Godless Dave

If I am indifferent to my own death, it's only because I can't do anything about it. I'd like to live two or three hundred years and see how history turns out (assuming good quality of life). And like almost all animals I have an instinctive fear of death. But what are you gonna do? Everybody dies sometime.

Lord Asriel

I am far from indifferent to the fact of my death. I welcome it, as without it, my life would have no meaning. As it is, I know there will come a day when I am no longer able to interact with the world and its people, and so I strive to ensure that something of myself will be left behind - even if it is only an impression in the minds of others.

The notion that some aspect of my identity will continue after my death is a) utterly unsupported by scientific evidence and b) unspeakable horrifying. Existing, in whatever fashion, for eternity is an almost uncomprehensibly horrible thought.

I didn't ask to be born and I won't ask to die. I'll just make the most of the time I have.

Jamie_L

I am absolutely terrified, nearly beyond my ability to cope with it, of my own death. Despite a great longing for an afterlife, I have never been able to convince myself that one is possible, much less even likely. As best I can tell, death is it.

I do my best to not think about my own death, beyond making sure my loved ones will be taken care of should I pop off unexpectedly. Since my death will come regardless of whether or not I worry about it, I don't worry. I just try to make sure I'm not wasting any of my life.

Jamie

Infinity Lover

Nirvana or absolute oblivion...

...hey, you won't be disapointed in either scenario.

And as far as hell goes; that's the wrong reason to do the right thing.

The question ultimately linked to this topic, is (drumroll) the existence of a soul.
I'd say it's all neural activity.

My 2 cts.
The mind is our ability to conclude we have one.
The soul is our desire to believe we have one.

Marcel.

wade-w

I wholeheartedly agree. The thought of existing forever frightens me much more than the thought that I will die one day. I think that even paradise would be unbearably boring after an epoch or so. (Well before that, actually)

One other thing: Why did you start this thread Vander? The wording of your OP is taken almost verbatim from another thread you started that got moved to RRP.

[ September 16, 2002: Message edited by: wade-w ]</p>

Blankman

quote:
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Originally posted by Lord Asriel:

The notion that some aspect of my identity will continue after my death is ... b) unspeakable horrifying. Existing, in whatever fashion, for eternity is an almost uncomprehensibly horrible thought.

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Ditto

Stephen T-B

There is something very reassuring about death: it happens to everyone.
One might be concerned about it if there were any possibility of consciousness surviving it, but for reasons excellently expressed already, there is none.
We survive our deaths only in the memories of those who knew us, and those memories grow weaker, and those people who knew us also die and then all that remains - if we've got descendants - our our genes.

HelenM

I don't understand why it horrifies you.

If your life now doesn't horrify you, then (by induction), wouldn't more of it not horrify you either?

Helen

General Zod

It's probably the prospect of an unending amount of it that is horrifying. You could literally do all there is to do in the Universe/Heaven/afterlife, then sit around for a few billion billion years, and STILL have unnumerable eons ahead of you.

Goliath

If a few minutes of rainfall can be good (for farmers, growing grass, etc), then wouldn't eternal rainfall not also benefit the Earth?

If it is very warm in Talahassee, Florida, and if it is warm exactly 5 feet away from Talahassee, and if it is still warm 10 feet away....then why isn't it as warm up here in ND?

If two aspirin can get rid of a headache, then why won't an infinite number of aspirin cure a headache more effectively?



More isn't always better, Helen. And (as the second example shows), inductive arguments don't always work.

Sincerely,

Goliath