Do you fear death?

[BurtWorm]

I fear dying a little, especially slow painful dying, or dying "unnaturally." But I don't fear death.

How about you?

[ApgarScrs]

1. Not at all

[UncleSepp]

2. Not my own

I fear surviving those I love most. I fear that I will lose them, and not find them again. Death, though? Meh. Not such a big deal.

[AlienGirl]

25. I think people remain connected by bonds of emotion

Though I don't believe in "karma" in the retributave sense, I do believe people will find each other, time and again, when they are held together by strong emotions. Everything I've read about the near-death experience and the cases of children recalling former lives suggests that people never really lose the ones they feel most strongly about.

Tucker

[bunkerbuster1]

3. Not really. A little curious, actually.

When I take a step back and recognize that it comes to us all, I realize that it's going to be the answer to an eternal mystery.

I want to stay healthy and vigorous, and I do worry about dying a slow, painful death. But if it's after 80+ years of good health and halfway decent works, bring it on, Lord / Goddess / Supreme Whatever.

[Warpy]

4. I think we all fear pain

However, as a nurse, I've seen a lot of death. One thing I've noticed is that at the very end, people who are still conscious will often refuse pain medication.

I remember one lady in particular, probably because it was the first time I'd attended the dying. She was dying of a particularly painful form of cancer and was dozing, moaning and grunting in her sleep. I touched her shoulder and asked if she needed more pain medication. She gave me a smile I can only describe as angelic and said, "No dear, I'm just fine." She died two hours later.

My only conclusion is that dying is as much of a struggle as being born was, but not altogether an unpleasant one.

The only thing left to fear is a fear of the unknown. We really don't know what happens after death, although the stories told by people who have been resuscitated can be quite comforting. Whether we approach it as our last great adventure or we approach it with the fear of being judged and condemned is entirely up to us.

[Beetwasher]

5. I Enjoy Being Alive

The concept of just not existing anymore does frighten me somewhat...I LIKE existing...I know I won't even know I don't exist and it won't really matter once I'm gone, but all the same, I don't like the idea of it now...So I guess, yeah, it does frighten me a bit, not because I don't know what happens after death, but because I don't like the idea of non-existence.

[BurtWorm]

10. I can sort of relate to that idea

I wouldn't say I'm afraid of not existing, but maybe a little saddened by it.

[arwalden]

12. It Sounds To Me Like You're Afraid Of God

:hi:

[Beetwasher]

13. LOL!

I'm afraid of the HELLFIRE!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Judgement day is coming! REPENT!!

:hi:

[davidinalameda]

6. not really

I fear living in pain much more

death is just another level of existance

I don't believe in the literal heaven or hell

[booksenkatz]

7. Yes, because I won't be able to...

find out what happens next. I'm a news junkie, I can't abide not knowing how stories end. Plus, as a control freak, it bugs me that I don't know exactly what happens to us after we die. I happen to enjoy my life with my family and it pisses me off that Death is going to come along and take them away from me, or take me away from them, and I'll never see them again and there isn't a damned thing I can do about it.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. Not of being dead, but of the potentially nasty WAYS in which

one can arrive at that state.

The ideal would be to go as my grandmother did, just slip away during a nap at the age of 100, after I was "all worn out."

[arwalden]

9. I Feel The Same As You...

I fear dy-ING, but not BEING dead.

I fear drowning, or being trapped in a burning car or building... or having to endure the 3 minutes it takes a crippled jetliner to spiral out of the sky and crash and burn (or sink to the bottom of the ocean).

[BurtWorm]

11. You're freakin' me out, man!

:scared:

[arwalden]

15. You Know What Else Freaks Me Out...

... watching the movie Pearl Harbor and seeing the guys trapped in their ship taking one last breath of air as it goes under and their compartment is flooded. Or hearing the stories about that Russian submarine that sank and all the young men who had time to write goodbye notes and button the note in their shirt pocket before their compartment was flooded.

Did you ever see the sci-fi movie "Millenium"? (The one where time-travelers came back to present-day to kidnap humans just moments before their deaths.) The opening scene of that movie has a pretty fiery and realistic looking jet crash as seen from a INSIDE the jet... a passenger's perspective. Creepy.

[BurtWorm]

16. Being eaten by wild animals, for some reason, is the most frightening

possible way of going in my book. Or by zombies.

[Beetwasher]

17. BRAINS!!!

Burning to death seems pretty bad too...Or how about dying from some sort of mutant virus that turns your insides into mush and makes you bleed from your ears and eyes and vomit blood? Blechh!

[BurtWorm]

18. Or your skin to mush.

So that you can watch yourself dissolve. :scared:

[Beetwasher]

19. A Vat Of Acid!

That's gotta hurt!

[BurtWorm]

20. Maybe we should take this discussion over to the horror movie group.

;)

[arwalden]

21. Who Are You? Dr. Phibes?

[htuttle]

24. Actually, if I could choose my way out of this life

Being eaten by wild animals would be right up there on my goulish hypothetical 'preference list'. There's just something 'natural' about it. I would hate to see the fats, carbon and nitrogen I've stored up go to waste. :)

[moobu2]

14. I think it's natural to fear death.

It's related to the instinct of self preservation and most higher forms of animals have that instinct, maybe even some lower forms.
Of coarse it's more advanced in humans and we're more aware of our own existence so every culture has developed complex after life belief systems to deal with those fears.

[Selwynn]

22. Yes.

I want to live, I love life and want to live a long, long time.

[H2O Man]

23. Seathl quote from 1854

"There is no death, only a change of worlds."

About 4 years ago, I was in an automobile accident that changed my life. As it was occuring, I thought it might end my life. I can say in all honesty that it was scarey. I remember thinking, "If I die, I hope it doesn't hurt too bad." Neither came true: I lived, and it still hurts every day.

Last Thursday, I was in another accident. My vehicle spun all over, and I went over a bank into a creek. Again, during it, the though of dying occured.This time I wasn't afraid.

Context counts.

[AlienGirl]

26. No, but I fear birth

I think people reincarnate, and I'm often scared of being a helpless baby. What if I end up born starving, or if I get born to an abusive mother? :scared:

I think I've always been afraid of birth though--I had to be dragged into this lifetime by C-section!

Tucker

[Az]

27. Whats to fear?

I have no desire to stop living but as I suspect that death is merely none existance I see nothing to fear.

[AlienGirl]

28. I'd be fine with non-existance

If death is non-existance, then I won't know about it!

Tucker