Why The Fear Of Death? Better Things To Come After Life!

reply to post by OmegaPoint

...what right do WE have to pull the plug on our own life, and if there is no such thing as death, then it would be foolhardy to attempt an escape via suicide..

Eloquent, without being overly preachy.

BUT, as tenth rightly pointed out, there ARE examples of a personal decision that seems to merit taking one's life.

AND, as to foolhardy to "escape via suicide"...the point is that DEATH is NOT the end. That seemed to be the point, at least.

I really don't see why Humans have exhalted "life" to such an extent...really, they usually are referring only to their own, or those of their loved ones.

Insects are alive, yet we barely abide them. Westerners have made animal husbandry into a corporate enterprise, and it is sanitized by the time the "product" reaches the consumer. I'm not advocating for or against anything, just pointing out hyprocrisies.

Vegetarians deplore the slaughter of animals for food purposes, yet they happily kill plants to eat THOSE. What is the cut-off for life? A bacterium is alive...yet we must kill them off to protect ourselves from disease.

At least no one has yet said, here, "Life is precious" --- because it isn't. It really is quite prevalent, it's everywhere, because it's really just basic chemistry.

Well....the funy part is, there are no answers. Seems we won't know until we find out!

SO, we can only guess. Literature, works of art, etc all have been used to examine the ideas. (OH, and that despicable chronic illness of Mankind, organized "religion" too...ooops, gave myself away there....)

Speaking of literature and art...this next idea is about neither!!

Rather, it's a mention of one of the best movies to come along to tickle my funny bone about the subject. Not the humour for everyone, mind you. But if you like irony and clever wit, check out "Defending Your Life", by Albert Brooks (he's the dry, ironic comic). It also stars Meryl Streep!!

Really, one of the best ways to depict the possible scenario that may describe the afterlife --- with humour, and a rip-roaring love story too!

reply to post by Frith


I am not really sure if there could ever be evidence of an afterlife presented to living humans.

I mean, who are you gonna ask, the dead people? I guess people have tried, but that doesn't seem to work.

In any case, as I said, I am HOPING there is something, and in my very limited scope of experiences on this planet in 38 years I have been led to believe there is something.

~Keeper

reply to post by tothetenthpower


why not just lay down and die like a dog? why even get up in the morning. why not run out into traffic? better things after death right? it's a defeatist attitude really, and flies against hundreds of thousands of years of our evolution.

all we think we "know" about what comes after death is personal stories. they may or may not accurately reflect what happens after we've died. so honestly you can't really say better things to come after life is a fact.

and i don't think the sit x forum , which is actually the survival forum is a fear mongering forum as your OP implies. it's about preparation. failure to prepare is to prepare for failure. not all of us are convinced that there's a magnificent realm just waiting to be explored as soon as we relinquish our skin. some of us want to be prepared in case something horrible really does happen and those few who do survive have to rebuild our species and culture. that's not fear mongering, i'd call that being realistic.

any number of global catastrophes could occur two seconds from now, it's more than reasonable to speculate on which ones are most likely and how to prepare for them.

fear mongering is the terrorist alert level color chart every day on the news after 9/11, regardless of actual level of threat or crediblity of rumored attack. how to clean an animal carcass, or tan leather, or identify edible plants is not.

reply to post by optimus primal


Calm down friend.

My OP was not to say that all things are fear mongering, you see I did not say it was fear mongering, I said in response to fear mongering AND forums such as Site X etc..

I am simply opening the question to the board about death and the fear of it. I am in no way saying don't live your life because there is a better one after this one ends.

I am saying quite the opposite, live your life to the fullest and look forward to something even better. That's just my opinion, I never claimed to KNOW there is an afterlife if you read my other posts.

I simply think there is one, I have no proof nor claim to have any.

~Keeper

"and" implies that they share a similarity, "or" would imply differences between fear mongering and the survival forum.

while there is a certain amount of fear associated with a survival or "sit x" situation, it's nowhere near the level of fear mongering. i'm not upset just think that a distinct distinction should be made.

as for your take on the after life, i was stating in general we don't know anything, which you agree with.

in all actuality the way i read your OP your first half talks about fear mongering, and why go out of our way to avoid death and embrace the after life or lack thereof , while the second half starts your question about the fear of death, so really i was only responding to the first half i guess.

reply to post by optimus primal


Touche friend, I will change the OP to reflect this as you are right, It could and could be used in that context.

I appreciate your imput .

~Keeper

Originally posted by Frith
Nobody asked to be born. Its all entirely involuntary.

You don't know that. Buddhists believe that we choose the circumstances of each life. A life, that might teach us something we haven't already mastered.

When you curse your life and wonder Why ME? Maybe that's just the point. Suffering always brings more change and growth that an easy life.



[edit on 7-9-2009 by Gamma MO]

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Well, I have an advantage in that I'm clairsentient, so I already know what's waiting on the 'other side'. Thus I have no fear of dying, but a little trepidation with the manner in which I will eventually shed this corporeal shell. I don't want to linger in pain and such.

The thing I do fear is living too long! I don't want to live so long that I become some wheelchair bound, drooling, incontinent, forgetful old grump who dreams of days gone by...

Originally posted by weedwhacker
So why is suicide considered (at least in MOST societies) to be such taboo??

Because this is the ultimate Karmatic no-no! It is the greatest slap in the face to the Divine. Sure fire way to get sent to the 'penalty box' for a stint before moving on to the 'good place'.

reply to post by tothetenthpower


I think once youve realized enlightenment, all stages of life are beautiful and theres no desire to go away from the present.

reply to post by 4stral4pprentice


I completely agree my friend.

Very nice assesment. Thank you for your imput.

~Keeper

I have to say I agree with the OP.

