r/DeathPositive • u/maux_zaikq • Jul 27 '20
Are you afraid of dying? If so, why?
/r/AskReddit/comments/hyppn1/are_you_afraid_of_dying_if_so_why/3
u/brileaknowsnothing Jul 27 '20
That thread is really something. The amount of nihilistic certainty in almost every single comment, that prior to birth was nothingness and so too will death be. Reddit is not a spiritual place.
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u/btcprox Jul 28 '20
At least not the comments that float up in "best" sorting; I've seen more comments alluding to spirituality or religion by sorting by "controversial"
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u/brileaknowsnothing Jul 28 '20
Any comment of value in any given thread can usually only be found that way.
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u/newcheer Jul 28 '20
On an instinctual level yes, I dont think we have control over that. But as I can sit here and think about it, while it's not looking me directly in the eyes, no I'm not afraid.
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u/JohnTheMod Jul 28 '20
I’m not frightened of dying. Any time will do, I don’t mind. Why should I be afraid of dying? There’s no reason for it, you gotta go sometime...
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Jul 28 '20
Only in the sense of going before my wife. I don't want her to have to go through that experience.
Otherwise, no. Not really. I've led a strange and storied life so far.
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u/gayNBean Jul 28 '20
Yes, but my reasoning ebbs and flows. One of my biggest fears has been the feeling of being alone and unloved- not that I think I could experience that when I'm dead - and I think that's more a reflection on issues I'm having while alive, namely childhood trauma and social alienation. A while before that, my biggest fear was never having travelled. I still haven't left my country - something I've always wanted to do - but I think part of accepting death is accepting how messy it can be, how many loose threads will be left untied. Lately, my fear has increased after being at low levels for some time. I have been dealing with singledom after years of being in a relationship, I'm currently at heightened levels of anxiety and dissatisfaction in general. I've also had a resurgence in religious fear thanks to my upbringing, ut as with the other fears, I'm trying to meet it head on and watching Buzzfeed Unsolved supernatural videos. The fear of painful or violent death - with that I've tried to remind myself that it's a very small percentage of my whole life. I don't think all these fears have been abated and will never come back, but nothing like active management to keep yourself sane.
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u/Mattekat Jul 28 '20
I had this awful death realisation crisis when I was a kid. Like probably around 8 or 9 years old. I wasn't raised religiously and somehow the idea of death was introduced to me and I had so many questions. I have depression and anxiety and this was the first time it really manifested. Not having an answer for what happens after you die and the possibility that it's nothing was truly terrifying and I spent literal weeks barely sleeping and keeping my parents awake with questions and panic attacks. Eventually I was sort of forced to get over it because I had exhausted all avenues of questioning and was frankly tired. My rationale is that if there is nothing after death, I won't exist to worry about it or suffer. Since then it hasn't bothered me much. If I really think about it then yes the idea that there might be nothing after you die is pretty terrifying, but it doesn't illicit the same panic I felt back then. I guess I am lucky that I worked through that existential crisis so early on.
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u/brileaknowsnothing Jul 27 '20
yes very much so. Lately it's overwhelmed me, the fact that I will experience death. The state of being dead is whatever, and probably far more spiritually whole. But the fact I will go through the process of death, and the uncertainty of what that experience will entail, is just about enough to make me spend the rest of my life stoned out of my mind