I will greet death with open arms!

Last week I had my 1 year old Rottweiler, Achilles, put down due to medical problems. This was very hard on my wife and I, as he was such an amazing animal. I watched him go, and cried like a child for about 10 minutes unable to stand as I said one last goodbye and held him.

What fasinated me, looking back, is that after he was gone, his eyes were empty. You could no longer see Achilles. This got me to thinking about my own death, abd I have come to the conclusion, that the idea of dying is something to embrace. It is lifes ultimate mystery! Now I'm not saying that I will do myself in early, I will enjoy every second I'm given on this earth. However, when it is my time to go I will not fear, I will smile and say my goodbyes, then figure it all out.

My question to you is, are you afraid of death? And why? After all, what do we really have to lose?

[edit on 29-12-2009 by OneDivided]

I'll go kicking and screaming into death the same way that I came into life! Death does not fascinate me in the slightest, but life does. I'm certainly in no hurry.

IRM

reply to post by OneDivided


I'm truly not scared of being dead, I'm a little perturbed about going painfully and suffering.

I agree with you, it's quite exciting, is there life after death, is this all there is, is there a god, can we be reincarnated? A million questions.

I just hope Hell isn't real, as I surely have a ticket that says " Basement"!

I have had friends die , some in not so pleasant ways ( one got hacked to death , one got his head run over whilst biking to work).
I have lost family members through illness and old age, ( my father in law had the biggest last laugh , he explained to his wife all the mistakes he'd made over the years, apologised for all the money he'd wasted, she went to get him a new set of jammies, got back and found him dead - it's almost like he knew he was about to die, he told her all his little white lies , and then kicked the bucket to avoid facing repercussions), I have given it a lot of thought over the years and come to the conclusion that there is nothing you can do to avoid it, we all fear dying, its a part of life that we all must take, from the richest to the poorest , from the healthiest fitness freak to the largest couch potato, from the powerful emperor to the lowliest slave.
HOW we go is what frightens us the most, fire, drowning, violence are the ones we fear most, the one we WANT most is to die peacefully in our sleep so that we don't notice.
I have no fear on how , when or why I die, I look forward to it , I will welcome it , I practice ( successfully a couple of times ) Astral Projection and that alone taught me that death is natural, sure the body expires but the soul /consciousness/self doesn't, it endures, it goes on.
Ok you'll get people say when you die thats it, theres nothing, but I say its upto you to find your own answers, to find out what will comfort you when your time comes.
The ones that say " There is nothing " I say to them " How do you know? Have you been there?" , they are the fearful ones and they are the ones I try to say " You can't run from death , treat it like an adventure, one great adventure that you must take, that everyone takes, maybe then you wouldn't fear it so much?".

I will welcome death when it comes , maybe even drowning who knows ( more likely motorcycle accident the way drivers are these days) , the pain would only last a couple of minutes at most then there is only peace, you'll never have to worry about leaving your loved ones behind ( which in my opinion is the BIGGEST copout to not face upto the fact that we are all doomed to die) , as they have to live on after you, you won't be able to change their situations will you?
Death is as welcome as stepping through another doorway, waking to greet another morning , it is another journey that has to be taken no matter how much space I try to put between me and it.

[edit on 29/12/09 by DataWraith]

I have seen several people die. The look on their faces reminds me of a dead squirrel.

The first animal I killed was a squirrel when I was a very young girl. Being raised on a farm it wasn't the last thing I killed or watch die.

One day a few years ago I saw a man in my office driveway slump over in his truck I ran out and pulled him out then I looked in his face and saw his slack jaw and lifeless eyes I knew he was gone. His face reminded me of the dead squirrel.

I have an incurable disease and do not fear death. I was scared out of my wits when I first was given the news of my shortened life but have come to an understanding with death and now realize that there are many things far worse than death.

My goal is to show my children how to enjoy life and to die with dignity.

I am grateful to have the knowledge that death is not too far in the future. I've gotton my personal business in order and planned my pre paid funeral.

Come death, where is thy sweet sting?



[edit on 29-12-2009 by dizziedame]

[edit on 29-12-2009 by dizziedame]

Scared? Not truly...

But I would like to spend my life here on earth as long as possible.

I have a lot on my bucket list that still needs to be completed.

reply to post by OneDivided



You never worried about being born, you wont worry when your dead.

part in the middle counts

LIFE

reply to post by dizziedame

understanding with death and now realize that there are many things far worse than death.

and that is the harsh reality of life its self

Tho most people are some wat deluided.

reply to post by OneDivided


I am not.

I know that I will go on forever and ever for eternity. We all will.

Do not have faith in the self have trust

Namaste.

If reincarnation is real I'm not going to be a girl

We are energy now, we will be energy later.

Im not afraid of death. I think we will be reabsorbed. I mean, everything feeds off of something else on our planet.

Originally posted by 13579
reply to post by dizziedame

there are many things far worse than death.

and that is the harsh reality of life its self

So true! What I fear is the impact of my death on my loved ones. In thinking about how I want to die, I think that, if I could choose, I would choose NOT to die suddenly. I want those who love me to have enough time to resolve in themselves the fact that I will be passing on. I don't want sadness in their hearts. I will know that any pain associated will be temporary.

But, to contradict myself, if my loved ones pass on before me I want it to be quick for them in case there is pain associated with it.

I don't fear death.

I definitely do not have any answers; but there is one observation that has me puzzled.

Where was I before I was born? Was there some kind of existence that I now do not remember or was "I" nothing and nowhere?

