Arts & Humanities Death: What, and how often, do you think about it?

[Sebastian Balboa]

I am 45 now and I remember a kid we knew in Year 7 who died...he would have been 13 yrs old.

Its only now that I truly appreciate all these years later what a life he missed out on.

It's sad isn't it.
A kid in our school went away for Xmas holidays to visit his Dad; his Mum was a relief teacher at our school. Anyway, during the holidays, John (I won't write his surname), who was 10 or 11, was killed in his Dad's truck when it crashed. This was 1979/80.
Another girl at our small high school died of Leukemia when she was 15.
When I was 8 or 9, a favourite Uncle died. That hurt pretty bad. He was just the best man ever, his presence was all-encompassing.
I think these early experienced left their impact on me.

We're all touched by death, especially the spectre of untimely ones.
A mate was telling me recently his grandfather who, just before his death in his late 80s, commented on how long it took him to get to that age yet how fast time really is in the context of our human experience.

For me, I cherish every single day I exist, and I hope that others whose orbit I have the privilege of experiencing, can do likewise.

 

[Run n Spread]

Quite a bit of late. It is only natural really. When you are pushed personally to your limits by a variety of factors wtf else do people think about? I imagine most people think about it. (At least their own).

Everyone dies, that much is a certainty. Yet for a lot it is pushed to the back of mind as who really wants to contemplate it? Survival is the instinct that trumps all else and is primal and predominant in all species. Yet survival is never easy and has always been hard to accomplish. When anyone struggles to survive or can not go any more they will naturally think of death. (The end point).

Perhaps that is why the most religious communities are poor. Death is always front and centre as the nature of poverty so they are hyper vigilant to a survive but failing that they realise death is everywhere. A point eagerly exploited by certain religious leaders/groups.

In the West while there may not be an imminent threat every day per say people still have to survive under different conditions. (In this case the modern world). Those without the ability, skill or resource to do so will naturally fixate on death.

A lot here saying it tend to be young adults. Must be common as they establish identity and figure how they will plan their lives independently.

 

[Ahern2Boof]

What I want to know, is that if heaven or hell do exist, what form do you take to the afterlife? The form you died in? Which could be a frail old man, or a healthy young male that was killed in a freak accident? If you die as an elderly person, do you revert back to your healthier days in heaven?

Death scares me, but what else scares me is the thought of living for eternity, and the world going on forever and a day.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Anyone into Los Campesinos!? Their new album came out today and as per usual mortality (and football) seeps through every song.

And somehow it crept into me as I walked around Fitzroy on a dusky, warm arvo. It reminds me of the melancholy I got at my pop's old place, right in the middle of South Fremantle. Just this vibe would bring it into my mind and it's quite a mind frame.

Spoiler

I was the first match struck at the first cremation, you are my shallow grave, I'll tend you as a sexton
If you're the casket door that's being slammed upon me, I'll be a plague cross painted on your naked body
Well summer sighed and summoned up hail. Dirty in dish rack drips the holy grail
May be heartslob but I want 'em to know, cut and shut us like a portmanteau
We sit around jus' spitballin', all the witches cackle round my cauldron
Recognise the lies from my poker tongue (is it true...?)

They say you and me are tautology
What grows from the seeds,
can you quite believe?
through cracks come the weeds,
Long time listener, first time caller,
no need to remind me
What death leaves behind me

Why must I lie awake, from dusk until the morning, through fear of bein' impaled upon errant mattress spring?
Within a waking dream I finally made my heel turn, lived life as Super 8 when you were promised Hilton
Propose me as a pardon for sins, led on barbecue I'm burnt offerings
I proof-read the Book of Job for the Lord: edit one, League Cup 2004
We, delicate as a filigree, cleared a place for us in the chicory
Colosseum blood will dry in the sun (is it true...?)

We tread it carefully, we feel around in kid-gloves
What death will leave behind, death will leave behind love
We will flower again, I have surely seen it
WE WILL FLOWER AGAIN

Do you guys ever think about how girls you've known for a night and loved for a week will end up living entire lives? And will end up dying? And that, unless we're somehow 'lucky' going through the obituaries, we'll never know when or how they ended up dying. That gets to me a bit. I find it weirdly romantic, though, which is pretty... queer.

