Do you fear death?

I don’t fear the state of death—nonexistence—because “I” won’t exist.

I do fear old age and dying, both the pain and the incoherence, and I’m super-scared of my loved ones dying, including my cat. And I also don’t want to die. I like being alive and I think the world is becoming a better and better place. I want to stick around and see what happens.

I do fear it, but I only fear it when I truly think about it. I can really freak myself out when I think about it. I tear up a little bit too. So, I just keep myself occupied and try not to worry about it. I mean, what’s the sense in worrying about it and fearing if, if you know it’s going to happen? Live your life with no regrets and get what you can out of this life while you’re still alive right?

Yes. Because I like being alive. Because other people depend on me. Because I’m not done here yet. And because to me, not existing is scary.

No. I have a good bit to look forward to. I get a little particular on HOW I die, though.

I don’t fear it for the same reasons you state, it’s over. I do dread leaving life, but I think this would change if I were in severe pain or extremely lonely and sad. I think it is possible if I knew I was dying that I might become more fearful of the unknown, and especially of the process of dying.

Sitting here in front of the computer with lunch in my belly and sunlight coming through the window, I can easily convince myself that I’m not afraid of death. Put a gun to my temple and I might feel otherwise.

Not so much death as pain. Or getting those horrible death rattles, which I’ve seen a dying person go through.

death, pfft… if ya gotta go ya gotta go, I’m just not in any hurry to get there.

It needs to fear me. Because when that fella comes calling I’m going to go kicking & screaming. I hope the grim reaper works out. It may be a fair fight then. Life way to precious for some dude in a hooded cloak to extinguish without a seconds thought. I’ll go when i’m good & ready, don’t shove it’s impolite.

I am scared because I don’t know what happens to our soul after our bodies die

“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

-Dylan Thomas

That about sums it up.

I don’t fear death.. what I fear is not living. By that I mean i fear having a boring and uneventful life, not taking advantage of what life has to offer and living each day like it was my last. A boring life is what i fear the most. When I look back on my life I want to laugh, smile, cry… not yawn.

why fear the inevitable? I mean yeah it is widley unknown what occurs to us after our death whether we rot in the ground for eternity, or are doomed to walk the earth to atone for our past life, or maybe we are put into a heavenly place to live for eternity, perhaps burn in a hellish place, or just simply recycled into a new mind and body. i do not fear what is unknown only because after i die i will truly know what happens after death

As I alwasy say, I don’t fear death but I don’t want to die because I love my life.

Intensely. I enjoy existing.

“I have something to say, its better to burn out, than to fade away”

I fear the time when death is near, and I won’t want to go, so I’ll waste my last moments of life in fear and worry.

I feared death more when I was younger than I do now at 73. These days I fear illness and incapacitation (which thankfully have not yet visited me). I do not want to be a burden on my loved ones.

I’d embrace death. If someone were to point a gun at me right now, I’d laugh and dare him to pull the trigger.

Not being able to feel “paint” is worrisome. :-)

The only reason I would fear death is because it means you can’t do stuff anymore, and I really like doing stuff. Other than that, why fear the inevitable?

I’m terrified of dying. I’ve discussed this many times here on Fluther. It doesn’t interfere with my life, really, but it’s still very scary to me when I stop and think about it.

I welcome it with wide open arms and ask for it every night and day.

What I find more scary than death is all the awful man made paraphernalia surrounding death, like funerals. Morgues, and general tombstones and graves. I recently lost both parents, and I refused to have funerals. For lots of personal reasons. It’s natural to die though, its just the same feeling as being born. But some of us suffer, I hope I don’t, and I hope those that do have some sort of brain chemical reactions in order to cope with dying in a bad way. Like everything in life death is big business and I also hate that about death. But also there are people who are like angels when death is around you. I don’t fear death, I fear dying in a horrible way.

I look forward to it. I find it interesting.

IF YOU are not afraid of death I can’t see the reason of living.. If you are not afraid of death then you wouldnt live right now…

Edit: I totally, misunderstood!! thanks @JLeslie for helping me clarify <3

@ElleBee what you describe sounds like a big fear of losing your life; not death. It is two different things to me.

