Afraid To Die?

i do not fear death but i fear only God.

oh just to re-emphasize Bob shank's comment..yes live each day as it is your last..

as ''death is but an arms length away''

what if you dont go anywhere your just left in a coffin unable to move

Man that'd be terrible wouldn't it just stuck there for eternity. mind i don't think that happens but if it didn't it'd be awful.

~~Jem~~

A healthy fear of death is what prevents us from walking down the middle of a highway at rush hour.

Everyone (well, MOSTLY everyone) has it and it is called common sense.

Anyone who says they are not afraid to die should go for a stroll in the middle lane of I-95 or the M25 right now to prove me wrong.

Well, no, I slightly disagree with you there, Brett. I'm not afraid to die... that doesn't mean I WANT to yet.

I don't fear either of them. Dead is unevitable, so fearing it is only stressing yourself about something you can't change, cause when your time comes, that's it. The unknown, wel, why fear that wich you don't know. What you don't know can't harm you, so instead of fearing it, learn about it. than you may fear it if you want to.

I fear life more than death

I fear God above all...

I'm only afraid of how I die, not necessarily death itself.

People with fear of death fear the unknown or fear the pain of the experiance, as death itself is not to fear.

It is the fear of pain, Bret, that keeps us from walking down the freeway. We all have natural preservation instincts, but yes, fear of pain is what keeps us from doing the downright stupid, not fear of death, per se.

Call me stupid, but I'm really not afraid of either.. I think of it as just a new adventure that will happen.

Having been in the situation I can happily say I fear death, but will gladly die for the right cause anyway.

The fear of pain and fear of death are one and the same thing.

Admitting you are afraid of death is not sissy or immature, it's life affirming. I am ready to go, I just don't want to... that's a prime example of the fear of death.

I still stand on the premise that fear of death itself is basically none existant. There are, of course, painful ways and none painful ways to die, and as far as people not saying "this is painful" and then dying, it happens all the time. People will suffer for months and months with cancer or some other painful disease. They can burn to death, they can be tortured and murdered, they can suffer for days in the hospital before passing, there are TONS of ways to die painfully.

Then, what comes after death? No one knows. What if it's better than life? What if it's worse? What if it's nothingness?

I never said that fear of pain and fear of death are the same things, I just think when people say they are afraid to die they are actually far more concerned with A. The pain of dying, or B. The unknown and the "what if's." Death is something of which you have NO control over, which makes people insecure.

If there is no such thing as a fear of death then why do we have medical means to extend life?

Respirators, Radio therapy, heart bypasses, pacemakers, iron lungs, khemotherapy and so on... they all stave off the inevitable.

And too much pain can cause death via shock and system shutdown.

Electrocution, very painful. Heart attacks, ouchy.

Most of the posters here are either in the teenage years of invincibility or the older side of life where acceptance has set in.

Every soldier I served with had a healthy (emphasis on healthy) fear of death.

"Hide in a hole if you wish, you won't live one second longer. Your fate is fixed."

The above doesn't mean wrecklessness is the order of the day, but caution is still a good thing. i'll fight for evry last breath if I have to, but welcome the next phase when it comes along.

People dont want to die because they dont know what comes next. If they knew that after death was better than life, they would not want to prolong life anyway. We just dont know what comes afterwords, hence fear of the unknown.

And fear of pain is a subconscious response, I am not saying we dont have preservation instincts, I am saying that death itself is not feared nearly to the extent that the unknown is feared. After death, what comes next? If it were good, we wouldnt have life support systems and we would have higher suicide rates. The reason that people commit suicide is because they hope for better in the after life or they long for "nothingness," either way, they are playing a gamble with life.

Same concept, tiger.

Sara, you just conveyed my point beautifully.

Not having fear of the unknown is impossible for one to achieve because that would mean there is nothing at all you fear.

Anything unknown could be your greatest fear, so if only for the purpose that you fear your fear being the unknown of which you speak, it still counts and has validity.

