Death: Becoming nonexistant?

[LazyHermitCrab]

Just go with the flow if you're still something after death have fun exploring, if not then it doesn't matter.... Since we're techniqually alive or whatever i guess the meaning of life is to share your feelings with others and make connections which can be difficult at times, and also just enjoying whatever i mean if none of us went to school or never worked we would have short lives and live in a cave somewhere... which may sound okay but no shower, diseases, etc. it just works better if we try even if we don't become magical and with more meaning in the end... anything can have meaning now, you don't have to be a supernatural superhero after death for meaning

 

[Pookah]

I thought about this and here's my opinion: I think it has to do with the invention of progress, ever present in a more and more occidentalized world.

The notion that there will always be a "better tomorrow" is chaotic and contradicting to our nature. When humans left tradition, and a life of contemplation and admiration to their surroundings, they felt they were gods and could shape the world to their liking, but it all ends tragically when death comes and so we pose this questions about something we can't grasp, and this leads us to fear and disappointment and being pissed off about how bad life is cause it leads to nothingness.
Perhaps we don't have to have a point in life other than just living.

I'm thinking more along the lines of this:

"It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts. Every man is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour." - H.D. Thoreau

My 2¢

Haha old thread is old. ^_^ I didn't think you'd post!

Yes maybe there was a simpler time. Maybe all this progress is what has made so many of us depressed. The competition aspects, stress etc too.

It was easier to believe in religion once upon a time too, so that might have taken this particular burden away. I have a hard time accepting what I cannot be completely sure of so my mind wanders from time to time thinking of the most cynical thoughts. I find it still going there despite efforts to suppress it.

Still find it upsetting to think there won't be a time in the future when I can be with the people I care for anymore. They would be just gone, I would be just gone.

 

[Pookah]

Just go with the flow if you're still something after death have fun exploring, if not then it doesn't matter.... Since we're techniqually alive or whatever i guess the meaning of life is to share your feelings with others and make connections which can be difficult at times, and also just enjoying whatever i mean if none of us went to school or never worked we would have short lives and live in a cave somewhere... which may sound okay but no shower, diseases, etc. it just works better if we try even if we don't become magical and with more meaning in the end... anything can have meaning now, you don't have to be a supernatural superhero after death for meaning

I suppose I just haven't accepted it yet. I'm not sure I can. Stubborn I suppose.

I know a lot of it is the depression talking. If I was happier I'd have less inclination to think this way probably.

 

[Beatrice]

I know a lot of it is the depression talking. If I was happier I'd have less inclination to think this way probably.

Yes, I agree with this. You know you're depressed when you constantly find your mind drifting to thoughts such as the futility of life (or perhaps it is those thoughts which are causing you to be depressed, but I think more often the thoughts follow the depression).

 

[Pookah]

Yes, I agree with this. You know you're depressed when you constantly find your mind drifting to thoughts such as the futility of life (or perhaps it is those thoughts which are causing you to be depressed, but I think more often the thoughts follow the depression).

Yeah happier people don't seem to dwell as much on this type of thing do they?

 

[-lonestar-]

I think alot like you pooka, I ponder our existance, refuse to believe we are the product of some cosmic random bang, it seems too planned. I'm not religious, I apreciate what religions can teach but I'm more into facts.

The best we can do to make our existance not so sad or boring is to find activities that make it fun, I really refuse to be a mindless zombie that just works so the ones above me get rich as I struggle, I joke that perhaps I died and went to hell, for this existance is not a fun one living with SA.

I could go on forever about, how space is expanding, and how beautiful it is, and what beauty exists on earth. I often hope for other intelligent life forms because the universe is too immense, and it has laws that support life here, I wish to see proof of this before i perish,life has to be about something beyond this realm.

Other times I wonder about reincarnation, but only of human form. Like our spirits leave our bodies in death but if we did good in this life our next life will be a happier easier one and vice-versa. This types of thoughts give me a glimmer of hope,wonder if there is alternate dimensions, where a version of me has a girlfriend and an eventful life.

If I were wealthy, I could assure my children would not suffer as I have, I dont cherish money I cherish the ease money brings, I dream of a career where I won't feel as a slave and life will have many happy moments, and I'll never have to cry myself to sleep thinking about how the years passed without having anything to show for it, and have thought of suicide but could never do it. Thus I refuse to start a familly unless I have the career to assure my offspring live right.

Thinking of suicide leaves me with the thoughts of the pain inflicted on the familly I care for and love is enough for me to go on suffering, and try to make life a better existance. I really do hope there is a spirit that doesn't ever have to live the mundane sad existance humans dread. Where we exist in euphoria forever.

