Fear of Mortality?

T-K-O

seamus wrote: »

THEORY

Saying it just "is" and then refusing to accept any other possibility would be religion.

To say that the initial spark was outside nature, assumes that there was an initial spark at all.

Again, it's a valid theory. But that's all it is. Why has religion no proof for this?

Didn't you says, it just is? They are all just theories and personally I am open to them all. Your comment about refusing to accept any other possibility places and huge number of people into one tiny box so I cannot agree with that.

IMO when people talk about Religion the guys on the other side of the table straight away think of the stereotype. I.E A person that goes to church and follows their Religion to the extreme. Where as people like myself believe that there are so many unanswered questions and the possibility of a god like figure is just as likely as the just "is" theory.

People within the Science community tend to have a superiority complex about such matters and dismiss other view points. When is is very clear that science cannot prove the non-existence of anything.

T-K-O

Zillah wrote: »

The very fact that you even think such a comment is anything other than meaningless contrariness says bad things about your grasp of the philosophy of science.

May I ask what is your field?

Irrelevant, I can stick on my science cap and quote the text books.

seamus

T-K-O wrote: »

Didn't you says, it just is?

No. This is what I said:

It's a perfectly valid theory to say that the universe and everything in it, just "is" and wasn't created at any point.

Your comment about refusing to accept any other possibility places and huge number of people into one tiny box so I cannot agree with that.

But plenty (if not most) people do this. I don't mind people having a preference for one particular hypothesis* but the vast majority of religious people on this planet have their one belief and refuse to entertain anything else. This, by the way, is still the tangent that Dades didn't want to see.

Although it does come back to my first post nicely. There are a lot of people who refuse to even entertain the possibility that there is nothing after death, because that possibility scares the living **** out of them.

*Louis Pasteur himself of pasteurisation preferred his theory of microbial life so much that he supressed evidence from his experiments which supported his opponents' theories

Dades

Don't think I didn't see what you did there!

Next OT post will be 'dealt with'. This thread deserves more.

T-K-O

seamus wrote: »

No. This is what I said:

But plenty (if not most) people do this. I don't mind people having a preference for one particular hypothesis* but the vast majority of religious people on this planet have their one belief and refuse to entertain anything else. This, by the way, is still the tangent that Dades didn't want to see.

Although it does come back to my first post nicely. There are a lot of people who refuse to even entertain the possibility that there is nothing after death, because that possibility scares the living **** out of them.

*Louis Pasteur himself of pasteurisation preferred his theory of microbial life so much that he supressed evidence from his experiments which supported his opponents' theories

And that is the problem, people from what ever side of the table closing their mind to the other point of view.

I agree that people are scared and Religion can be used as a comfort tool, Personally I have no fear what so ever of dying. I am just open to the possibility that there is something else out there, what ever that may be

Goduznt Xzst

T-K-O wrote: »

I am just open to the possibility that there is something else out there, what ever that may be

Are you as equally open to the chance that this "something" is the Flying Spaghetti monster as you are to it being Yahweh? If not then you are illogically biased and your opinion is not relevant in the field of science.

Personally, I fear death, who doesn't. I don't think about it however and accept its inevitability.

I do think about the fragility of the human body though. I fractured my ankle a few years back and it still twinges now. I'm aware that I will probably die with these twinges still happening.

IMO though, things can always be worse. Being aware of reality has also given me the ability to see the world in perspective. The life I'm going to lead, regardless of what ills are ahead of me, has still been better than at least 95% of the human population on this planet.

T-K-O

Goduznt Xzst wrote: »

Are you as equally open to the chance that this "something" is the Flying Spaghetti monster as you are to it being Yahweh? If not then you are illogically biased and your opinion is not relevant in the field of science.

Personally, I fear death, who doesn't. I don't think about it however and accept its inevitability.

I do think about the fragility of the human body though. I fractured my ankle a few years back and it still twinges now. I'm aware that I will probably die with these twinges still happening.

IMO though, things can always be worse. Being aware of reality has also given me the ability to see the world in perspective. The life I'm going to lead, regardless of what ills are ahead of me, has still been better than at least 95% of the human population on this planet.

I never said is was God but a "something" a higher force of sorts. So my opinion is not biased or closed off to any possibility.

Honestly I do not fear death maybe that will changed as I near the end but I don't think so.

Being aware of ones mortality gives us the tools to appreciate and enjoy life to max.

runswithascript

Epicurus teaches us that death is nothing to us.

Death, therefore, the most awful of evils, is nothing to us, seeing that, when we are, death is not come, and, when death is come, we are not. It is nothing, then, either to the living or to the dead, for with the living it is not and the dead exist no longer.

