The stone cold and sobering truth

a reply to: onequestion

Learn the law of causality.. If you die from a horrible accident, its not unluck, its your fault for either be imprudent, stupid, unprepared, too weak, too ignorant, which all contribute to a potential future situation where your life will be in danger. It is actually quite possible to avoid having any fatal accident at all in your life if you do whats needed to prevent it, same goes for everything. You got bad health? Dont look away, its your fault. You let false knowledge and ignorance lead you in a situation where you eat # you believe healthy. Ultimately, the body can be cured of anything with the right knowledge even if it seems too exotic to fit in your preconceived mind.

The goal isnt to be remembered or even known at all. Unless it is what you want it to be. You can perceive life from many angles. But whatever happens, you will always be insignificant so accept it, and existence will always be a marvel beyond description, whether you choose to forget it or not. You should stop focusing too much on yourself and remember that the whole is always greater.

a reply to: onequestion

The stone cold and sobering truth of the world is that no matter how much money you make or what your life accomplishments may bring you you are going to die miserable and alone. You will eventually die in a horrifying accident or you will experience a long and drawn out miserable death on a hospital bed.

Fiddlesticks.

Somebody very near and dear to me died less than 36 hours ago.

At nine in the morning she was sitting up and talking. At three in the afternoon she was dead.

Apart from having lost her vision some years ago, and experiencing some pain in her knees (which didn't stop her from walking about) she was fine.

Allow me to remind of a famous saying: cowards die a thousand times before their deaths. A brave man dies but once.

Go wash your face, give yourself two good slaps, one on each cheek, and stop being so silly and feeble.

a reply to: Astyanax

It has nothing to do with being feeble it has everything to do with the fact that thats how most people die.

a reply to: 3NL1GHT3N3D1

Thoughts like this aren't healthy, they lead to resentment and complacency in my opinion.

Agree with your posts much of the time, but could you explain, please, how it is possible to be simultaneously resentful and complacent?

I think this whole thread is based on a subjective statement. You can't claim to know something like this unless you're dead. a reply to: onequestion

a reply to: onequestion

It has nothing to do with being feeble it has everything to do with the fact that thats how most people die.

Says who? Do you have any statistics to demonstrate this? Do you have a logical argument to prove that it must be so?

In most of the world, east or west, north or south, people die surrounded by their loved ones, under circumstances as comfortable as those who love them can make them, and they are freely and honestly mourned at their passing. If you feel that you may be one of the rare exceptions to this nearly universal human rule, would you like to share with us the reasons why you are so convinced that you (and others, for whom I respectfully submit you are not qualified to speak) will die alone and neglected? Do you have really, really bad toe jam or something?

To the OP. Totally untrue. My Grandfather died in Jan 2001(thank god he didn't live to see the post 911 world). He was surrounded by his family. I still think of him every day. His 93 yo wife(Nan) now lives with my brother. Maybe it's a family thing but ours doesn't even relate to the OP's outlook in the least.

a reply to: Astyanax

Resentful and complacent aren't mutually exclusive. If you're resentful toward someone you can be complacent about making amends with them, if you're resentful about the state of the world you can be complacent about helping to fix it.

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body... but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!” ~ Hunter S. Thompson

originally posted by: onequestion
a reply to: Astyanax

It has nothing to do with being feeble it has everything to do with the fact that thats how most people die.

No no no. Most do not. Provide something to prove this statement. I know otherwise and told you so. I have been present at close to 200 deaths. Have you?

One might think I'll die alone... I plan on taking everyone with me! Bwaa haa haa ...

Kidding, NSA... kidding.

But that's why we should have cemeteries on every main corner in every city and town... reminds folks we are fleeting blips and all the little annoyances are really trivial and life is a magical, improbable unfolding and then...?

So WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, weee, wee all the way home... while you row row row your boat ... and that adage that all you need to know is taught in Kindergarten works again.

