Death

[Aupmanyav]

The only thing I fear about death is not fulfilling my duties towards those who are dependent on me, and not finishing my work here for myself and my loved ones.

That is true, friend. But as in the story of "three angels who smiled" by Leo Tolstoy, the world goes on. I want my 98-year old mother to precede me and my brother. We are 78 and 75. When it comes, death may not give a prior alert to us.

 

[Clara Tea]

Like you, I used to think of death as the same as the non-life before I was born.

But, we can only remember back as far as age 3 or so. We can't remember suckling. We can't remember the birth process. This doesn't mean that we we weren't alive when we were 12 months old, it merely means that our memory doesn't go that far back.

Some claim that reincarnation is possible (Edgar Cayce, for example). Cayce had been a devout Christian, then got weird visions of future and past events. Cayce really didn't want to believe this things, yet many of the things that he saw came true. Cayce didn't want to believe in extraterrestrial aliens, nor Atlantis, etc. Some people claim to remember past lives (though it is odd that they were all powerful kings....seems like a psychological issue instead....not insanity, but a trick of the mind).

Cayce's description of the location of Atlantis was around the Bahamas. Yet, ancient texts (Plini the Elder, as quoted by Plato, places Atlantis beyond the horns of Gibraltar (Hercules), on a round land mass that sunk. Such a land mass does exist (called the Azores), and it is located on the ever-spreading mid-Atlantic Ridge, just as Iceland is.

Presumably, suicide might prevent ascension to heaven. So, one must live a good life, atone for sins, and only then may one ascend to heaven.

 

[metis]

It is worth consideration, especially at my age. Some say it is better to die before you die. That way you will better appreciate life.

Yep, and there's a Buddhist teaching that we should think about our death once a day to get used to the fact that this will happen. As has been said, "Live each day as if it were your last because someday it will be". Also, that we should look forward each morning to doing something that day that we will enjoy.

 

[Vinayaka]

How come, Vinayaka? There will be no next chapter for me. I am Brahman. Changing form is my way. I am not stationary even for a Planck's moment. I will always keep changing form.

How come, Aup?

(Different views for different folks, I accept that.)

 

[Aupmanyav]

Am I not ingesting various things in the air I breath, water that I drink and food that I eat (and excreting many things). I have been doing it since I was in my mother's womb. So, the change has been going on since then. I have never been the same. Buddha said you cannot step into the same river twice.

 

[Hermit Philosopher]

Is death to be feared or accepted? My belief is that it is the same as before I was alive (born).

Dear Salty Booger

I think that’s true in that your physical self, once dead, is no more. But things are not exactly the same as before you were born, because while your physical self was alive, it interacted with worldliness and - however small in the full scale of things - had its impact on the whole.

Death, in my view, is a transition from one sort of existence back to another.

Unless one‘s interactions with worldliness have been destructive, even if one’s death is not a peaceful one, one’s transition ought to be - as in: one will be at peace with one’s life, I think.

There is nothing to fear, save the realisation that one’s impact caused suffering to the whole.

Humbly
Hermit

 

[MNoBody]

living in dread or fear of death [which is a foregone inevitability] is akin to living in fear of your next bowel movement.
IMO in any case
[thinking about it, though, if they ate ghost chilies the night before, they may have some cause to have a little dread ...ring O' fire yikes..]

 

[PearlSeeker]

Death is a mystery. Until this changes we have to accept it. We don't know what will happen to us and what of "I" will remain at all. We don't know when our earthly life will end but we can live our life right now. And what most fullfils the present moment is love. Life is more than "food and drink" (survival).

I am grateful for present life, for life of people with whom I share life, for our planet, culture... Despite all suffering... I don't want to lose this life. That's why I admit awareness of death fills me with dread but I also have big hope that death is not the end. I don't believe life just accidentally emerged here. There must be a purpose.

"Praised be You, my Lord,
through our Sister Bodily Death,
from whom no living man can escape." (St. Francis)

 

[Straw Dog]

Is death to be feared or accepted? My belief is that it is the same as before I was alive (born). The only thing I see standing in the way is the prospect of missing life and what will follow when I am gone, like everyone else going to the amusement park and leaving me at home.

Have you reached any conclusions or found some solace in the idea of death?

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Photo by Brett Sayles from Pexels

From an existential perspective, death is the end of responsibility. I don’t know what happened before I was born (not really) and I don’t know what happens after my death. There’s no ultimate closure. We just keep choosing to live forward until we can’t.