More than anything. I can’t imagine ever being okay with dying, no matter how old I am.

It’s not that I fear the pain; it’s that I think it will totally suck for me to no longer exist.

In feeling this way, it makes sense to me why people make up an afterlife. Unfortunately for me, I can’t buy into it.

@JLeslie : how are they different to you? I’m just curious. I see them as the same, to lose life is death..

I could have misunderstood this question also, but I have always thought “death” is the act of dying, while “dead” is well dead.

Is this question asking if we are afraid of being dead? as in we have already died? or is it asking us if we fear death, the act of dying?

Edit: AH! I just realized what you are saying, I have a fear of having my life taken away, while death is natural. In this case, I agree 100%!

I fear the fact that’s is possible it does just end. That’s why I fear death. I don’t want it to end.

@ElleBee you seemed to not want to die because you had things you still wanted to do, I think you said you had regrets, you were not ready to stop living yet and it terrified you. I can completely understand that, as I mentioned above I would dread leaving life right now, but I do not fear death (although I admitted if I knew I was dying I probably would be fearful of the unknown, even though I think there is nothing afterwards). To me the fear of death is the fear of what is on “the other side.” Fearing where you are going when you die, not the fear of life ending.

@lloydbird Noticed that to. Thought i’d gloss over it.

@JLeslie : thanks so much for clarifying. I really appreciate it <3 Much lurve to you!

No but i’d like for it to wait until after i feel like i lived a full life =)

I don’t fear it. But it saddens me greatly that I’ll never see what the far future holds…

@DrasticDreamer I’m with you on this. I love so many people and the Earth so much that I can’t imagine it just stopping. But, also, I don’t want it to be worse. I used to be religious and the fear of a hell like place is still very dominant in my imagination.

I want to live to a ripe old age and die quietly and peacefully in my sleep. I have no fear of what comes after for me. I want my children to celebrate my life and remember me fondly.

I fear having to cope with the death of my wife. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry.

Yes, but I fear my children dying before me more. I don’t really believe people who say they don’t fear it.

I’m with @evandad except I am not afraid to die. My mission has been complete, but no man should have to bury his children.

I don’t fear it because I have faith in a future beyond this mortal body.

I am a Christian, and have no fear of Death whatsoever.
Kinda looking forward to it.

everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die…...Peter Tosh

@filmfann – Serious question for you: I assume you mean by that, that you’re looking forward to going to Heaven? What exactly do you believe Heaven will be like? Another physical world like Earth, but everyone will be happy all of the time? Or everybody will be like spirits drifting around some vast “spirit realm?” Just curious what you believe, not trying to be mocking or anything :-)

I have come so close to dying so many times, in so many different ways, that Death seems almost like an old friend to me. And now I have incurable cancer from exposure to Agent Orange while I was in Vietnam for two years, so this question has a bit more immediacy for me than for many others on here. Yes, I think it’s normal for human beings to fear death. Those who say they do not fear death at all are, in my opinion, either out of touch with their own feelings, lying, or have a depth of belief I cannot muster. It’s essentially launching into the unknown. It is virtually impossible for the conscious mind to concieve of the cessation of consciousness, the mind shys away from it like a magnet of like polarity shys away from another. And yet… we really don’t know what will happen when we die. So there is fear, even though many spiritual belief systems do their best to reassure us.

The antidote for fear is love.

Even though I’m well out of 8th grade, I still remember my 8th grade teacher, an incredibly interesting person. She’s planned how she wants to, ideally, die. 70-something now, she almost embraces the thought of death, not because she doesn’t love life, just because she’s that kind of person; I think she sees death as just another challenge to get through. She wants to go to a very snowy place, dig herself a little snow-house, and let herself freeze there, because she’s heard it’s one of the most peaceful ways to go. Your body slowly shuts down, is numb of pain, and you slowly drift into an unconscience sleep….

