 99% of every species of every creature that has ever existed is now extinct. Just because man (and every other living thing) feels the need to continue the race does not imply the existence of a supreme deity.

Many variants of life exist on earth today without any purpose whatsoever other than to survive – the Ebola virus, Nematode worms, Mayflies, Lemurs, Snow Leopards, Man, etc.

Don't get me wrong; I don't want to see species become extinct. I think every animal and creature on this planet has as much right to be here as us, with the possible exception of the Ebola virus and Noel Edmonds.


But just because Man exists and has developed the mental capacity to ponder the possibility of a greater power does not mean there is a God.

In an effort to understand the world around him, man created the notion of 'God'.

[MarkRae]

The Jethro Tull song "We Used to Know" is a wonderful take on this. Basically, stop worrying about what will happen when you die because there's nothing you can do about it anyway. But, until that day, live your life to the fullest and treasure your memories because they may be all that's left at the end:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYiD6CYqMnE
http://www.lyricsfrea...to+know_20071147.html

[ayresy81]

i beleive that when your gone your gone you just go to sleep forever sorry