Heres a list of things that I feel humans need to be happy.

Love, friends, familly, a career they feel passionate about, imagination, exercise, toys, strong beliefs, confidence, no stress.

If life is lived to eventually be nothing, then so be it, but lets have fun before the curtains drop!

ofcourse these are just my beliefs.

 

[MikeyC]

I don't really like to think about what happens after I die, but I like to think there's such thing as reincarnation, as silly as it might suggest.

Thinking about life depresses me too. We get up, go to work, eat, drink, go home, sleep. Repeat for 50 years. I find life to be worthless, unfortunately. ::

 

[RonFrank]

Going through this, i found myself looking at people around me and wondering if they ever felt what im feeling right now? Especially people way older than me.

Its good to find people here going through the same thing im going through, but i would feel better if i can find someone to talk to face to face (without going to a therapist)

 

[theslowesthand]

Yeah happier people don't seem to dwell as much on this type of thing do they?

The happiest people are the most "deluded".


I've recently realized, amidst the deep, dark depths of depression, that my whole view of life, birth, death, people, world .. has been COMPLETELY FALSE. I have been living in with this "illusion" that most things are permanent, i have much control over my life, death of people/animals/things is a "bad" thing, i am my mind & body, things are as they appear to my senses, life is the "realest" thing there is, etc, etc. I really wish i hadn't spent close to 40 years creating this "illusion", as in hindsight it has caused me much suffering, and also it is really really hard to break out of. But better late than never.

So yes, lately i've been doing much reading on religion, spirituality, metaphysics, & such. And the "basic consensus" is that life is a kind of "school" for the evolution of our souls, for them to learn whatever lessons they have yet to learn, to rise above the ego, to rise in level of "consciousness". The ultimate goal is to "reunite" with "The Source" (God or whatever you want to call it), by "remembering" that we are still part of the Source (the idea or feeling that we are separate from Source is an deliberately-created illusion). Until that time, we will keep being "reincarnated" back into human lives.

 

[NP88]

Sometimes after a long day of work I lay awake in my bed in the darkness and think about how f'd up and disgustingly ordinary the cycle of life is. I can't believe so many human beings are forced to stifle themselves so completely just so they can maintain a job to "survive." A job that might not pay well and that they might hate.

You go to school, get a job, work until retirement (if you can afford it) and then you start the impending countdown to death. It doesn't seem that fulfilling at all to me.

When I think of this I can't imagine why I'd want to conform to the societal norm of having kids when it is possibly forcing them to live that same life. This with no guarantee of anything afterward.

This stream of consciousness leads to thinking about death. Life is short, and you never can know how short. What happens after? No one has proof. It scares me to think that it is a return to nonexistence. I don't remember anything before I was born (anything from early childhood really) so I am forced to assume that death will be like what was before my birth. Nothing.

It is so hard to grasp this idea. How can my consciousness and being just stop? What a cruel fate to be brought into existence against your will and forced to careen uncontrollably towards the end. (Mind you, whilst dealing with what for some is the horror of being alive at all.)

I find it hard to keep quiet about this. It is like you aren't supposed to bring this sort of thing up. You can't tell your parents you think they are selfish for bringing you into this. You can't rage against society for neatly regulating your life's activities until you die.

I'd like to separate my consciousness from my body so I know that I can really exist outside of it. I don't think I'd ever go back. I feel so limited. It would not matter if I reached the heights of what a human can achieve if it is all for nothing.

What also scares me is that the same thing awaits the people I love. I can't believe the people I have such strong feelings for cannot be protected from this inevitable thing looming over all our heads.

This all makes me so unhappy.

/end rambling

Interesting subject. Your right in that it is a societal taboo to question the nature of reality. Especially in the case life and death. Though I ask, is it not the nature of man to question his experience here? It seems that these questions are what make us unique as human beings. We would know nothing about the nature of anything if these curiositys were not able to be conjured by our minds. In other words it is a completely normal part of human evolution and of society. So this begs the question as to why the subject is taboo when it is an integral part of our continued existence. The shackles of the ego. We would like to believe that we are special. That we are as human beings in our corner of the milky way on our little blue dot are special. I believe because inherently through our ignorance and in turn fear we invented this idea .From this sprang religion. From religion, through the advent of scientific investigation, we are beginning to shed off its blinding effect with things we can know with certainty and are returning to a time when we did not believe to have all the answers. Just to give you an example :

[q]What also scares me is that the same thing awaits the people I love. I can't believe the people I have such strong feelings for cannot be protected from this inevitable thing looming over all our heads.[/q]

You have professed a desire to know what happens after death because the fear of losing loved ones and yourself in the 'eternal dreamless sleep' is unknowable and frightening. Unlike the devout religious person though you have also left the question open to interpretation rather then purporting to know the answer or believe that it is known. That in itself is a purpose if you would like to think of it as one. To know the unknown furthering the human race...


