What are your intellecual and/or emotional thoughts, views, and responses to the subject of death? (paradise, hell)

[baystater]

Just building off some of the other threads that I seen lately on the subject of death. Hopefully can express my wants for this tread well enough to illicit the responses I'm looking for. I can hope anyways.

Let me first start off by saying this is a noncompetitive/Non-debate thread. I'm just looking for you personal views on the subject and not looking for counter arguments to those views. My hope is that the good people on CD will feel free to express whatever thoughts they have on the subject without worry of ridicule. I think that dealing with/thinking about death is a very individualized process and hope to see some personalized nuances in the responses. though I could be mistaken. But let see.

Also, Let's all do our best to stay on the Subject of death itself. Not dying and not what comes after...just death itself. Granted I understand that views of death can/are heavily influenced by both. And I'm ok with speaking to philosophies guided by these things...but...I'm not looking for a long winded diatribe or story about a particular case of dying or what one thinks specifically is in the afterlife. Let's just keep it on the subject of death as much as possible.



Now with that said:



I like to know



1. What are your intellectual views/thoughts on death? Basically through your studies and experiences with the subject. How would you explain death to me. What it is? What it means? How does it fit into the larger (generalized) scheme of material universe and/or metaphysical planes of existence? Etc.



2. How do you/have you (on a personal level) emotionally deal/dealt with death? How do you deal with the prospect of you own death? How do you deal/dealt with the death of people that were close to you? How do deal with the deaths of people far removed? The death of a young person vs. an elderly person? A healthy person vs. a sick person? Etc. Etc.



I know subject can be rather involved depending on how much you have thought about it or had do deal with it. So basically the questions are bolded are generally what I looking to answer. The more specific questions are just a guide for your specific answers. So don't be limited to the more specific question I've thrown out there. I only limit it that we stick (in general) to the subject of death.





Thanks to everyone that participates in this thread.



Baystater

[KatieGal]

Originally Posted by baystater

Just building off some of the other threads that I seen lately on the subject of death. Hopefully can express my wants for this tread well enough to illicit the responses I'm looking for. I can hope anyways.

Let me first start off by saying this is a noncompetitive/debate thread. I'm just looking for you personal views on the subject and not looking for counter arguments to those views. My hope is that the good people on CD will feel free to express whatever thoughts they have on the subject without worry of ridicule. I think that dealing with/thinking about death is a very individualized process and hope to see some personalized nuances in the responses. though I could be mistaken. But let see.

Also, Let's all do our best to stay on the Subject of death itself. Not dying and not what comes after...just death itself. Granted I understand that views of death can/are heavily influenced by both. And I'm ok with speaking to philosophies guided by these things...but...I'm not looking for a long winded diatribe or story about a particular case of dying or what one thinks specifically is in the afterlife. Let's just keep it on the subject of death as much as possible.



Now with that said:

I think the brain is basically an organic computer. When death comes, it shuts off. When you unplug your PC, you monitor goes dark. There is nothing there.



I like to know



1. What are your intellectual views/thoughts on death? Basically through your studies and experiences with the subject. How would you explain death to me. What it is? What it means? How does it fit into the larger (generalized) scheme of material universe and/or metaphysical planes of existence? Etc.



2. How do you/have you (on a personal level) emotionally deal/dealt with death? How do you deal with the prospect of you own death? How do you deal/dealt with the death of people that were close to you? How do deal with the deaths of people far removed? The death of a young person vs. an elderly person? A healthy person vs. a sick person? Etc. Etc.



I know subject can be rather involved depending on how much you have thought about it or had do deal with it. So basically the questions are bolded are generally what I looking to answer. The more specific questions are just a guide for your specific answers. So don't be limited to the more specific question I've thrown out there. I only limit it that we stick (in general) to the subject of death.





Thanks to everyone that participates in this thread.



Baystater

I think the brain is basically an organic computer. When death comes, that computer shuts off. It's just like when you unplug your PC and your monitor goes dark.

Now, how do I deal with this viewpoint? I actually find it very scary. I think I find it scary because I enjoy living. I am not drowning in misery. So the mere notion of this joyfulness ending is somewhat terrifying. I try not to dwell on it. The more I dwell on death, the less enjoyable life is, and I certainly want my one and only life to have the maximum amount of enjoyment.

[Mircea]

Originally Posted by baystater

1. What are your intellectual views/thoughts on death?

Dying is just part and parcel of the very natural processes of being born; living and then dying.

And everything dies -- mountains die; volcanoes die; oceans, seas, rivers and lakes die; planets die; stars die; galaxies die.

Even Oxygen and Carbon die.

Every natural element and every isotope -- natural or not -- has an half-life. Some last fractions of seconds, others like Plutonium ~24,000 years; Uranium ~4 Billion years and Oxygen about ~12 Billion years before it decays and dies.

