We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones.

We are lucky to be born, to experience life, to be intelligent.

We are lucky to be given the individual opportunity to experience death in the most concious way.

Isn't it beautiful that we get this opportunity?

a reply to: DeadCat

Yes it is, and I have never understood the fear of dying.

Sure I can understand the fear of dying in pain but I can't wait to reach the other side where the real truth of the matter is.

a reply to: DeadCat

“We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Arabia. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton. We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively exceeds the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here.We privileged few, who won the lottery of birth against all odds, how dare we whine at our inevitable return to that prior state from which the vast majority have never stirred?”
- Richard Dawkins.

I love that paragraph.

a reply to: threeeyesopen

I dont fear dying either.

But please just makes it quick and painless. I'm hoping for a massive heart attack! That's the best I can hope for as I won't make it to old age.

a reply to: lifecitizen

It compels me in so many ways. It really widened my view of how much we take for granted, such as the ability to experience life and death. How both are a privilege.

a reply to: lifecitizen

Unfortunately death and near death experiences have been a part of my life for a long time (lost many people and almost died countless times).

I almost died two days ago from asthma mixed with bronchitis, it felt like I was drowning the way I couldn't breathe.

It wasn't scary though, I was ready to go if the time was mine, plus I had my parents by my side which was comforting.

a reply to: threeeyesopen

Glad you're okay for however long. All our days are numbered.

They say drowning is a good way to go.. after you stop struggling. lol.

I'm going to die sooner rather than later. so I'll just focus on the living while I can.

I agree life can be very meaningful. It's very much what you put into it and how you respond to negatives. If it weren't so rewarding few would hold on. I think I agree most with Leonard Nimoy when he said we can have many beautiful moments, but we can only preserve them in memory. He also said life was like a garden. That's an empowering statement, reminding us we're gardeners. This statement was made only days before he died.

I would not say we're lucky, anymore than I can say I'm lucky because I was the sperm which fertilized the egg, even as hundreds of millions failed. If I had failed, another one would have taken my place. Similarly, I believe if humans were not here, another species on Earth would rise up. But because we're presently here, we're restricting the resources available to other species. Only by us directly impacting their evolution or by leaving altogether will the other species gain entrance.

It's not productive to scorn those who fear death. It's actually a very common thing to do. Science shows everybody responds to mortality salience. Some respond more productively, but it's not grounds to scorn the lesser. It's not something mythical, it's well researched:
www.sciencedaily.com - Death anxiety increases atheists' unconscious belief in God...
www.sciencedirect.com - Scientific faith: Belief in science increases in the face of stress and existential anxiety...
www.patheos.com - In the US, belief in life after death is linked to belief in a just world and lower anxiety...
phys.org - Death anxiety prompts people to believe in intelligent design, reject evolution: research...
www.psypost.org - Scientists reduce belief in God by shutting down the brain’s medial frontal cortex...

Dr Izuma added: “We decided to remind people of death because previous research has shown that people turn to religion for comfort in the face of death. As expected, we found that when we experimentally turned down the posterior medial frontal cortex, people were less inclined to reach for comforting religious ideas despite having been reminded of death.”

I'm lucky enough to have cells in this House of God which God has granted me the clarity to call my own. The more care I give unto them, the more care I give unto others also. For my mind, body and spirit will in all ways work to ensure a world which is good for these amalgamous cells, all following the same paradigm of what's good for life, my actions shall in no way interfere with what's good for others'.

And once these miracles which we call cells cease to exist as 'mine,' cease to live and become one with the earth (if, in fact, we did still bury the dead in holes xD), oh hail The Great Mighty God, "The show must go on!" ♥

Unless you are a transhumanist fan of course.
I'm dyin too.
But mybe I croak from bad lungs or get shot BEFORE all the bad stuff rolls in.

a reply to: DeadCat

I've always had a long streak of luck.



I just didn't think it was that long.

a reply to: jonnywhite

I didn't see anyone scorning anyone.
-just saying.

J8hadis think so they cant wait to strap bombs on themselves and kill as many as possible.

originally posted by: texasyeti
J8hadis think so they cant wait to strap bombs on themselves and kill as many as possible.

What?

a reply to: texasyeti
this is philosophical thread about life and death, go find some other thread to cr^ap on about your jihad/crusade

Those that fear death do not fully contemplate the utter horror and banality that immortality would impose.

Embrace your mortality by acknowledging it's existence.

a reply to: DeadCat

Maybe in a sense, your use of the word 'beautiful' is a way to cover up the nature of the tragedy in life and death.

a reply to: nOraKat

Not the tragedy of death. More like beautiful irony. In the sense that we get a special, more individual coincious experience of life and death, unlike any other species on the planet. We actually get to contemplate it. Ironic that we see death as a tragedy, when in fact it is literally a once in a life time experience.

a reply to: DeadCat

The more that I hear from Richard Dawkins the less I find to like about him. It's not that I disagree with him, it is more the blinkers that he places over his own perception of the world in order to maintain his little bubble of peace of mind, and selective compassion. While I fully appreciate the necessity in doing so to some extent, for sanities sake particularly, it is a mad, mad world we live in, but, and it is a very big but, some people's experience of life is beyond harsh, without any stabilising force, without the benefit of, or access to, education, so he speaks from a very lucky and privileged position, as do I relatively speaking. However even from his seemingly serene state of acceptance he is using that influence not to improve the lives of others and spread some of that good luck around, he is instead campaigning for a huge amount of money to be flushed down the toilet on an early warning system against the threat of a large impact. He is no freerer of the fear of being cut down too early than the rest of us, and he is certainly not free of the fear that his way of life may be threatened. He has a belief system even if he chooses to ascribe it to science and he wants us all to put our faith in just that and be like him. Forget the little people, they're just not lucky enough to matter.