If a catalyst exists to begin the chain reaction of questioning the answer will inevitably, given enough time, be reached to the extent that it is knowable. At this current moment we are not, with our combined intelligence as a civilized race, able to fully understand the nature of life and death. The question is being asked. The answer will inevitably come as complete as it can be known to be.

You must be content with the answer that the meaning of life and death at this moment is unknowable by ourselves. Though this is no reason to have resentment towards the way society and life and everything operate because it makes you feel that life is meaningless. On the contrary life is full of meaning. It sparked into existence long ago and has continued to evolve through adaptation. From the big bang to when the evolutionary process began and now about 99% of all species that have ever existed are extinct. Yet we remain. We were a breath away from extinction at one point from major warming in Africa (70,000 years ago?) when around only 40,000 human survived. Yet we remain still. We are intelligent being capable of free will which is a rarity in the galaxy. We are lucky enough to be alive, we are lucky enough to have the power to creatively conceive ofchange and implement it in the world around us. No other known species can accomplish that feat to anywhere near the extent we can. In this way we have the ability to forge our own destiny. In this way we are powerful. An amazing concept when you think of just how vast space is. Estimated to be 400 billion galaxies. The milky way of which we reside is just one, our solar system is centered around just one star of countless billions.

In the end there is only two options to me. To ask the questions that are demanded of us by the nature of the reality leading to a consensus and pure understanding by all human being that the continuation of the species is our prime objective. Or to simply die out and like the 99% of extinct species on earth or Im sure the vast number of fledgling intellectually capable species out in the cosmos to never make past its infancy.

One more thing to add. You've never existed for billions of years, your short time is here then, you will cease to exist once again. It's not so frightening when you consider that you have been in a state of non existence already since the beginning of time.

To summarize : Don't worry about it, enjoy this brief flicker of existence as the truly astronomical rarity it is. Perspective is very powerful. And keep asking the questions. ;D

...Sorry If I over-thunk this. Sorry for rambling. Tend to go off on tangents. Enjoy it for what it's worth. Hopefully in some way it it helpful to you.

 

[montejocarlo]

It is so hard to grasp this idea.

maybe because it isn't for the mind to grasp.

How can my consciousness and being just stop?

how do you know it will?

 

[Boby]

Has anyone existed before they were born?
No.
Is anyone afraid because they didn't existed before they were born?
No.
So why should anyone be afraid of death(nonexistant)?
Everything that has an beginning has an end,it makes no sense to keep existing after death.
Also there is no mystery about death,it's a fact that your conscience it's 100% dependent of your brain processes.So if your brain is dead=your conscience is dead for good.There is no "if",no "nobody knows" there is only accepting the truth.People don't understand that desirability is not a prerequisite of truth.
Think about it, if you destroy an PC is that PC going to Heaven or any other bambojambo invented until now?No,of course not,if anyone would tell you that you will think he is cu-cu crazy.

 

[coyote]

we don't come INTO this world

we don't arrive here, magically, from another dimension *poof!*

we are born OF this world

created from the union of living cells

composed of the same elements as the earth and sky surrounding us

and so, when we die

our form merely recedes, becoming part of the greater whole once again

like sand ebbing back into the sea

to be deposited again upon another shore

 

[montejocarlo]

we don't come INTO this world

we don't arrive here, magically, from another dimension *poof!*

we are born OF this world

created from the union of living cells

composed of the same elements as the earth and sky surrounding us

and so, when we die

our form merely recedes, becoming part of the greater whole once again

like sand ebbing back into the sea

to be deposited again upon another shore

i love this

 

[Kinetik]

It's difficult to accept the pointlessness of our existence, but once we do, things get easier. We get too caught up in attaching meaning to everything. Sometimes things just 'are'. I am guilty of getting too wound up in the moment sometimes - I get too irritated with things and can't help but stress over mundane situations involving social interactions. But once I'm at home and relaxed/alone again, I become at peace with everything, including things like the meaningless of life and my own mortality.

It's like the old saying goes, life is a laugh, and death is the final joke.