Death kind of fascinates me. I have a very atheist father, and a quietly religious mother, so I’ve been kind of split my entire life. My dad would tell me when I was very young about how (he believes) there is nothing after life here. It use to scare me a lot. But it didn’t sit right with me. And the older I got, the more I wanted to be able to try and figure out what I believed, not what he told me to believe. So I thought about death a lot, imagined dying.

I’m not sure how much I fear death, partly because I’m not sure what I believe will happen after. Where I’m at right now, I don’t believe it’ll be the end completely… I don’t know how to put into words what I think will happen… so when anyone asks me my view on it, I don’t know how to answer. I know I believe something, but I can’t seem to find a way to get what that is across to anyone.

But what I realized when I was younger, and feel even stronger about now, is that I’d rather eventually die than live forever. Because if I’m around forever, what’s the point in doing anything? I could do it some time in the future, and I know I’ll eventually have done everything I possibly could do, thought everything I possibly could think, so many times I’d be sick of life. I’m sure that if I lived forever, I’d be longing to die. Forever’s too long for me… so what most people find comforting, an eternal afterlife, isn’t for me.

Would I be scared if I was told I’d die tomorrow? Probably. I wouldn’t want to know how I’d die. I would, but I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t want to see it coming, I don’t think. I’d be sad, because of all the time I’ve wasted recently lost in my own head, all the time I should’ve been spending with the people I love. I’d be worried how they’d all take it. I wouldn’t want them to mourn over me.

But even though I’d be scared, I can’t help but feeling like I’d be a little bit excited, if I was happier with where my life was, if I could leave being proud of who I was. And it’s for a stupid reason, really. But I have a burning curiosity on everything. Death is no exception. I’ve wondered for so long what will happen! And when it comes, I’ll finally know… so that’s how I’ve decided to look at death. It’ll be the final answer I get to this life I have right now, no matter what it winds up being.

I don’t fear death. I fear the method of dying.

Yes, I fear death, but more than that I fear not having lived to the fullest.

@HungryGuy I don’t believe in the Angels with Harps image. I am really unsure what it will be like, other than I will be with the Lord.
And I am very happy with that.

@LostInParadise

You are not far from true wisdom! : )

@filmfann
We come from the source, and return to the source.
Everything inbetween is lifes mystery. :-)

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve felt like I’ve done this all before.

I don’t fear death…I fear the thought of having to do this all again.

@SABOTEUR

Perhaps you should do it RIGHT this time then. : ))

@CaptainHarley: How’d you know that? I mean, how’d you know that that’s what I’ve secretly resolved to do? Do you know me? Have we met somewhere? Are you my guardian angel?

@SABOTEUR

No comment.

I fear not contributing to society enough before I die. I fear wasting my life. Death I don’t really fear, the nothingness seems quite peaceful.

I only fear death before I have lived; before I have found love, seen the world and brought children into it to carry on from where I leave. I fear disease at a young age especially when I hear stories of people who mysteriously get diagnosed with things like aneurysms or heart problems.

I fear not existing anymore.

No, I do not fear death; prolonged suffering I find not to be appealing but actual death no, when death takes you to a better realm then this, living is more curse than blessing.

^^This is why I told a Christian friend of mine who was criticizing the Muslims for their willingness to die for a cause, because they believe death is so fabulous, that the Christian belief in death isn’t much different. The only difference is I think most Christians do truly value life also. If a fanatic “Christian” zealot wanted to sell paradise in death to his followers and glory in dying he probably could get quite a few followers if we were in very desperate times anyway. We already do it to some extent for our military men, although the difference is we don’t pursposely send our men in suicide missions (although I’m sure some men have volunteered for missions that the likelihood of surviving were incredibly low. We know they have been ordered in on such missions). The Jews avoid and fight death in every way possible. That’s why there are so many Jewish doctors. LOL.

^ If a fanatic “Christian” zealot wanted to sell paradise in death to his followers and glory in dying he probably could get quite a few followers if we were in very desperate times anyway.
Elucidate please, in what way?