But fear of death itself doesnt exist and isnt the core issue. You have the fear of pain or the fear of unknown associated with death that makes it something scary.

I obviously didnt do a good job of conveying my thoughts, because JPM just said what I was trying (apparently not successfully) to say.

ah ha. I know what I did wrong. I forgot to put "not having" in front of what I was saying.

"Not having a fear of the unknown is impossible for one to achieve because that would mean there is nothing at all you fear."

The reason that death itself is NOT feared is because what people percieve to be a fear of death is JUST a fear of the unknown. That is the root of the fear, not death itself.

I have always said that fear of the unknown is the biggest thing humans grapple with, and yes, was the reason God and religion were created.

No, I agree with you, I have been trying to convince people that they dont fear death, they fear the unknown or the pain of death, the entire post :).

There are definitely some ways that I would not want to die. Personally, I'm hoping this lifetime to die in my sleep, ideally with my beloved so neither of us have to wait around without the other!

But... I will say that I'd much rather be extremely long-lived (as long as quality of life remains) because there is simply too much to experience, to learn, to know, and simply not enough time.

As to death, though... been there, done that... not intrinsically afraid of it. And I encourage those who worry about it in any manner (and that means whether you're just worrying about dying, or the after effects, i.e., "going to hell") to instead enjoy life to your fullest rather than ruining it in angst over idle possibilities.

I love the things that we should fear. Death and Ghosts and being without a body...it's the things i know that cause me fear, not the things i don't know...it's illogical to fear something you know nothing about....for it you know nothing about it, then what is there to fear? I was never scared of the dark as a kid...i liked it....

I second that (and have been saying that since the beginning).

It's not illogical to fear the unknown, it's psychological and hard wired throughout our animal instincts, familiarity breeds security over time.

People fear what comes after death, not death itself.

Shyte, nah I ain't afraid to die or of the unknown. I guezz when ur time is up, it's your turn ya know? I ain't afraid to die. I go by da motto, Smile now...cry later you know. Enjoy wat life throws at you. You can't do anything about it n-e-wayz. So yeah dat'z just me. Peaze y'll. Holla.

It is human nature to fear the unknown. If I am wrong why do quacks make a living as fortune tellers and mediums?

ie: John Edward... what a douche.

Why do we get sad at funerals? Why do we fear war? Why did everyone fight so hard to keep a brain dead lady's heart beating?

WE FEAR DEATH.

We fear the unknown of death, not death itself.

If I was to run at you with a machete screaming "Die bitch, die!" I'm sure you'd be scared of dying.

lmao.

I would be afraid of HOW I died (the pain of death, as I mentioned earlier), and then when I stopped panicking and used my mind and its telekinetic abilities to take the machete from you, I would think "damn, what would happen to me after I died? That's scary." :)

Bret... here are some possible answers to your questions. One and/or some may apply to each question depending on the person.

Why do quacks make a living as fortune tellers and mediums?
(1) Because the people paying them want to speak in whatever manner they can to the people they've lost;
(2) Because people fear death and the unknown, and are consequently seeking comfort with the process;
(3) They think the idea of magic of any variety is cool;
(4) Some fortune tellers and mediums have a true gift;
(5) People are gullible.

Why do we get sad at funerals?
(1) In brutal honesty, because we're selfish and don't want that person to no longer be there in our lives. We're sad at our loss because we feel diminished.
(2) See #1;
(3) See #2. ;)

Why do we fear war?
(1) Because some people ARE afraid of death in general or sometimes just specifically afraid of horrible, painful death;
(2) Because of the answer to the above question; we're afraid of losing someone we love or cherish from our lives;
(3) Because happiness is rarely forged from war;
(4) Because generally far more positive is destroyed by war than is created.

Why did everyone fight so hard to keep a brain-dead lady's heart beating?
(1) Because of the answer to the sad at funerals question;
(2) Because people are afraid of death;
(3) Because people see it as one more right-to-life issue that they have to wax activist on;
(4) Because some people are hypocrites and say on the one hand that by dying she'd be going to a better place and yet on the other hand want to keep her around for their own activist agendas;
(5) Because they are in the medical and/or pharmaceutical industry and want to expand into even greater markets.