My thought is that if there was a place I was before "I" was born, that is where "I" will return after the death of this body; after this "life" is over.

Sometimes I can get a thin grasp of philosophical notions of this life being a learning experience, and everything happening for a reason, and that it is all good, and that what needs to happen for my higher learning will happen; but it is only fleeting.

Whatever the reality, worry makes no sense. Joy and peace seem more appropriate. I don't worry about dying, but I sometimes worry if I have enough time left to learn the stuff I need to; to experience the right kind of experiences and all that.

I have always believed that I will know when my time is coming though; and while I do feel that time is closer it feels like I still have a way to go.

I think.

reply to post by OneDivided


I am not afraid of dying because I have seen others die in front of me and I have even been near to death and literally faced it square in the face many years ago. From an animal to a human the look is exactly the same the only difference the shape of the face the muscles fall into when the facial muscles relax but that glaze that comes to the eye when consciousness leaves is literally like some sort of light going out.

In an animal this is a little unnerving but in a person to see the process of death is very disconcerting to say the least because it seems to indicate to me at least that we (our consciousness) all goes to the same place – wherever that is.

That said the last time I faced my own death was when my appendix literally exploded inside me. I felt if pop like a bag and a hot flood of what felt like warm syrup flooded throughout my abdomen on the right side. I had to tell my stepdaughter what was about to happen to me as she panicked and had I not calmed her down enough to phone for help I would have died as shock had quickly gripped me making me shudder like I had fallen through ice and by then I was slipping into delirium (quite nice feeling actually).

Anyway my step daughter did manage to save my life with a phone call but it was four days before I was operated on and as you can imagine I was very close to death, so close to death in fact that I had made my peace with all the wrongs I had done in my life from bad choices to people I might have hurt.

Yet I still felt a sense of fear not the fear you feel that a person feels as he watches a wolf come calling but rather the fear a person senses when you do not know what your next sight will be when your eyes close in death for the last time and your ethereal eyes open into the next world – if indeed there is a next world.

It is a very strange fear that freezes the mind, distracts you and pulls you into yourself because although you know that black train is approaching and you know that you must step aboard, you have no idea where the train will take you or if that train will come to an abrupt end as your death could for all intents and purposes be nothing more than oblivion.

For myself I remember inky blackness, curled up into a foetal position and drifting down into infinite unseen depths, the blackness so sublime and complete it was like a warm duvet.

I remember being extremely happy to go and I was able to flip through my past memories like flipping through the pages of a book but seen in the abstract and watched in a detached manner like it was someone else's life. Was this experience a final release of chemicals evolved to send the dying on their way, mercifully shrouded in naturally released chemicals or is what I sensed what all life senses when life is about to be swapped out for death?

Invariably of course I did not die and one thing I learned is that I will have no fear of death when she next comes a calling because I have already had a dry run and it really is not all that bad, the body even has its own very efficient anesthetising system that seems to work much like a doctors waiting room.

By the way I am very sorry to read about your dog. I live with an Alaskan malamute and I love her dearly, in seven years I will need to be ready for her end if she lives to her full term. I see her as a very loyal friend and companion not a pet – it will be the blackest of days for me and after her there will be no more dogs for me.

Death?

I know not of this concept you speak of.

I have always been living, as far back as I remember, so why would that suddenly stop?

Maybe I just want to fly,
Wanna live, I dont wanna die
Maybe I just want to breathe
Maybe I just don't believe
Maybe you're the same as me
We see things they'll never see
You and I are gonna live forever......

reply to post by dizziedame


Even though you referred death a sweet sting but I can understand the pain that you are going through. I feel painful when I see people in pain. I wish I knew what you suffering from. It all boils down to nutrition. Nothing in USA is nutrition. I mean, either it is genetically engineered or it grew with a lot of chemicals. I know it because I grew up with herbs and living in USA I saw things first hand that is not good for health and I am busy writing letters to Government officials but nobody cares as if it is a Government conspiracy. Please read about DCA and aloe Vera. My prayers be with you.

Unless I died suddenly, the initial shock of being told the end was near would scare me. But I think after that I would accept it. I remember watching a ballgame from back in the 1930's or so, thousands of people smiling and waving, and I thought, well, They all died. They were all individuals like me. But when the time came, off they went.

I'm not sure about reincarnation, sounds possible. I was actually thinking about it the other day. I was waiting in line at the store and some toddler in the cart ahead of me was screaming his head off. I thought how much I would hate to go through all of that again. The learning, the growing up. All the things I had down pat before I left the last time.

Anyhoo, I think if you live a decent life you will have less to be fearful of in the end.

No. Death brings escape from this world where, before I was born, while i've been alive & far into the future after i've died people have been doing their best to screw it up

If it were not for the inevitability of death would there be any motivation for getting on with the business of living? Is it not death that makes life so precious?

People who avoid thinking about death lose out on life. They let opportunities slip by. They spend way too much time vegetating in front of the tv instead of experiencing things first hand - instead of really living.

For me, as this inevitability approaches ever closer I am challenged to think less about the material comforts I struggled so hard to achieve, and more about the interpersonal relationships -- so much harder to accomplish.

And perhaps it is that comfort thing more than anything else, that robs one of what it means to be alive. Sometimes I am tempted to just let it all go, throw it all away, and learn once again what it feels like to be challenged, and to succeed or fail. If we have no more challenges we might as well be dead. I know I am not done -- not by a long shot, but it is up to me whether the next 20 years will be worth it or not.