What death will leave behind, death will leave behind love
We will flower again, I have surely seen it

 

[Dagless]

"I'll tend you as a sexton"

Did lol.

 

[Gough]

Why spend your time fretting about something that will come to all of us? It's life's last great adventure as far as I am concerned.

 

[Gasometer]

What I want to know, is that if heaven or hell do exist, what form do you take to the afterlife? The form you died in? Which could be a frail old man, or a healthy young male that was killed in a freak accident? If you die as an elderly person, do you revert back to your healthier days in heaven?

Death scares me, but what else scares me is the thought of living for eternity, and the world going on forever and a day.

I think the thing about death is knowing what you are going to miss when you are gone...family, friends, living. Missing all of that...

Actually the one movie in the past decade that crushed me was 'the Lovely Bones'....esp the ending.

 

[Kreuuuzeurns]

What was life like before I was born? I don't know I can't remember, I'd assume it'll be the same for death.
Not a worry for me personally, it's natural.

 

[Milang_Panthers]

Have had four people from our year group at school die in car accidents since we left (Graduated in 09) It certainly makes you think about life in a different way!

 

[MF]

“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”- Marcus Aurelius

I contemplate death pretty much every day and I find it to be one of the most helpful, insightful ways to spend a few minutes time.

I imagine the experience of death will be much like how I experienced things before I was born. Nothing to worry about, Nothing to care about.

I'm sure the parts that assemble me will be dispersed and go somewhere else to make up something else. That's all anyone really needs to know.

 

[HirdyLannister]

My greatest fear in life is death.
The thought of it scares me no end.
Im not religious in any way, so my belief is that once you die, thats it, you are no more.
Just the thought of no longer existing is very hard for me to fathom.

A part of me wishes that there is an afterlife of some sort, and that you are re-incarnated, but i cant bring myself to believe in this fantasy.

I think of death on a regular basis, maybe once a day, but not for too long. I dont want to live my life worrying about death.

I just hope my death is short and sharp, and i dont have the chance to think it over too much

Are you me? You nailed the description of it for me with that post bar how often I think about it.

For me...
Scared of dying? No as I'm still alive at that point.
Scared of death? Absolutely shit bricks about it and if I think about it to long I get stuck in the loop.
Afterlife? No, it's blank of nothing but can't fathom the thought of no brain function.

Thanks for this thread now where are those razor blades....

 

[Catfish Alley]

You'll still be around in some form. Not conscious thought but the saying 'dust to dust' holds true. Your atoms continue. Every person on the planet contains some atoms of Ghangis Khan, Shakespear or any other historical figure. We are all part of a big dance - might as well embrace it

 

[HirdyLannister]

I would rather spend eternity in endless torment and indescribable pain/anguish in the worst possible manifestation of some form of afterlife than to simply cease to exist.

Unfortunately I cannot see any logical explanation for anything other than nothingness.

Very scary.

It's funny, the act of dying isn't much to me. It's what happens after - or lack there of - that scares me.

You stole the exact words out of my mouth, give me eternity of pain in the after life because then at least one know/feel something after death.

It's good to see I'm not the only one who has this view, even though it sounds twisted.

 

[Engimal]

Bump. I think about death most nights and it scares me, the fact that one day I'll die and my consciousness won't exist. Never again in time will I think another thought and there's nothing I can do about it.

Sorta makes me sad to think that one of my best friends who died of Leukemia at 14 never got to experience being an adult, or even being a teenager really.

 

[raskolnikov]

I'm actually less scared of death as I get older and closer to it. I'm agnostic, leaning towards skepticism, about an afterlife but it doesn't bother me either way. The idea of eternal life is an attractive one in some ways but sitting on a cloud playing a harp doesn't appeal to me.

 

[Engimal]

I'm actually less scared of death as I get older and closer to it. I'm agnostic, leaning towards skepticism, about an afterlife but it doesn't bother me either way. The idea of eternal life is an attractive one in some ways but sitting on a cloud playing a harp doesn't appeal to me.

The closer people are to death, the less it seems to bother them. I know my grandmother wasn't scared as she approached it.

 

[Silent Alarm]

I'm actually less scared of death as I get older and closer to it. I'm agnostic, leaning towards skepticism, about an afterlife but it doesn't bother me either way. The idea of eternal life is an attractive one in some ways but sitting on a cloud playing a harp doesn't appeal to me.

