If you were forced to face you own mortality, how do you think you would react?

I recently saw some ad that posed the question about healthcare and devastating illness, and it caused me to think. What if a doctor were to tell me that I had a fatal illness and would die within a short span of time? What surprised me was that I came to the conclusion that I would not find this news distressing or bad, but instead would welcome it. After all it is the one ultimate truism: None of us are getting out of this Mutha alive!

When I looked deeper into why I felt this way, it stems from my spiritual beliefs, and the fact that I find most of the human race ignorant, unintelligent and insufferable. It just seems like it would be a relief to find out that soon I would be released from this restrictive form of being.

So here is the point of this thread. I would like you to ask yourself the question, if you were told you only had six months left to live, how would you feel? Take some time to really think about that. Then ask yourself why would you feel that way?

My reactions as a child would be far different to my reactions as an adult. As a child, the uncertainty and unpredictability of what happens after you die makes you anxious and uneasy. As an adult, I have come to the realisation that I cannot control what happens to me after I die and either way, what awaits me is very likely beyond my current understanding.

So whether a constant state of nothingness awaits me for hundreds, thousands, millions and billions of years; or I am continually reincarnated into another body; or sitting on the clouds with God, laughing; or sitting on a rock having insults hurled at me by Satan: what happens will happen and what will take place will take place.

While planning and preparing for the future is important, I believe people should concentrate harder on the present instead of worrying about uncertainties of the future.

[edit on 10/7/2010 by Dark Ghost]

The same as I always have, death is simply moving on to your next life, and having died once already, I am even less concerned about it now than I was before which was almost nil. Do I want to die, not at all. Will I cower and run when it is my time, no.

I'd feel a great relief.

It would give me the spur put everything in order - something I keep putting off.

I'd enjoy my last few months because I'd know that soon things were coming to an end so there'd be nothing left for me to fret about.

No more worries about work or making ends meet or all the other things that make life such a rat race.

It might sound tactless to some people, but I think anyone who gets such a warning could accept it with gratitude.

Far worse would be to get run over by a bus without any warning whatsoever. Which, of course, could still happen while you were busy enjoying your last six months

I have had the good fortune to have this question answered by uncontrolled events.

After a major accident, I was bleeding internally, the small hospital had no doctor there at the time - and I was waiting for him to arrive.

My injuries included a fracture to the skull, three fractured vertebrae (they suspected spinal damage so they tied me onto a gurney) and massive internal damage and bleeding. They were trying to pump me full of blood - but it was simply filling up my abdominal cavity and making it harder and harder to breathe.

When it first happened - I thought everything was ok - I was obviously in a lot of pain, and they gave me heaps of pain killers which basically did nothing. i was constantly vomiting blood and so on - with all the internal damage, vomiting was an agony no words can ably describe. Also, because I was strapped in - all the blood just covered my face and so on, they were quick to clean it - but it got in my nose making breathing even more difficult.

Anyhow - as time went on - I could tell my breathe was running out - I could inhale less and less, and I was watching the clock.

At first, I thought I would be fine, get sent to a big hospital and everything would be ok. As time passed I began to worry I would not make it. After about 5 hours, I realized I was going to die there.

Before that accident, I had thought about it - and thought I would be calm, and not worried about facing death. As I lay there dieing, I realized it was true - I was fine with it. I told my GF not to worry, everything was going to be fine. If it wasn't then just remember me fondly, and go on with your life.

I lost consciousness shortly after this - and they flew me to a large hospital and put me back together again - lucky me. However, there came a point where I had accepted I was going to die.

One other thing I had always also believed - that I could tolerate any level of pain, and cope with it rationally. That turned out to be false.

When I had the accident, it must have been for several seconds - who knows how long - but it was like I was slowly waking up, things were coming into focus and I realized I was screaming - I stopped immediately. But there you go - the pain was so far beyond my tolerance, it sent me out of myself - and I didn't know what I was doing.

Now before this I have had a host of broken bones and so on - I have a very high pain tolerance. As an example I broke (smashed) both my ankles in sporting accident, but I walked around on them for a full day before I decided it wasn't a sprain. They both needed to be bolted together again - just to give you some context about my pain tolerance.

But I can safely say - there is pain that is beyond our rational ability to tolerate.

