Death

[ChristineM]

And I the opposite.

It would be so boring if we were all the same

 

[Eddi]

In 2017 I was in a hospital bed in Accident and Emergency with pneumonia

I was face-to-face with Death

And I was not intimidated, I was not frightened

I felt ready to accept it

 

[The Hammer]

It would be so boring if we were all the same

And why pluralism needs to be embraced instead of ran from. The toleration of differing opinions, especially on a matter that has no answer. IMO

 

[Zaha Torte]

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

We should all accept what we cannot change. Or go crazy.

 

[Aupmanyav]

And why pluralism needs to be embraced instead of ran from. The toleration of differing opinions, especially on a matter that has no answer. IMO

I agree with your first sentence, but the answers are available. We ourselves disregard them and keep searching for answers that will confirm our views. We do not leave our prejudices - like the universal flood. We have that in Hinduism too. The difference is that the ark of Manu was pulled by Lord Vishnu in the form of a huge fish. That is the first avatara.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

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?

View attachment 45348
Photo by Brett Sayles from Pexels

What did you feel like before you were born? That's what it will feel like after you have died.

 

[Salty Booger]

What did you feel like before you were born? That's what it will feel like after you have died.

Before falling to sleep, I remember having a conversation in complete darkness.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

What did you feel like before you were born? That's what it will feel like after you have died.

Before falling to sleep, I remember having a conversation in complete darkness.

Please note that you did not answer my question in any sense at all.

 

[Salty Booger]

Please note that you did not answer my question in any sense at all.

Well, the falling to sleep part was very terrifying. The prior conversation in darkness was casual.

 

[Aupmanyav]

Well, the falling to sleep part was very terrifying. The prior conversation in darkness was casual.

That is not terrifying because we are alive. The fear of death, falling apart, falling down from a height (my fear) is to the living. There is none to the dead. Rejoice, all our fears last only till our death.

 

[blü 2]

Is death to be feared or accepted?

Both. To every thing there is a season.

My belief is that it is the same as before I was alive (born).

This idea is found in the English poets ─ Tennyson in several places refers to the imagined world of souls before life and after, as 'the deep', and in this positive sense in 'Crossing the Bar', referring to himself growing old,

When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.​

And FitzGerald's more skeptical ─

And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press,
End in the Nothing all Things end in - Yes -

Then fancy while Thou art, Thou art but what​

Thou shalt be - Nothing - Thou shalt not be less​

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.

Yes, you're allowed a few regrets as you approach the exit.

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

Evolution won't work if there's no death. If you stand back and look at it, the aim of each generation is to live long enough to breed, and then to get out of the way. I don't want to live forever, and I accept that I'll die and for me that'll be Game Over. I have a healthy apprehension about dying, but I'm not afraid of being dead.

Philip Larkin, on the other hand, was appalled by the thought of being dead:

Waking at four to soundless dark, I stare.
In time the curtain-edges will grow light.
Till then I see what’s really always there:
Unresting death, a whole day nearer now,
Making all thought impossible but how
And where and when I shall myself die.
Arid interrogation: yet the dread
Of dying, and being dead,
Flashes afresh to hold and horrify.
​

But I acknowledge that my equanimity is tested in the face of untimely death.

 

[SalixIncendium]

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?

I don't fear death. In fact, I'm kinda looking forward to it.

Most people, in my experience, fear death when they have attachments to this world. Once these attachments are broken free of, death is just another experience, and from what I've seen, a pretty interesting one.

 

[SalixIncendium]

We should all accept what we cannot change. Or go crazy.

What's wrong with going crazy?

 

[Aupmanyav]

I don't fear death. In fact, I'm kinda looking forward to it.

Looking forward, hoping that it happens soon(?), wanting. Why this Salix? I suppose you did not choose the words correctly. It will come when it will. Like to all things in the universe, the laws of chaos, probability, uncertainty, randomness apply to death too. But if it comes quietly then one may miss the (once and never again) experience.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Looking forward, hoping that it happens soon(?), wanting. Why this Salix? I suppose you did not choose the words correctly. It will come when it will. Like to all things in the universe, the laws of chaos, probability, uncertainty, randomness apply to death too.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not looking to accelerate the process. It will come when it comes.

I'm just saying I've made ready for it and look forward to the experience.

But if it comes quietly then one may miss the (once and never again) experience.

But who is it that would be experiencing?

 

[Aupmanyav]

But who is it that would be experiencing?

That is where many people get stuck (and land up in clouds of mysticism). Of course, not your friend, Aupmanyav. And it is quite simple to understand, I do not know how people miss it.

The one who is dying and the one who is experiencing is the same. Did Krishna not say that those who think that man kills or is killed do not understand? Nobody is killed and no one is the killer. This is maya only. The observer as well as the observed are the same. Both are apparently created by the force/forces / particles/atoms/waves that exist in nature. I do not know if eternally or sometimes skipping eternality. The so-called food prayer:

"Brahma arpañam Brahma Havir
 -Brahma agnau Brahmañ āhutaṃ,
Brahma iva Tena Gantavyam
 Brahmakarmā Samādhinah."
Bhagavad Gita, Chapter IV, Verse 24

The act of offering is God. The oblation is God. By God it is offered into the Fire of God.
God is That which is to be attained by him who performs action pertaining to God.

 

[Vinayaka]

I'm looking forward to it, the next chapter is often better than the one before it. Death is a celebration, birth is the sad time.

 

[SalixIncendium]

That is where many people get stuck (and land up in clouds of mysticism). Of course, not your friend, Aupmanyav. And it is quite simple to understand, I do not know how people miss it.

The one who is dying and the one who is experiencing is the same. Did Krishna not say that those who think that man kills of is killed do not understand? Nobody is killed and no one is the killer. This is maya only. The observer as well as the observed are the same. Both are apparently created by the force/forces / particles/atoms/waves that exist in nature. do not know if eternally or sometimes skipping eternality. The so-called food prayer:

"Brahma arpañam Brahma Havir
 -Brahma agnau Brahmañ āhutaṃ,

Brahma iva Tena Gantavyam
 Brahmakarmā Samādhinah."
Bhagavad Gita, Chapter IV, Verse 24

The act of offering is God. The oblation is God. By God it is offered into the Fire of God.
God is That which is to be attained by him who performs action pertaining to God.

Since this isn't a debate forum, I'll just say that though my body and mind may die, I don't die, and I'll leave it at that.

 

[Hellbound Serpiente]

To me personally, death should be celebrated. It's a gift, freedom from the suffering and pain of this world. It's a win/win situation for me whether god exists or not. In case there is a higher being, I will finally be re-united with all the friends and family members I've lost, and miss them like a lost child misses his/her parents [provided that I live a righteous, noble, good life]. In case there is no higher being, I can finally go to [eternal] sleep after fighting a tiresome fight in this battlefield called "life."

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.

 

[Aupmanyav]

I'm looking forward to it, the next chapter is often better than the one before it. Death is a celebration, birth is the sad time.

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.