Who wants to live eternally? Sounds boring. I think ten years of childhood is enough, ten years of teenagehood was fun but I don't think I'll need that again, and now I have ten years in my 20s. I think it's a good amount of time for each distinctly different period of your existence. I used to think about death every single night from age 15, then in first year uni I just realised it no longer was curious or interesting for me. I grew bored of thinking about it. I think I over thought it and exhausted all the pondering I could give it. I really hold no fear over it. I'm cool with it.

As someone who ticked to 20 lately, I am anxious about other things in life: Have I been in uni too long? Will I get a good job? Am I going to be looking for a girl when I'm 35? Should I move somewhere else? Do I need to do more? I'm just under the extremely privileged and uninteresting, stock angst of 20-somethings. Which is cool and healthy and normal and a rite of passage and it'll probably further me. Hopefully. But I do worry about regret.

Life goes very fast though. That's my grasp at 20. I remember my Dad saying it a few times when I was younger and it conditioned me to accept it. But now I totally understand what he meant. It goes so fast. I can't believe how relatively long enough recent things were. So in terms of mortality, ageing is the scariest. But I can barely sit down and philosophise it. The ticking clock barely gets me curious these days.

The closer people are to death, the less it seems to bother them. I know my grandmother wasn't scared as she approached it.

I think by the time you're 70-odd you've experienced a lot. You've had so many variants of highs and lows and all emotions sideways, what else is there? I don't want to say you'll be bored by death, but I've thought that maybe you've had so much of life what's left won't surprise you – and maybe you'll even end up curious about death and wanting to be certain of what it is. Not to mention the fact that you've probably outlived a few friends and you've seen your kids grow up (and maybe have their own).

 

[Engimal]

I think by the time you're 70-odd you've experienced a lot. You've had so many variants of highs and lows and all emotions sideways, what else is there? I don't want to say you'll be bored by death, but I've thought that maybe you've had so much of life what's left won't surprise you – and maybe you'll even end up curious about death and wanting to be certain of what it is. Not to mention the fact that you've probably outlived a few friends and you've seen your kids grow up (and maybe have their own).

That's a very good point. I think death is one of those things that nobody likes to talk about. Whenever I bring up the topic to my friends, they get a little uncomfortable but since I've had this death anxiety since I was 13, it helps just to talk about it. Even posting this now I feel a little better. Same with the 'anxiety' thread on the Lifestyle board.

 

[Smiling Buddha]

Death, insofar as most people most people seem to mean when they use the term, is a nonsensical concept.

There is nothing to fear. The future, just like the past, does not really exist.

Only now does, so why worry?

 

[Engimal]

Death, insofar as most people most people seem to mean when they use the term, is a nonsensical concept.

There is nothing to fear. The future, just like the past, does not really exist.

Only now does, so why worry?

How is there nothing to fear? I won't ever think a conscious thought ever again.

 

[JD11]

How is there nothing to fear? I won't ever think a conscious thought ever again.

You won't have a consciousness to be aware of "thinking" or the lack thereof.

 

[Engimal]

You won't have a consciousness to be aware of "thinking" or the lack thereof.

And while that's true, I've got 60-70 years to be absolutely ****ing terrified about it.





Sent from beyond the grave (Tapatalk)

 

[RU_]

I am worried that for the rest of eternity all that will be visible is darkness.. that darkness is all we will see for eternity.

Sent from my GT-I9305T using Tapatalk 2

 

[Silent Alarm]

I am worried that for the rest of eternity all that will be visible is darkness.. that darkness is all we will see for eternity.

Sent from my GT-I9305T using Tapatalk 2

Do you remember that darkness before you were born? Was that so bad? Is it worth worrying about all of that? Because death in the way you're talking about it probably means the same as pre-life. Just nothing. In fact, I propose the notion that the 'nothing' of death is so pure and absolute that it's not even "nothing." We are sensory beings, we don't even know nothing, so the genuine nothing of death should have its own title free of the connotations we have.

How is there nothing to fear? I won't ever think a conscious thought ever again.

It'll happen so quickly you won't even know it. Why fear something you'll never experience? You'll probably never have to face Brett Lee. You're not scared of that. Death is so removed from life that you won't know you're not thinking, so why feel uneasy?

 

[FootyJunkie]

"I'll tend you as a sexton"

Did lol.