How do you deal with fear of death?

As far as death itself goes, I actually find it peaceful. It's a release from all your worries, traumas, concerns, and anxieties. I think of it being similar to sleeping in a comfy bed at the end of a long busy day, where you were very productive and had a bunch of ups and downs, just exhausted and happy to finally get some rest.

With that said, I agree with those that say they're afraid of a slow painful death (such as cancer). I'm sure many of us have seen family or friends suffer through that, and have seen how terrible it is even for those people who were in good spirit throughout it.

The physical act of dying and the uncertainty of how it will happen can be unsettling, but conceptually leaving this world is not so bad. For non theists, most of us believe you don't have consciousness, so you don't know you're dead anyway. Just a black peaceful void. For theists you go to whatever heaven (or whatever you call it in your religion) as long as you arent a chomo, so that sounds alright to me if that's how it is.

Anyway, those of you concerned, just make the best of your time here. Shitpost, laugh at lolcows, and have fun.
 
I've been an avid reader of 'Near Death Experience' books over the years. Some of the authors I have read are Kenneth Ring, Michael Newton, and Elizabeth Kubler Ross, to name a few. Also, I follow some youtubers who interview people who have "died" and come back to tell the tale. Some experiences are heavenly, beyond human comprehension, while others sound hellish.

So, after years of aggregating and compiling testimonials, I feel like there's gotta be something there. A lot of times, these folks when out-of-body can later repeat things they heard and saw, while technically dead. Things like conversations between doctors and family members; in once instance, the person was privy to a convo nurses were having about what they would have for lunch that day. But get this, the nurses station was quite a ways away from the OR the person was in, and under normal circumstances, they would not have been able to hear that conversation.

So, yeah, it's mostly anecdotal stuff and irl I tend to shy away from having these convos with people. I am usually met with ridicule and mockery when I've mentioned this subject in the past.

I don't think that our society is ready to really dig deep on this one. Maybe in due time. The populace is still so shallow and seem to be more concerned about the next iphone release. Depressing.

As an addendum: if you wanna get really out there with this stuff, look into the 'reincarnation soul trap matrix', a theory that posits the Earth is a realm/dimension which is enclosed by an electrical grid, from which we can't escape; thus, creating the trap of reincarnation, whereby we keep coming down here, lifetime after lifetime, our memories from previous lives wiped and doomed to repeat our "karma", until we get it right.
 
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Being scared of the unknown is natural, so yeah I'm pretty scared of death. Another thing I was (and still a bit scared of to be honest- but that might be just me being more younger) is potentially losing my memories when I go into "the next life". One thing I say to myself is that "when one journey ends, another begins"; this thought has been doing a good job to keep my anxieties low.


Also here's a way to deal with anxiety in an optimal way. This method is to create a balance where it that doesn't let you bottle your feelings up, nor does it force you to dwell on your anxieties for too long.
  1. Get a journal and schedule a time where you will dwell on your anxiety, usually takes 10 to 20 min, but should be no longer than 1 hour.
  2. Then ponder at the anxious thoughts you had that day. Make a list of them.
  3. Then under that list, make a horizontal line and 'challenge' those thoughts.
  4. (Optional) Write down your anxiety level and your anxiety management level (in terms of how well you think you managed your anxiety.
So far it does a fantastic job on keeping muh mental health managed. This way you can spend 23.5 hours doing the things you want in life as opposed to freaking out 24/7. The PDF is attached that has more info on this stuff.
 

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Well, can you identify what it is about your faith that's leaving you lacking the type of answer that would grant you peace? There are plenty of answers out there, but there isn't another soul in this world who can do the work of finding it for you.

As an example, my own journey started from a completely different angle and with a very simple question: "What does it mean to love thy neighbor?"
In my efforts to answer that question (and I mean really deeply thoroughly answer it), I ended up taking quite a journey (one that I'm still on, frankly). Along the way, I found my answer for why death is truly not to be feared.

Your mileage may vary.

Try poking at the borders you've constructed with your beliefs. Fear (in this context) usually comes from a place of ignorance, so you may wish to test those borders and see how they might be strengthened. In doing so, perhaps your fear of death will also be alleviated.

I might be.

Nice, how'd you accomplish that?

>atheist
>pray


You're right, I am a little confused.
I don't know if there are any answers that would help me. I've never had any confidence that humans are capable of answering the big questions with any level of certainty. I know what I believe, and I can go through all the reasons for why. But I have to be the first to admit that I don't really KNOW anything, regardless of any compelling logical arguments. That just seems to be my nature.
 
