Thread: death

When you think about it, though, Death isn't very scary at all ... it is just ... sleep

Every time you go to sleep, you are preparing for Death ... but I enjoy sleeping. The serenity of oblivion ...

Still, make an effort to straighten things out. Pray. Besides, being alone isn't all that bad. I've felt that way my whole life (at times it almost consumed me). But then I realized something. I can't tell you what it is, but when you find it out yourself ...

I'ma rootin' for ya'

ahh you could just gimme a hint haha

okay

The meaning on existance and people who can feel this

Death is a topic that's really neglected in our culture, and as a result, we fear it. We don't want to grow old, we have an almost unshakeable faith in medicine...it's nothing new.
In this country, it's not surprising to see an old person who is senile, and generally treated as an inconvenience. But there are other ways to look at aging, and this is reflected in many places where older people are revered for their wisdom and experience. When you take out this factor (wisdom/experience) you're left with an obsession with superficiality; look beautiful, live fast, die young.

I don't fear death. Of course if I feel my life is threatened I have an instinctual response, my heart begins pounding, etc. But this fear has lost much of its effect on me.
A lifetime is an illusion. Death is an illusion.

Throughout your life (and in past lives) you develop this concept of self. This "ego" is protected by the fear of its dissolution. There is a time during a meditator's experience when the sense of self weakens and the "ego" reacts by sort of... re-asserting itself; but this is a sign of progress because after this you feel less bound by a "self."

The idea of dying actually is somewhat exiting for me. Let me explain why:

When you die, it is really just the gross, physical body that is dying. We have a more subtle, energy body as well (this is related to astral projection), and our true nature is unborn and cannot be altered. People who have gone through this process with the strong intention to remember it and remain aware have detailed the experience that goes along with this, and some request that their body be left alone for several days after their physical body has died. There is an opportunity near this time for some to reach full enlightenment, and others continue into the bardo. (*this is very similar to sleep and dream yogas: sleep yoga, which is very difficult, involves awareness during dreamless sleep, when one can experience non-dual awareness. Dream yoga involves awareness during dreams, which is essentially the same as the bardo*) The bardo is the intermediate stage where you can either react to experience in accordance with your karma (like a non-lucid dream), or realize its illusory nature and influence your next life (everyone is reborn, but only those in the second group are reincarnated. This is why there are many lamas refered to as " 'somebody' incarnate" or something to that effect).

This is why dreams are regarded by some as an opportunity to prepare for death, and ulitmately, enlightenment.


I used to get really nervous and shaky in some situations where there were a lot of people paying attention to me, especially in grade school. I also disagree with the idea of formalized education and how you're expected to use it solely for making money and being a part of the development machine. Competition destroys the love for learning, and people may look at you funny if you don't care about business and the economy and buying a big house, but not everybody is like that. My entire experience in this body is a chance to learn, not just the time I've spent in school. There is a way out of the panic and anxiety, and you will find it.

I fear death too sometimes. However, it's kind of on the background. I guess it is just human nature to fear death. But like, maybe you can't really repress it as much.

Actually, I noticed recently, that there always is something about my body I think is cause for alarm. Like, for some time I thought maybe my heart was fucked up, or that my lungs were fucked up, or that my mind was fucked up. It's like my subconscious constantly looks for something to worry about (medically).

But I know it's bullshit, and can ignore it pretty darn good.

No idea why I don't feel any negative effects from my 'fear', but you do...

Good luck!

No fear.

Part of it is that it's your natural instinct to avoid death, and part of it is that you have been socially unconciously conditioned over many years to fear death. Movies. TV. Any form of media really. It's all throughout society. All that matters is being skinny, hot, and alive nowadays. But rest assured, aside from instinctive impulse, you shouldn't have irrational fear of death. It is going to happen no matter what you do, and therefore it is necessary for you to make peace with that.

Everyone to an extent once feared death. But it's the one thing that is going to happen. And really it's something to be excited about. Not like "hey sweet! im gonna die one day!" That's not what I mean. But it's unknown, uncertain. Why should we fear the unknown? Because we have been conditioned to do so. I say fuck society. Use constructive logic and come up with your own theory and comfort with death. You'll be fine. Hang in there.

Yeah Bosco I'm with you. I think about Death daily and it scares the sh*t outta me!!!!. But unfortunately it's something we ALL will go thru, it's no way to avoid it....

I think the worst part of death is the absolute finality of it all. Even if a good friend or loved one dies. It's knowing you will never see them, hear them, touch them, smell them again.

