crocodile deathroll

A nice way around to paradox is to view yourself as a method and not an object. Other brains the universe have the potential performing the much the same function as this one. That is generating your sense of self into existence.
I find it quite plausible that you exist because you are dead, yet to be born, or even fail to be born in alternative existences, and it is impossible to view the world through the eyes of those alternative existences, because you are inextricably entangled with the neural memories of this one .


CDR

Joe V.

Here's my random thoughts worth 1/50th of one dollar. I don't consider a fear of death to be irrational. That fear is ingrained in all of us for a reason: survival of the species. If we didn't fear death, it would make us reckless and self-destructive. The belief in an afterlife that many Christians have might very well mean the death of our species, if not all life on the planet, because they sincerely believe there's a better life after this one, which may give them a false notion to be as reckless and self-destructive as they want, because, after all, God will work it all out in the end. That scares me more than any notions of death I've had.

- Joe

Priapus

I think anyone who says they don't fear death has never really thought about it. Either that, or they are much better about rationalizing and coming to grips with ultimate fears than I am. I would be stabbed, gutted, and burned eternally gladly if only I could retain consciousness. I would be tormented with every disease and pain a body can generate if only I could keep on in my thought. I would, once again, gladly go to hell over simply ceasing to exsist. The thought of no longer exsisting, of no longer possesing thought is just so horrific that I can't even stand to dwell on it for more than a few seconds at a time. I really think that outside of hard determinism, it is one of the few things that could push me over the edge into full-on insanity (instead of the pseudo-insanity that makes me post pointless comments on a message board).

Shadowy Man

Uh... I don't know about you, but I am not dead when I'm asleep. My body is still functioning and so is my brain. I can remember dreams that I have while I am asleep, in fact I remember the dreams I had last night. I can hear things that will wake me up and sometimes what I hear is even incorporated into my dreams.

Maybe you don't dream. Do you go to sleep and then wake up the next day with no recollection of dreams or any sensation of time having passed??

Jamie_L

I always sympathized with Emotional/Heathen Dawn's fear of death. There is not anything more terrifying to me than not existing. I have to control how carefully I think about it, or I start to have a panic attack - literally. It is an immeasurable terror.

And, quite frankly, I don't like sleep either. It bothers the hell out of me that I have to effectively cease existing every night. Again, I don't think about it too hard, because when I do, it really, really bothers me. It's not the same kind of fear, because I know I'll wake up again, or that I might have some actual experiences while sleeping (dreams), but death=sleep is not comforting, because I don't like not existing while I sleep either.

Existence is all I know. It's all I am. I don't want to not be me anymore. Of course I won't be around to be disturbed by my non-existence, but that doesn't change the fact that my existence will have come to an end. That I will never get to experience anything ever again.

Intellectually, I understand the arguements that I hear over and over again around here for why I should not fear death. But emotionally, they don't change a thing. I want to exist. Period. Death prevents me from doing that, and there's nothing I can do about it.

Jamie

Rational BAC

Supposedly we all dream---off and on in stages all night long. But I, like many others, do not remember my dreams as a general rule. The times I do remember dreams are when I wake up prematurely (say 5 in the morning) and then go back to sleep for an hour or so---------Those dreams I do remember and very vividly.

Milton

I have had to deal with this fear of death since childhood. I feared just not being myself anymore, not being who I am. And being who I am includes knowing the people I know, and everything else that sorrounds me.

But I find it extremely irrational to just believe in something that you consider illogical and irrational, just because you fear death.

EDIT:

By the way...

Though I believe in the ressurection, as a christian, I still believe in a form of non-existence. I believe the same person that I am will be ressurected, but I will be changed, and everything that I am now will be forgotten--possibly.

And I don't believe we go to heaven as soon as we die. I believe we just remain asleep. So my religious belief has not really solved my problem of fear of not being who I am, ceasing to exist as the consciousness that I am now.

Yet, I don't think of it too much, because (as someone just bove me said) I may be overtaken by some unhealthy fear (panic, perhaps). I remember I used to hate going to sleep when I was a kid.

Shadowy Man

I virtually always remember my dreams, or at least am aware that I have dreamt.

King Rat

Milton, aren't you a theist?

Milton

Yes. But I was making reference to emotional's constant claim that his beliefs were irrational.