ETA and oh, yeah, 2 of 3 Americans die on the toilet... that was a factoid I read some time ago and even IF it's wrong, I'd love to think it's true just for a laugh... humans need to laugh.

a reply to: onequestion

Oh, come on now onequestion:

a reply to: onequestion

My grandmother was not alone. She had her family there with her. And it has been many years since she died and writing this still brings tears to my eyes.

I would refute your statements to some extent.

As far as the process of death and going into the unknown? Yes, that journey we must take alone.

a reply to: onequestion

Oh ONE. As I mentioned in a reply to an earlier post of yours, I used to enjoy your sharing of your thoughts. But then you seemed to have climbed into a too deep existential hole and have been having difficulty climbing back out.

Now, it seems that you have decide that at least you can hope for company in that hole and are trying to pad the walls of that hole with the belief that everyone shares it with you. Not so old friend. The freedoms that many of us experience may just be illusions and self deception but if the alternative is this numbed down self depreciation you seem to have found, well, give me illusion.

a reply to: onequestion

Actually One, your title says it. You say"The stone cold and sobering truth"
I agree except for one word. "The".
You seem to think that you have, over a period of time come to THE truth. And yes, your vision is dramatic. But you have overlooked one thing, at least.

While you say THE, it really is A... "A stone cold and sobering truth." Stay there in THE if you want, it is your decision and your life. Change that THE to A and you can see it for what it is. A perspective.

Me?? I'm old now. I found these glueish extential poisons when I was young. Many of us do. Some get out while others don't and, that, you may bank on.

I agree with the OP except for one thing.
Yes, we will all going to die, no matter what and who we've been in this life. People who loved us and remember us will die too, and our memory will be lost.
Yes, death is something we'll experience all alone; no matter how many people will hold our hand at that moment, they cannot come with us, they cannot die with us. Just like when we were born no matter how many people witnessed it, we were the only one being born, thus alone in that experience.
But if you think about it, every single experience we've been going through in life we did it alone. So why death should be different?

The "miserable" part is the one that I think is relative. Of course a long suffering can lead to that, but there are also many other options. Many people die unconsciously, or in a very fast manner. Some people die at peace with themselves and the world, while others fight until the last breath. Some people even go looking for their death, like the suicidal ones. There is no way to know for sure how we will die, and what we will feel.

Death is an universal truth, and while I don't see the point of denying it, I also don't see the point of living in the shadow of it. I take it as a fact of life. Like the fact that every day, no matter how bright and beautiful will end at the nightfall. Should that stop us enjoying our day, or doing what we want to do during that day?

On the contrary, if this would be the only day I got to live, I'll try to make the most of it, to enjoy it and make it meaningful. If I believe that there will be a tomorrow, or in other words that there is something after death, than what's the point of being depressed about it?

Either way we should try to make our life as meaningful as we can; and meaningful for ourselves, not necessarily for others. So when the death comes we can welcome it like a good sleep after a long, full day.

originally posted by: onequestion
The stone cold and sobering truth of the world is that no matter how much money you make or what your life accomplishments may bring you you are going to die miserable and alone. You will eventually die in a horrifying accident or you will experience a long and drawn out miserable death on a hospital bed. Your going to be incontinent, most of your family will forget about you, they will have a funeral or cremate your body and you will be forgotten in a years time.

Nothing you do at this point will have mattered. You will face death totally alone.

Thats reality folks.

I've been down this rabbit hole a few times. Sometimes I stamped my fight and shook my hand at hte universe, exclaiming something akin to anger or hostility. Yes, some people grow old and, in their old age, become more alone and increasingly disabled. If they have family, that family might worry over their health. They become alone only in the sense they can't get out like they used to, but are still as alive as they've ever been inside. And this shows when they're with others. Still, some can have physical pain and be reliant on others for daily needs. I'm notIsaying growing old and becoming disabled is a walk in the park. Yet not everybody experiences that. And people feel a lot more love and ambition towards life in old age than a younger person might give them credit. People in their old age become strong and less fearful of death.