And in Life the scary part for me isn't the last few breaths of air but the warmup to death knowing that I to someday will face this ultimate finality in my life. I think the best we could hope for is a sudden painless unexpected end in this life. No chance to think means also no chance to suffer.

i went to the doctor the other day after writing this post because m back was killing me. He looked at me and said it was a muscle in my back blah blah blah, then i asked him why i felt i pain in my chest and he said it had to do with my back. I then asked him how to go about getting my choelestoral check, the next day i went back and got it check and its not horrible but its not good, i have since been running every day and eating alot better. I havent ran before this in years.

Signs are everywhere, take them. If you take a sign and nothing happens would the same result hapen if you didnt take the sign?

In the end i feel alot better now with death in general, i know there is more than this life so why be scarred...right?

DO NOT FEAR UNCERTAINTY! fearing something is believing it has power over you, and if you let it have power over you then you will inevitably suffer! dwelling on uncertainty brings fear, worry, stress. you know this from personal experience. if you instead fear certainty, you will have no fears, no worries, no stress! I know this from personal experience. if you fear certainty, which means believing it has power over you, or rather, power greater than you, you'll find that it brings peace. if you dwell on certainty, you will find happiness. the only thing anyone can possibly know is that they don't know everything. you can't know everything, no one can, so why be afraid of what you don't know? no one has absolutely no uncertainty. I have uncertainty, about everything actually, as every person does, except for the fact that we can't be certain of everything. I know that much. and that is the only one thing anyone can know.

once you know that, you know that you are not everything. you can't be, right? since you don't know everything, you are not everything, therefore there is another. in order for you to be aware, in order for you to exist, you must convert this other. that is, you must make it aware as well, otherwise there would be you and there would be other, but you would only exist in your own mind, until you alert this other that you exist. after you convert this other, you must realize there are even more others, because if there wasn't then you and this one other would be all there is. the truth is, there are many others, an infinite amount, in other words, there is infinite uncertainty. but you see that is a good thing, because that makes it possible for you to exist!

as you can see, your existence depends on others, and at the same time their existence depends on you. you are important, you matter. and you must spread your awareness, otherwise existence cannot be, as I explained. what this means is, when applied to your life, you must be aware of others and their needs, but you must also be aware of your own needs. when you take care of others and yourself, and they take care of themselves and you, everyone can exist and help each other and ultimately that brings happiness. if, on the contrary, we are completely selfish, and do not acknowledge anyone else, we cannot exist because we only see ourselves, and if all everyone could see were themselves, they'd all be looking inward, nothing would change, there would be nothing.

you should not be afriad of death. you should not fear uncertainty or unawareness, because your existence depends on it and the ability to always convert it. you should fear certainty. you should accept that it and only it can have power over you. I truly believe that when you become aware (which basically means acknowledging and respecting yourself and others equally), you will be conscious forever, you will not lose consciousness when you die.

do you understand? if you don't, let me know what I need to explain more. but even if you don't understand, there's something you need to know: I care about you. I may not know you, but I don't have to know you to know that my existence depends on you, just as your existence depends on me. I have a deep respect for you (and all living things) and if you ever need someone to talk to I will always listen.

also, humans differ from animals in that humans have the ability to become aware of their existence and the existence of others. animals do not. take solace in that fact, and be aware, be conscious! it brings happiness, happiness is only possible because of it. :)

It isn't wrong to fear death. Everyone is scared to death of death, and public speaking is often a greater fear. I accept my fear of death as a part of life, an inevitable sacrifice for the joy of living.

What's important is to learn to accept one's fear and control it, not to suppress it, ignore it, or try to conquer it. It's as natural as hunger and fades with the consumption of happiness.

you can acknowledge that death is not a good thing and try to avoid it without fearing it. which is exactly what I explained. existence in a way depends on you, soyou should take care of yourself.

Understanding of death (or thinking you understand) is neccesary if you wish to overcome your fear of it.

I would really like to know what your theory is, on after our physical death.

I haven't thought out every aspect yet, I'm still working on it. but I believe all the "enlightened" people, conscious people, go to a place where they axist together in peace. they can have peace because they figured out how to overcome suffering, they figured out that selfishness doesn't work, and that is in their memory. what is memory for? it's to avoid making the same mistakes. if they all "get it", they can exist together in peace and happiness. also I think that those who don't get it, their energy stays and they are born into another life. they continue until they "get it", achieve enlightenment.

I at least know that people must find the perfect balance between selflessness and selfishness. if you have too much of either, it's destructive. (because if you hurt, others hurt, so you must have half selfishness) I believe I've found the balance, because ever since I realized it, I haven't had any suffering. no stress, no worry. of course I feel physical pain, just no mental pain. but after I die I won't have to bother with physical pain anymore will I? I know that I don't know everything, but I believe this (at least in this life, I don't know what's after) because it's worked, I've helped myself with it and others. I used to be a very pathetic individual, bipolar and needy, I suffered a LOT of mental stress and anxiety. not anymore.


check out my thread in Religion/Spirituality.