Originally Posted by baystater

2. How do you/have you (on a personal level) emotionally deal/dealt with death?

It's not personal; it's just something that happens, but I can see where some might view it personally, especially when someone else or something (like the pavement on the interstate) is ending their life.

Originally Posted by baystater

How do you deal with the prospect of you own death?

Can't say I'm happy about it, but then when the time comes, I might just be thrilled at the prospect and embrace it. For a lot of the elderly, they're ready to "check-out" from Hotel Earth when the time comes -- and some even wish it were sooner, rather than later.

Originally Posted by baystater

How do you deal/dealt with the death of people that were close to you? How do deal with the deaths of people far removed? The death of a young person vs. an elderly person? A healthy person vs. a sick person? Etc. Etc.

It's all the same. People die, that's what happens. Sure, when I'm parked on a sand berm with the Fire Support Team and we're raining fire and steel on people death is, uh, well, a little unnatural I guess and I don't suppose they were elated about it -- but that's what happens.

Death is probably the single thing that Humans do best.

I've seen lots of people die or already be dead when I called upon them and they die in all sorts of weird, bizarre, wonderful ways. Wait until you see someone who died from auto-erotic asphyxiation. The vast majority of people who die have really dull bland expressions, but every once in a while you see someone with a big grin, or one with total terror. And I'll tell you something else -- the human body is really ugly -- to the point of being nauseating when it's ripped apart. A nice creator would have made everyone's insides beige or some neutral earth-tone color.

If you want to be sad when sometime dies, you surely can, I mean it's not a crime to miss someone you spent some time with over the years. You can even be saddened by the circumstances, like when a child dies, but that's what happens. I suppose you can even justify being angry when someone dies, if the circumstances warrant it.

Also note that the rituals we have surrounding death have practically nothing to do with the dead person -- it's all about satisfying the living; relieving the "suffering" of the living; for the benefit of the living; to help the living.

I think that says a lot right there, but that that is also cultural -- meaning it's what we're taught that affects how we view it for the most part.

Morbidly...

Mircea

Originally Posted by KatieGal

I think the brain is basically an organic computer. When death comes, that computer shuts off. It's just like when you unplug your PC and your monitor goes dark.

A most excellent description indeed.

Originally Posted by KatieGal

Now, how do I deal with this viewpoint? I actually find it very scary. I think I find it scary because I enjoy living. I am not drowning in misery. So the mere notion of this joyfulness ending is somewhat terrifying. I try not to dwell on it. The more I dwell on death, the less enjoyable life is, and I certainly want my one and only life to have the maximum amount of enjoyment.

So how does it feel to know you are normal?

I hope you're not disappointed.

Normally...

Mircea

[ovcatto]

My uncle a octogenarian semi-retired physician put it this way, "Death is the price we pay for life."

For me that is the alpha and omega of the issue.

[TRANSPONDER]

Originally Posted by ovcatto

My uncle a octogenarian semi-retired physician put it this way, "Death is the price we pay for life."

For me that is the alpha and omega of the issue.

That would bear repeating

[robertpolyglot]

I think one is more afraid of death in the FIRST HALF of their life, and I'm referring to the typical longevity per the insurance charts.

I think that one is less afraid of death in the SECOND HALF of their life. We've already seen friends expire.

Funny thing: when I used to take a transoceanic flight, I used to pick my itinerary to cross the ocean only aboard commercial aircraft with 4 engines. Now, I don't care if I fly aboard aircraft with 2 engines.

[truth_teller]

death is the third phase of the life of each person.

the first phase is when he was inside his mother womb .

the second phase is when he is out to this current life.

the third phase is when he leave this current life and live in a way that is compatable for his case as he was living a compatable life for his case when he was in his mother womb .

the fifth phase is the last phase when all the dead people come forth from the graves as they were locusts spread abroad
and that is the judgment day and no death is after that
and some will be going to paradise and some will be going to hell for a period of time (this period of time can be less than one second to millions of years) and some will be going to hell for ever.


we die every day when we are sleeping.

[Huckleberry3911948]

its sneaking up on me slow.

[Nozzferrahhtoo]

Death to me is just the eventual termination of all subjective experience and the end of the thing that constitutes "me". The prospect does not scare me per se. The actual process of dying of course scares me silly. I am not a big fan of pain or the various losses of dignity an aging or diseased body can promise you. The actually being dead part bothers me not a jot though except for the various regrets of the "party" going on without me and how there will be many story threads in my life I will never see to conclusion.

[nezlie]

Originally Posted by truth_teller

we die every day when we are sleeping.

From the viewpoint of biology, we are actually undergoing a process of death and regeneration all the time throughout our lifetime. Our cells are continuously dying and being replaced as they are shed.


I am not sure I understand how we die when we are sleeping though.