I happen to remember fleeting moments before I was born and also in my mothers womb. I remember being forced against my will to come here and given no other choice about it. I didn't want to come and still don't want to be here but I am here only for the love of my children and wife.

I have no clue as to why I was forced to come here but I do know this....
There is life after physical death. I have, and continue to have out of body experiences. They are re-assuring and beautiful. I can't wait untill my time comes.

reply to post by Gamma MO


Absolutely I don't know. But I do know that the process of the creation of a living thing is involuntary in our reality (leaving spirituality out of the equation). That in itself leads me to the conclusion that if we are spiritual beings we're equally involuntarily stuck here. I would have to hope this life at least somewhat mimics whatever alleged afterlife awaits. If its entirely different then it would seem to me that living would be a wasteful effort. Like taking a Spanish language class and hoping to come out of the classroom a heart surgeon. Surely this life would need to mirror an afterlife to some degree to hold any meaning. This is why I feel the process is involuntary. But again, I could be wrong.

[edit on 7-9-2009 by Frith]

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Firstly, great thread and great question.

I am not afraid of death but I am somewhat concerned about the manner of my death when it comes. Feet first into a wood chipper would not be nice and I would be afraid of that.

Firstly I should give you a little background as to why I do not fear death. The first time I saw death I was aged nine and I was living in a place called Port Kaituma, Guyana.

During celebrations in a military GDF base of a water festival called “Phagwah” (my uncle was the camp commandant) there was a terrible accident and nine people were crushed to death (many more terribly injured) right in front of me and my brothers. A huge tropical tree had fallen over and the impact had been so close I had been thrown off my feet, choking on dust.

Instead of running away as the place erupted in utter panic and shrieking horror, I ran towards the accident and the carnage was indescribable. It was a year of death as it happened in the same year as the peoples temple massacre and as it happens their compound was situated not that far from the base.

I feared a crushing death from towering trees for years and I suffered a kind of phobia of large trees for years.

I joined the British army as an adult on returning to the UK and someone I knew and respected, blew his brains out with an SA80 in Germany (base details withheld) because his wife had been sleeping with his friend, my troop sergeant.

A close friend of mine and who served with me fatally overdosed himself on heroin after coming back from a tour in Bosnia at a time when Bosnia seemed like hell on Earth. I felt his loss terribly then as now as he saved me from being crushed against an armoured fighting vehicle in Tidworth. My wife and I considered him a brother.

Years later in civilian life another friend of mine hanged himself when his relationship broke down. The last contact with him was me embracing him amid many attempts on my part to comfort him, in vain sadly.

My point for saying the above is simple and the reason I do not fear death. I have seen the actual spark of life leave a persons eyes and once they get over the shock and pain, death seems to be a peaceful, serene thing that is total peace.

I have also come close to death twice unfortunately. Once a person gets through the wall that is excruciating pain and the body saying NO, what is beyond is what I can only describe as the blue skied vista you see after a particularly violent storm.

To my mind it is obvious why people fear death however. It is because most have never seen it in a human being and so make assumptions of the total and undeniable finality of it as after-death and the reality of what happens once physical consciousness fades is the unknown, mysterious thing we all want to discover the truth of.

Many who say they are in the know are always there to give answers in religious or metaphysical terms but there is no proof either way of any such thing and I have certainly never seen it (I happen to be an atheist).

Many have said death is a beautiful thing but I disagree. Death is not beautiful because it is tragic by its very nature. Death is the vessel of the mind, a mind you may love, ceasing to function. A transition from life to death is not monstrous it is simply tragic.

The life you knew is a life you have lost and you will never speak with that person again. The transition to that death however can be a beautiful thing, just not a transition that is nice to see, a grim paradox if you will.

The moment consciousness leaves, the facial expression, the relaxing of the eyes tells me death will be a thing to look forward to but only in old age because the finality is still a life lost, wasted on the young.

[edit on 01/09/2009 by SmokeJaguar67]

reply to post by JaxonRoberts

Because this is the ultimate Karmatic no-no! It is the greatest slap in the face to the Divine.

The "Divine"?? Do you mean Ms. Bette??? Sure, she's fabulous...but.

I guess my version of "Karma" isn't the same as yours, funny since we both seem to be Trekkers and Friends of Dorothy as well...

Consider the motives behind a suicide. Terminally ill, and to escape an agonizingly painful death? I think that's worth a "Get Out of Jail Free" card right there.

Or, in the case of my step-father (retired policeman, they think this way sometimes) after a lower leg amputation, and impending metasticzed cancer in his abdomen -- AND having seen my Mother care for her mother disabled from a massive stroke, and her father suffering through senile dementia, my step-father just didn't want to be a burden.

He did it not out of fear of pain (for he had a high pain threshold) but out of love, and a sense of duty --- to NOT inflict undue pain on others.

I see it as a very logical compromise, in this instance. At least, in context.

But, I'm rather pragmatic about such things.

reply to post by weedwhacker


I can see that there is a gray area here, but I was refering to those who give up because life's just too tough. It's supposed to be tough. That is how we learn and grow.

I myself would probably at least contemplate self check-out if terminal anyway. Not much left to learn and grow by once your bedridden and in pain. Plus the burden that you put on others, especially loved ones. But then again, you may be denying them a chance to learn and grow from the experience of your illness and passing.

It's a tough call, and I see both sides of the fence. Sometimes I look at it in the "It's OK to put Poochie down because the dog is in pain, but why do we make Grandma stick around 'til the last nano-second!", but other times I look at it the other way. Just my $.02 on the issue. In the end, it's the individuals decision, and only they will have to deal with the consequences.

What I don't get is if you're fearless of, and contemplating death; why would you bother? You should be free to do anything with life at this point, but we don’t.. Why can't we set ourselves free and live. Its like we’re brainwashed to live a life we’re not willing to live...?