I found I had to accept a universe where there was absolutely nothing beyond this life before I could even begin to learn about the afterlife. I don't know why it had to work this way, perhaps because my insecurities would have caused me to jump to conclusions or cling to ideas without being informed. All I know is I had to be okay with meaninglessness before the universe even let me grasp a hint of truth.

Paperdoll, there's a pdf you can look up on google entitled the 31 planes of existence, it's what Buddha said you can confirm for yourself with enough practice in insight meditation. One thing is, we don't keep memory. Whether after this life we go up, down, or stay here we lose our memory. Our spirit remembers but we are born as a direct sequel of our previous selves thinking "WTF is this place?" just like we had to do when we were born here.

Doing good and giving love lightens our soul of the weights of existence. Clinging to the material can cause you to stick to realms close to this existence when you die or if you cling so much you selfishly hurt the world you can densify your soul so much when you die it is propelled to way lower levels of existence where you are supposedly purified by suffering until a time when your soul has learned enough empathy it is ready to come back up.

To get to the heavenly planes is not a success for though it can feel like an eternity up there with no suffering there is no way to learn truth and eventually the merits that got people there fall and they are propelled back here. Enlightened people have linked their soul to existence higher than the 31st plane and maintain that link until they die, but are karmically allowed to rediscover enlightenment unless they succumed to their ego which is very easy to do at later stages of meditation (see that video rainman posted about qigong healing to see how).

And one can choose either to leave existence and permanently merge their soul with nirvana or remain here in existence to help people after realizing nirvana.

I don't believe there will ever be nothingness, for anyone or anything. if nothingness existed, then nothing ever would have been and nothing would ever come of it...if you were ever to become nothingness, you never would have been.

What about the times when you go asleep and then wake up a second later in the morning. That looks like a nice presentation of nothingness.

that isn't absolute nothingness...I mean if you die, your body stays, but if your consciousness were to cease to exist entirely, an absolute nothingness would exist. it makes sense when you word it like this: if nothing existed, nothing would exist.

All we have are memories, nothing more. If I don't remember it "didn't happen". It doesn't matter what the rest of the world saw, I'm not the world, but just me. I totaly agree with you, but I still "believe" in my first sentence. When I fall unconcious I don't exist, there is nothing. It's true what you said in yout last sentence, but nothing can exist if we look at the "spiritual" perspective (the who am I thing). Also, the question is, "Was I ever alive?" rather than what happens when one dies.

I don't know, I don't think you were alive before you were born, but I think you existed, in a spiritual form, in the form of...energy? or another life? I don't know, I'm getting confused. but are you saying basically, we're both right? that there can not be absolute nothingness for anyone, but there can be a state of unconsciousness (that resembles nothingness) that will always become conscious again? forgive me if I sound ridiculous, but I am trying to understand it.

I fear death but know it will happen anyway, i just don't want to be nothingness forever and see my dog again. I have smelt death before, and felt death before too...you know when you are walking and out of nowhere have a feeling your life is about to end? i had that...i swear to god i felt as if someone had a sniper rifle or some type of long range gun from far away from somewhere aimed at me, the air seemed to change and it smelt of death
, it smelt of my last breathe in and breathe out. Happened once and i just got to say it's one of the worst feelings you will ever have. Have had it 2 times.

I was walking up my steps (live at a corner of a really busy street in a bad neighbourhood), putting my key in the door, i stopped and looked at the door trying not to look beside me frozen stiff with the feeling of my life about to end, and smelt the air change smells then i ran in the house.
Has anyone else had that happen before?

Originally Posted by paperdoll

I don't know, I don't think you were alive before you were born, but I think you existed, in a spiritual form, in the form of...energy? or another life? I don't know, I'm getting confused. but are you saying basically, we're both right? that there can not be absolute nothingness for anyone, but there can be a state of unconsciousness (that resembles nothingness) that will always become conscious again? forgive me if I sound ridiculous, but I am trying to understand it.

I'm just saying that we created a new plane of existence, this mental plane, doesn't matter if there is such a thing as a soul/free will or not. So yeah, there is nothingness from my point of view, which is the only one I know and have seen. The only thing I can be sure of. I'm trying to say that the objective point of view (which humans "created) and the human point of view (consciousness/soul) don't add up. That's what confuses me greatly.

Why fear death, like seriously?! s**t happens...