General Question

spresto's avatar

Should we fear death?

Asked by spresto (903points) May 7th, 2009

Death is going to come to all of us. It is a natural part of life. Should we fear it?

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40 Answers

Judi's avatar

Depends. Where you going?

AstroChuck's avatar

I’m not too afraid of death, I just don’t want to be there when it happens. And the upshot to dying is that you don’t have to go to work the next day. :)

The_Compassionate_Heretic's avatar

It’s hard not to. Fear of death keeps people from doing foolish things that might get them killed so as a survival mechanism, fear is a good thing.

From an intellectual standpoint, shall we live our lives in fear in a vain attempt to stave off the inevitable? I think not.

PupnTaco's avatar

Only a poorly-timed or painful one.

asmonet's avatar

Not particularly.

dynamicduo's avatar

I don’t think it’s rational at all to fear the inevitability of death.

Ivan's avatar

Death doesn’t sound all that fun, so I fear it.

GAMBIT's avatar

No I don’t think death should be feared because it is inevitable. I think we should concentrate more on life.

exitnirvana's avatar

I don’t think I fear death itself, I guess only the ways in which can occur.

wundayatta's avatar

I don’t like the idea of death. It means I won’t be able to do anything any more. I don’t want my life to end. However, once I’m dead, I won’t be afraid, or feel anything or know anything. There will be no me any more. As long as I’m not anxious to die, I’m good. There have been times when I’ve wanted to be dead. I was not happy during those times. The main thing is, I don’t want to see death coming. I want to die unexpectedly. That way I can live every day as if there is forever.

Anatelostaxus's avatar

Death is but a mere abrupt interruption of a life long lesson when it’s reaching it’s apex of interest, to continue after a brief pause for recess…

spresto's avatar

@Anatelostaxus Hmmmmmmm. Mystic. Cool. : D

mammal's avatar

i think death should fear me ;)

syz's avatar

Seems like a waste of time – within limits, there’s nothing you can do about it anyway. I’ve got better things to do.

spresto's avatar

@mammal Nice! I love it.

spresto's avatar

@syz Well said. Go get’em

Seth's avatar

I’m a christian… so no.

Seth's avatar

Go to this website for more philosophy. http://www.soulpancake.com/

cak's avatar

No, I guess we shouldn’t fear death, but it’s perfectly normal to fear death. I used to fear it, but I realize that it’s something we will all do and we have zero control over when it happens.

I don’t fear death, I hate the thought of no longer having my life, but I don’t fear death.

spresto's avatar

@cak I have good news for you cak. No matter how it goes you won’t every have to think about it again after you are dead. lol.

Supacase's avatar

My immediate thought is no because it is inevitable and I kind of look forward to finding out what happens afterward. If it’s nothing, at least I won’t know it’s nothing so I can’t be disappointed.

That said, @The_Compassionate_Heretic has a good point. I must fear it in some capacity because I do my best to avoid it by being as safe as possible.

Simone_De_Beauvoir's avatar

also, just because we shouldn’t fear it doesn’t mean we don’t

oratio's avatar

I fear wasting my life, and feeling regret at the time I die. But not death itself.

Ricky's avatar

To fear death is to fear life.

AstroChuck's avatar

Oh, please.

Bagardbilla's avatar

“I was born out of nothingness as a mineral, I died. I was consumed and reborn in the plant world, I withered and died.
I was then was born an animal, I died and was reincarnated a man.
When have I become less from dying?
I shall pass from this world and will be reborn amongst angels”!
Jalal-uddin Rumi

BBSDTfamily's avatar

I’m a Christian, so my belief is that my life after death will be far better than my life here on Earth. Nothing to fear.

Urban's avatar

“Death is what makes life worth living.” I love Six Feet Under. It has such a deep meaning to me, but in general, I think it makes a lot of good points about death as well as life. I wouldn’t regret dying young – there’s only a few things I still want to do in life. But yeah, we all die – the people that fear it, I think for the most part fear it coming too early. I think after you get to a certain age, you’re more accepting of it, while at the same time, trying your best to avoid it since most have kids and loved ones they want to see live their life.

Death is beautiful to me and I have a seemingly unhealthy obsession with it. ::longing sigh::

knitfroggy's avatar

We shouldn’t fear death. It’s going to happen, so why waste time worrying about it.

I’m not scared of being dead, I guess is how to put it. I would be scared of having a long drawn out sickness tho. But the actual dying, I’m not so worried about.

reverie's avatar

No, not at all.

It’s going to happen at some point, regardless of whether you view it with fear – so what’s the point in wasting mental energy fretting about it?

kayysamm's avatar

No you shouldn’t fear death.
Because once you die, that’s it your done. You will have no care in the world or feelings. So while you DO have those feelings in the world be happy and do things you want to do.

Don’t play it safe just because you ‘might’ die, do things to have fun ! :)

Krag's avatar

I don’t fear what I have no control over.Death comes to us all. Why worry about dieing . Stress kills!When you do die it seldom comes without pain.Short of a stoke or instant death from an accident your body is shutting down. and pain is a part of that.No one knows what death really is.Whats beyond dieing ? Nothing? Peace? or another life? I do know I’ll take the stroke over a nursing home any day. I went through helping to take care of my parents and putting my mother in a nursing home. When death came to them it was painful. When they passed you knew the pain was gone. Don’t fear death. Make the most of life.

mattbrowne's avatar

We can’t force our brain to stop creating emotions. Fear is a primary emotion which included fear of danger and also fear of death. But our cortex i.e. our rational mind can issue a veto. We can use our web browser and type ‘I don’t fear death’ which generally makes sense. No need to torment ourselves constantly. But our brain will keep us busy and we can’t change that. When people are 70 or 80 the subject becomes less abstract and more concrete.

Bluefreedom's avatar

We should not fear death. The only thing to fear is fear itself. I think.

Kenyan's avatar

I personally am not scared of death…but if i could decide how i would want to die it would be in my sleep or on impact

i dont want to suffer

Anatelostaxus's avatar

( > to the original question )

depends on how you live.

nana098's avatar

im happy ill soon be at rest at peace blocked from the noise and harm of this world

livingchoice's avatar

YES if your life is not right with the Creator
NO if it is.

Hypocrisy_Central's avatar

One should not fear death if they know where they are going. If they don’t know, don’t know what happens after they die, maybe they should. If they believe they will go into some ”nothingness”, then they shouldn’t because by their belief they will not be around to think of the fact died much less what they did not get done or who they left here on Earth.

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