[edit on 10-7-2010 by Amagnon]

[edit on 10-7-2010 by Amagnon]

This is what I would do

Don't know about the six months to live thing , but I have had it down to a few minutes .Had a 1% biker track me down a day after I stepped in to help his wife from getting a bashing .The next night he tracked me down and put a shotgun shot gun in my face and told me he was going to kill me .For some reason I thought this was so cute and laughed so loud he lost his nerv .20 minutes later he returned with a carton of beer .My thoughts are I'm to busy to die period ! I have a lot to offer and a lot to do and can't concern myself with such things . My life however has been full of torment and prehaps I'll one day welcome it as a release ,a well earned retirement of sorts . Death has never concerned me ,I guess that's why I work full time with venomous snakes as a herpetologist and I always push the envolope freehandling them to test my skills . The only thing that concerns me with death is what if I lost one of my loved ones . That ? is one I don't want to be faced with ,I don't think I would take it well .

I would not care either, people like the police and uk gov, have been trying desperately to get me to commit suicide for 18 years, so my life has been rotten.

So why would i care about that scenario.

At least when i die, i will know they where never right and they are pure murderers, and the world just wants murderers and trash over people who do nothing to nobody.

reply to post by JaxonRoberts


Same as I have before, get scared and get over it.
Funny it hasn't happened yet though.
Must have been false alarms.

Probably the normal process of anyone being told they were about to die. Shock, denial, fear then finally acceptance.

reply to post by Ghost in the Machine


You came as close as I can in describing what it is like to believe you are going to die.

I would take it a step further and put it into two different types of knowing.

Living a very active life on the razors edge I have brushed death many times. My adrenalin went sky high and I was sure I was going to die.

Then there is the situation when the doctor gives you the news of your possible demise.

I was told last August that my kidneys were in stage 4 kidney failure and that I had a large solid mass on my right kidney. I was told about all the tests and surgery I would be having.

At the time I was alone with the doctor and walked out of his office an burst out weeping violently and getting very nausus. Thankfully, my wonderful man was waiting for me right outside the door.

For a few days I was in disbelief and would ask Jim if I were dreaming or was I really going to die. We prayed a lot during those first few weeks.

After the first week I called my lawyer and made an appointment to have some changes made to my will.

The next month was filled with saddness, fear and I felt I was dreaming still.

I had to say goodbye to so many family membrs and friends.

After the second surgery I continued to feel worse and found myself bound to a wheel chair unable to even go to the bathroom by myself.

Jim continued to urge me to keep praying for strength to handle whatever was going to happen.

Then out of the blue my attitude changed compleatley. I began to love life again and enjoy every moment of each day. I was going to live until I died and enjoy it.

I began to improve and my doctors said it was very rare for kidneys to repair themselves but that seemed to be what was happening.

Another surgery is planned for later this month but I am at peace with myself and the world.

I now understand that there are far more worse things than death. I will welcome my demise as I am ready for the next adventure. Don't think I want to die but do know that death is no longer my enemy.

Before my sudden face with death I was asking God how much pain and sorrow a person could take in one lifetime. I thought I had reached my limit. Little did I know I was going to get my answer in a most involved way.

Life is sweet but one day I will welcome the sweet sting of death and freedom of my soul.

Please overlook my spelling mistakes. My spell check program isn't working this morning.

[edit on 10-7-2010 by dizziedame]

[edit on 10-7-2010 by dizziedame]

reply to post by dizziedame


It's always sad to hear anybody having to suffer, Especially the toll it takes on their loved ones.

Shock, denial, fear and acceptance are all very common fundamentals to everyday strenuous situations, Not just death. The reason I posted it was because you don't really notice it as the world travels by. I think it applies the best when face with death. Anyways, I hope everything goes well with your operation and we'll keep seeing you on the boards.

Not quite sure how i'd react to being told i've got six months?

BUT: I had a moment when i was travelling across India were i thought i was going to be murdered.

To cut a long story short me and my girlfriend at the time ended up in a very horrible situation and I thought a man was going to shoot me. He pulled a gun from the drawer and pointed it at my face.

I don't remember feeling afraid - just a bit disappointed that I wouldn't see any of my friends or family again, in fact the feeling i recall was an almost distant feeling of acceptance.

Then i realised the man was tricking me, trying to frighten me... It wasn't a real gun, although it did look like one and then I laughed at him (probably my nerves)... Then somehow i regained control of the situation and we managed to get away from the guy.
Very surreal night.

Last words: "Well, that was fun...I'm really tired now."

We all have to face our inevitable demise. Some people become crazed and frightened, while others accept it in seconds.