If onequestion was on hte left and his/her opposite was on the right, I'd be trying to be in the middle. I've been where onequestion is and I've been on the other side too. I know there was a study which compiled historical texsts, looking for words which would denote positivity or negativity. The idea was "Are humans innately negative or positive?" The results were a split, but favored a slight positive outlook. The words used were "bitter sweet".

I think the crux, or the dilemma, are those terrible events. Some people can fall apart quickly and then die. Some people can fall apart over years and years and then finally die after a long ordeal. I think the feeling I have is not every death or every period of time leading up to death is equal. Some people can have it good all the way up to the time their heart stops beating. Others might suffer from a disease and have other problems as well, and die lonely. Not all of these situations are merely the result of people who chose them, but rather something which was unchosen and perhaps not well received. If any argument can be made it's choice, it's how a bad situation is received. For example, if you're a very healthy and upbeat individual, how do you respond if you become paraplegic, so can no longer move half yoru body? Or what happens if you suffer an accident and half your skin is burnt away? Or what if your son is killed and your wife so hurt she must remain in a bed? Do you respond positively or negatively? If you respond negatively, you're just feeding the fire. If you don't try to win, you won't. Tragic ends favour negative outlooks.

I wish tragedies of that nature never happened. I wish people were never murdered or raped. I wish people never had to suffer through diseases or cripping injuries or the losses of people they direly need. I wish disasters which wreak havoc on humanity did not happen. I wish wars never sprung up to create rivers of blood leading far into the future. I wish jealous and contempt and prejudice and envy weren't so easy to come by. I wish we lived in a world where everything was so inexhaustible we didn't have to regulate its use. I wish we couldn't be ignorant. I wish a lot, but you know we have to deal with the world we got. If all I got is this life, and that's what I must believe, I shall do the best I can to enjoy it and make it a good experience for others too.

a reply to: onequestion

Just remember, you won't be alone no matter the circumstances. You have a Friend on the other side who will act as psychopomp for you, when the time comes. I believe you know who I mean. So don't despair. 👼

👣

Haha I agree, but you look at the situation so negatively, at least I assume this is the case because you digress on it.
The way I see it you are half way there.

Think about it, and I mean seriously think about it, you have a fraction of time (your life maybe 80-100 years) that doesn't matter in the long run because you are going to die anyway.
You will eventually be forgotten no matter how great you live your life. We will forget Alexandra the great some day. Some day humanity will likely cease to exist.

It all sounds like misery until you realize how much freedom that gives you.
Why do you do the things you don't like doing? Because you have to? Oh wait it doesn't matter, you are going to die anyway.

Why don't you use this little piece of information to ask the questions you want answered and do the things you desire doing because regardless of how you try to justify "the meaning of life" you just don't know.
Yet every morning you (I) wake up and look out at the world through the eyes we were given, wondering what cool adventures we could do today.
Or maybe we bitch about the slavery of the system or maybe we go to that #ty job we really don't want anyway...
You see, it doesn't matter what we do, whether others agree or not. Thinking otherwise is only short sighted in my opinion.

I give it to greencmp for having a succinct and inspired response.

It's as if you read my thoughts, one question. Moby had the same revelation early on in his career and he made a swell music video about this, as soon as he could. "Six Feet Under" capitalized on the same theme. My goodness, those people really believed that they revolutionized the world with that swell series. I don't really care who you are or become…it's sort of a miracle that even Christ remained, survived the selfish ravages of history. But I have been taking this further…everything, all of it, even the very best of lutes and lyrics, will be swept aside, so yeah, of course you will be forgotten. Even Jay Leno's garage will be a pile of burning rust in the end, and probably covered with feces. The entire history of the earth, as we know it, gone, except for what meshes into that silent deaf dumb and mute web of nothingness which knots the universe together...

That 'meaning' greencmp spoke of is important.
This path has got legs. Those are veritable roots, and a possible way out, not an escape, as when on this path, you can still see, even more brilliantly, the 'end' so to speak….but that's what makes it so compelling. Once you see it, you realize that everything else is just twaddle. One tends to lean toward meaningful integration with their remaining moments. Or not.

a reply to: onequestion

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