When we exist death is not, and when death exists we are not. All sensation and consciousness ends with death and therefore in death there is neither pleasure nor pain. The fear of death arises from the false belief that in death there is awareness.

Find here his complete Letter to Menoeceus which deals with the issue.

ChocolateSauce

I look forward to death in a way....I'll never experience it so I don't fear it. I fear dying though....hope I'm either asleep on riding an atomic bomb.

Life: A sexually transmitted disease with a 100% fatality rate.

Zillah

ChocolateSauce wrote: »

hope I'm either asleep on riding an atomic bomb.

Nuclear weapons are triggered by conventional explosions so you're essentially sitting on a few kilos of TNT.

seamus

LA3G wrote: »

The fear of death arises from the false belief that in death there is awareness.

I disagree. For me, the fear of death arises from the belief that there is no awareness. Ever again. You can compare it to being asleep, however when you go to sleep you expect to wake again to enjoy life. When you die, you don't.

5uspect

I agree with seamus. My fear of death is exaclty that.

Zombrex

Me too ... my brain does a "divide by zero" error when I try to think about not existing, I get upset and a bit panicy and I try to think about something else. Not too good when it is 2 in the morning and I can't sleep for what ever reason, my mind tends to wander to the darker side.

I don't think there is any magic curse to this feeling, I just try not to think about it that much.

But as Dade mentioned, it leads, or I hope it leads, to a more fufilled life. It certain has produced a much better out look for my life, the realization that life is finite and that death may very well be the end. Pissing your life away thinking about all the things you are going to do tomorrow rather than today, or all the things you would do if you just had this or that or worried about this or that, just ends up being a wasted life.

I now am constantly thinking if I was told I had 2 weeks to live would I be happy with my life.

MrDaithi

I don't fear death but I'd like to die as late as possible as long as I'm not incapacitated mentally of physically.

I guess people can have a fear of pain, I do, I wouldn't want to die in agony because of an incurable disease or some stupid accident.

Or may be people can have a fear of not having accomplished anything with their life e.g being meaningless in the grand scheme of things. About that I don't care at all.

jimbling

An atheist has far less to fear from death than a religious person. When you die you die. You no longer have conscious thought, so what exactly do you fear?

Yes, the fear of a slow painful death is real. But that's a fear of pain, not death. I certainly have a fear of pain.... and I'm completely intolerant too :rolleyes:


I had a huge long message here on how I got from been Catholic and living in fear to Atheist and living relatively without fear (of death anyway)..... and all the unusual places in between.
I was hoping it would help OP, but it was turning into my bloody memoirs so I deleted it.

Evil-p

jimbling wrote: »

An atheist has far less to fear from death than a religious person. When you die you die. You no longer have conscious thought, so what exactly do you fear?

Yes, the fear of a slow painful death is real. But that's a fear of pain, not death. I certainly have a fear of pain.... and I'm completely intolerant too :rolleyes:


I had a huge long message here on how I got from been Catholic and living in fear to Atheist and living relatively without fear (of death anyway)..... and all the unusual places in between.
I was hoping it would help OP, but it was turning into my bloody memoirs so I deleted it.

Thanks Jimbling! Maybe it was turning into a memoir but i'm sure was interesting! I've genuinely been helped by what people have wrote in this thread and i can say quite honestly that it is on my mind far less that it was a couple of weeks ago! As they say a problem shared is a problem halved!

That religous person has far more to fear from death is true but I dont know about you, but anyone i know seems to have slected the palatable parts of religion and fear of hell etc does not seem to bother them. Its all about heaven!!!!!

Dades

Evil-p wrote: »

I've genuinely been helped by what people have wrote in this thread and i can say quite honestly that it is on my mind far less that it was a couple of weeks ago!

Time to crack out the stolen altar wine and celebrate... the A&A forum appears to have actually done something useful!

Good for you, Evil-p.

jimbling

Evil-p wrote: »

Thanks Jimbling! Maybe it was turning into a memoir but i'm sure was interesting! I've genuinely been helped by what people have wrote in this thread and i can say quite honestly that it is on my mind far less that it was a couple of weeks ago! As they say a problem shared is a problem halved!

That religous person has far more to fear from death is true but I dont know about you, but anyone i know seems to have slected the palatable parts of religion and fear of hell etc does not seem to bother them. Its all about heaven!!!!!

No problem.
Ya, a lot of religious people are hypocritical and live a within a multitude of contradictions and paradoxes. I still think deep down they are much more fearful and guilt ridden than they let on to be.