If I was told I had 6 months to live, personally, I'd take it as a challenge. I'm going to live a lot longer than that, I'd tell myself and hope I'm right.

Some people could find the a quick death comforting. Do people live out their dreams in death? Or is death the end of their dreams? No one knows. Only the dead. I'd be satisfied knowing if I would be reincarnated into a life that would be more heavily enjoyed, or I could keep my dreams in death without ever knowing it to become an endless cycle. Death is dreaming in silence to some. (Most old headstones will have wording like that.) The faithful usually either respect and accept death graciously or go crazy. The aspect of a hell really puts the fear in people. Hard to repent in 6 months, I suppose. The faithless have it a lot easier when dealing with death, though I'm sure everyone is scared equally.

In the end, I would feel relieved and die in the one place I know I would be at peace (hopefully). I'm not religious, but in my gut I truly believe in reincarnation because I know that it feels wrong to believe that I have never existed before. It feels too weird to think about it. Death never felt like the end to me.

I always thought that, being a person of faith, I had it together when it came to death. But then I had a scare for about three weeks when I thought I might have cancer.

It changed my life.

All of a sudden I became agonizingly aware of how I had been failing as a parent. I grieved over not having had enough time with my children to really pass much along. I was gutted by every mistake I had ever made, again, mostly as regards parenting. I hoped and prayed, even begged, for a chance to try again so I could do better. I realized how poorly I had been using the small amount of time allotted to me.

Strangley, though I never dreamed I'd be one to care, I grieved over the likelihood that I was going to lose my hair. I mean, in the grand scheme of things, what does hair really matter? Still, it bothered me more than I expected it would.

When it turned out to not be cancer, I took it as a wake up call. I started to implement the changes I'd wished I'd made before. I agree with berenike:

Originally posted by berenike
... I think anyone who gets such a warning could accept it with gratitude.

I think it is useless to be afraid of death. The way its gonna happen is more of worry to me.

I thought I was going to die a few times. About 10 years ago high was very experimental and tried a lot illegal substances. Until my heart started beating 10 times faster then it should be and I thought it was going to explode.

Well that was the end of experimental behavior for me.

I did not experience any other mortal situation, but I did see it with other people from up close.
Recently my grandfather who I saw in his last moments, but in the end he went with a smile.
longer ago my little brother who was 6 years old, who knew he was going to die and embraced it. He was sick his entire life.

Edit :
I was afraid of dying and I did not have any control of that fear. I think this is because of religious doctrine that said that I could end up burning for the rest of infinite.
That scared the living hell out of me.

I no longer feel these dogmas to be true, but I do still feel that fear lingering in the back of my mind and it is one of the reasons I think they are a lie.
Faith should be based on love and not motivated by fear.

[edit on 7/10/2010 by Sinter Klaas]

reply to post by JaxonRoberts


We all have a mortal condition:

it's called life.

Life is a death sentence from the word go. Having realized this a long time ago, I have adopted epicureanism as my philosophy. But my version enjoys creation, action, and bringing joy to others including myself.

I refuse to bow to authority including so-called western medical experts, and instead obtained a degree in Naturopathy.

I will die gratefully without profiting the system of fear and control.

Dr. Chakotay out.

[edit on 10-7-2010 by Chakotay]

I have experienced this a couple of times as an adult. I reaction was pure instinct i killed the one wich wanted to take my life. This was in the military in Kosovo.

If a doctor told me I was going to die I would react by going out and getting a professional health care opinion.

If any one else tells me I'm going to die....
After 20 years in the bar biz you just do what you gotta do.

well i died (dead as in no breath no heart beat ) that kind of dead.
heck almost twice anyway sorry to say I bring no news from the other side .
Just like a dreamless sleep but ovesly you dont wake up .
No bright lights no dead relatives no voices saying its just not your time go back.
Anyway the only thing in all this that's I would believe is the no relatives waiting part as I am The white sheep in my family .
AAA to sleep the never ending dreamless sleep well when I don't come back then I don't. i for one have no desire to exist a million times a million years anyway .Talk about being bord just what do you plan to do with all that time ??
no one seams to consider immorality means YOU NEVER die .
a 100 years lol a 1000 years a million years a trillion years a gillion years NEVER means never get it?
and worse all knowledge is given to you so theres nothing left to learn to grow to well tell me this If heaven is paved in gold and yopur dead whats the gold worth?
Ill tell you what is worth millions in heaven is blade of grass as gold is every ware