There.

the only thing im afriad of is dying alone

Thanks Frank, nice answers.

well to me death is the unknown... and i'm afraid of death so I guess I'm afraid of the unknown... I'm afraid of death because I have goals and dreams that i want to achive, beacuse I want to live a life that feels less like hell. But I'm also afraid of death because I'm afraid of what will happen to my family after I die. I'm afraid of the effect it will have on the people I love.

Everyone who thinks that they are afraid of death need to ask themselves "What about death scares me? That I will die painfully or in a situation out of my control? Or could it be that I dont know what happens afterwords? Where do I go? What will it be like on the 'other side?'"

Because people are not simply afraid of death, we see people DIE all the time, it is a simple action and easy enough to do. It is not painful in itself, but then it is nothingness.

Most people are afraid of change and afraid of the unreliable, not to mention afraid of situations they have no control over. People are also afraid of pain, for good reason. We all know what life is like, we know nothing about death after we leave the threshhold of life. It targets every physical and emotional insecurity and fear that people naturally have. THOSE are what scare people. The underlying causes.

It's just so much easier for people to say they are simply afraid of death, it is a natural instinct to fear something, but there is always a REASON behind it that is psychologically and instinctually based. It's much harder and much less likely for someone to answer the question "are you afraid of death?" with, "I am afraid of the unknown, of the pain, of the lack of control, of the fact that I have no say in the situation, that it is inevitable, that I will no longer see my family and friends, that I dont know what it will be like, etc." but those reasons are the root of the fear of DEATH. People just dont dig that far typically, or have no psychological understanding.

But you know what? No matter how hard you try, you wont get out of life alive.

I'm not scared to die, because when I die it will all be over, I'm scared of living. Whilest alive you get hurt, and your emotions are all over the place, at least when you are dead, all that will stop.

I don't care how I die, I just don't want to do it. I've been close enough on more than one occasion to have a healthy fear of it.

Life is good, I wan't to stay alive as long as I can because being dead is the next or last journey (depending on your outlook) I will make, I'm not done with this journey, thanks.

I don't wish it upon anyone to die alone, that's what i fear most.
I think if you're happy with your life and feel you've done everything you've wanted to then dying is just the next step.
I don't fear the unknown, because it can just be viewed as the unpredictable and exciting.

A few years ago I may well have answered yes to this question, but a few years and experiences can certainly change your opinion of things.

I have recently been diagnosed with Breast Cancer in May this year. Now although there are treatments avaliable to fight this disease you can't help but think of the worst case scenario. As strange as it may sound when you are brought that one step closer to death, you seem to fear it less. At least that is the situation I find myself in now. I intend to live my life to the full for as long as possible!

I know that I will die eventually, either from the illness, old age or another misfortune, but so will everyone else. Why waste my time being afraid of something that I can't change?

Nici

im a christian so im not really afraid of death, coz i believe that ill go to heaven, but im kinda afraid of how il die!! i don't wana die in a ball of fire all painful and stuf!! :o)

I agree with Courtney im also a Christian so im not really afraid of dying cause im pretty sure of where im going to end but the way how im going to die scares me the most, I dont want to die a real painful death, my idea of a good death is when you are old and you've lived your life and you either die in your sleep or with all my grandchildren around me.

yeah i agree too ^^^ I'm not afraid to die, cuz I know that if I died today I would go to heaven, but just like almost everybody else in here, I am scared of HOW i will die, cuz i have NO pain tolerance! lol! but i am looking forward to meeting my Jesus! : ) *KISSES*~Corrie

Im not afraid to Die. I think Im More Afraid to Live and Bring Life into A World with Such Uncontrolled Violence. I Should Be Concidered A Murderer To Bring New Life To A World With Such Violence.