 

[stevelee24]

the biggest mistake we make as human beings is the self belief that we are important. we really arnt i dont care who you are when you dead you dont matter anymore so just live your life the best you can and when its over its over nothing at all you can do about it.

life is very cheap and that goes for everyone i dont care how big your funeral is soon as that blows over its a gradual decent to being completely forgotten

 

[YellowBird]

i don't understand how those responds help someone who is suffering from existential depression?Whatever the facts are,i don't understand how someone deals with it with such indifference,personally that scares me more than the probability of not existing after death.

 

[stevelee24]

i don't understand how those responds help someone who is suffering from existential depression?Whatever the facts are,i don't understand how someone deals with it with such indifference,personally that scares me more than the probability of not existing after death.

well maybe its not really i good place to ask such questions as most on here probably suffer the same thing its like asking a manic depressive to cheer you up ::

 

[Pookah]

I still struggle with this from time to time. I try not to think of it, it expends a lot of mental energy. But I am always glad to talk about it, makes me feel less crazy.

 

[Pookah]

I appreciate this thorough response. I try to take solace in the things you mentioned the wonders of life and such (although I also can't ignore the horrors) I just sometimes feel it is unfair that I should be given life for this short period and then to have no control over what happens after. For a long time and still on and off I wished never to have been born and then I would not currently be experiencing this burden of fear and uncertainty.

Interesting subject. Your right in that it is a societal taboo to question the nature of reality. Especially in the case life and death. Though I ask, is it not the nature of man to question his experience here? It seems that these questions are what make us unique as human beings. We would know nothing about the nature of anything if these curiositys were not able to be conjured by our minds. In other words it is a completely normal part of human evolution and of society. So this begs the question as to why the subject is taboo when it is an integral part of our continued existence. The shackles of the ego. We would like to believe that we are special. That we are as human beings in our corner of the milky way on our little blue dot are special. I believe because inherently through our ignorance and in turn fear we invented this idea .From this sprang religion. From religion, through the advent of scientific investigation, we are beginning to shed off its blinding effect with things we can know with certainty and are returning to a time when we did not believe to have all the answers. Just to give you an example :

[q]What also scares me is that the same thing awaits the people I love. I can't believe the people I have such strong feelings for cannot be protected from this inevitable thing looming over all our heads.[/q]

You have professed a desire to know what happens after death because the fear of losing loved ones and yourself in the 'eternal dreamless sleep' is unknowable and frightening. Unlike the devout religious person though you have also left the question open to interpretation rather then purporting to know the answer or believe that it is known. That in itself is a purpose if you would like to think of it as one. To know the unknown furthering the human race...


If a catalyst exists to begin the chain reaction of questioning the answer will inevitably, given enough time, be reached to the extent that it is knowable. At this current moment we are not, with our combined intelligence as a civilized race, able to fully understand the nature of life and death. The question is being asked. The answer will inevitably come as complete as it can be known to be.

You must be content with the answer that the meaning of life and death at this moment is unknowable by ourselves. Though this is no reason to have resentment towards the way society and life and everything operate because it makes you feel that life is meaningless. On the contrary life is full of meaning. It sparked into existence long ago and has continued to evolve through adaptation. From the big bang to when the evolutionary process began and now about 99% of all species that have ever existed are extinct. Yet we remain. We were a breath away from extinction at one point from major warming in Africa (70,000 years ago?) when around only 40,000 human survived. Yet we remain still. We are intelligent being capable of free will which is a rarity in the galaxy. We are lucky enough to be alive, we are lucky enough to have the power to creatively conceive ofchange and implement it in the world around us. No other known species can accomplish that feat to anywhere near the extent we can. In this way we have the ability to forge our own destiny. In this way we are powerful. An amazing concept when you think of just how vast space is. Estimated to be 400 billion galaxies. The milky way of which we reside is just one, our solar system is centered around just one star of countless billions.

In the end there is only two options to me. To ask the questions that are demanded of us by the nature of the reality leading to a consensus and pure understanding by all human being that the continuation of the species is our prime objective. Or to simply die out and like the 99% of extinct species on earth or Im sure the vast number of fledgling intellectually capable species out in the cosmos to never make past its infancy.

One more thing to add. You've never existed for billions of years, your short time is here then, you will cease to exist once again. It's not so frightening when you consider that you have been in a state of non existence already since the beginning of time.

To summarize : Don't worry about it, enjoy this brief flicker of existence as the truly astronomical rarity it is. Perspective is very powerful. And keep asking the questions. ;D

...Sorry If I over-thunk this. Sorry for rambling. Tend to go off on tangents. Enjoy it for what it's worth. Hopefully in some way it it helpful to you.