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But I have to be the first to admit that I don't really KNOW anything, regardless of any compelling logical arguments. That just seems to be my nature.
Hey, man..that already puts you ahead of most. The more one finds out? The less one "knows". At least you're being honest about it. Wish I could help you more, but if you're truly compelled by this need? You will find your answer in due time. Have some faith, and don't be afraid to overturn some proverbial stones seeking answers. Belief and intent are everything.
 
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i'm not that afraid to die beyond normal survival instincts. although when i had covid i was more worried about my dog not having food and water until someone found out i was dead.

what i am more afflicted by and i don't quite know the solution to is the fear of people around me dying. i'm at the age where people who were adult figures in my life are dropping like flies. several of my friends have lost both their parents already, and i am in a constant state of dread that something will happen to my family members.
death is natural, and something i have accepted, and yet i'm so afraid of losing people i love. it keeps me up at night sometimes and i have a lot of paranoid intrusive thoughts about it.
 
So, after years of aggregating and compiling testimonials, I feel like there's gotta be something there. A lot of times, these folks when out-of-body can later repeat things they heard and saw, while technically dead. Things like conversations between doctors and family members; in once instance, the person was privy to a convo nurses were having about what they would have for lunch that day. But get this, the nurses station was quite a ways away from the OR the person was in, and under normal circumstances, they would not have been able to hear that conversation.
See, this is where I'm at too, but here's the problem: most of what others encounter on the other side, I have absolutely no interest in. No body? That fucking sucks! That means no earthly pleasures. Unlimited, unending bliss? How boring! Why would I find that anymore to my liking than undying hatred or limitless, endless amounts of any other emotion? Reuniting with loved ones? What loved ones? I had a grand total of two people in my life I am still absolutely sure after all these years really knew the meaning of the word, and they're both dead and would prolly be disappointed in how I turned out (neither were my mom or dad, FYI).

So I'm sorta in this weird dilemma where I'm pretty sure there's some sort of afterlife (that's not hell or purgatory) but find what's described therein completely unappealing.
 
Having almost died at various points in my life (most recent was 2 years ago after a pretty crazy workplace accident that I was incredibly lucky to have survived) I eventually came to realize that it can (and will) come at any time, any place and that I ultimately have no control over it. So there's no real point in worrying about it happening because of its inevitability, if anything it motivates me to live more and try and do more with my life so that when it does come I can at least have a moment to think about the good stuff I got to do in my life, be it travelling, spending time with loved ones, etc. before it's lights out for good.
 
Most of my anxiety towards death comes from whatever is waiting for me on the other side. I have no idea what to expect, and that's what makes me uneasy. Will I be put on trail and have every action I made in my life be scrutinized and audited by a tribunal of divine judges? Will I wake up in Hell? Will I be reborn into new life with my slate wiped clean? Or will I simply return to a state of nothingness as it was before I was born? The agony comes from spending your entire existence not knowing for sure you experience it.

Maybe it's because I lost two grandparents before I reached first grade, but my lifelong fascination and anxiety with death is more focused on the possibility of an afterlife than the act of dying itself.
 
We all die. It isn't that we die, but that we lived.

Have already faced death when I got the diagnosis of aortic stenosis about thirteen years ago. Unless treated by heart valve replacement, nearly always kills. Sometimes the only time it's known someone actually had aortic stenosis is during an autopsy.

Didn't fear death so much as I feared leaving the family behind, maybe never seeing kids getting married and having their own kids. Woke up the morning of the surgery wondering if today was going to be my last day on Earth. Got cleaned up. Son came in around 3 a.m., had driven all night after working all afternoon/evening. Didn't ask him or his sister to come. Simply could not tell them I was scared and I needed them.

Son took wife and me to hospital. Got prepped for surgery, IV started. Next thing I know, am waking up 36 hours later intubated in ICU, lots of tubes going in and out of me. See wife, son and a pal, gave a thumbs-up. I was alive.

Recovered quickly, tubes started coming out, left ICU for regular room, then home. That was almost ten years ago. Got to see both kids married, got to see grandchildren come along.

It is only natural to fear the unknown. In the end, all one can do is live the best life they can and trust in God.

Have faced death on another occasion previous to the heart stuff, but this one was up close and personal.
 
I've been an avid reader of 'Near Death Experience' books over the years.
I prefer to think of near death experiences as hallucinations, or at best spiritual visions. NDEs can contradict eachother. Even in the same culture.

Hallucinatory Near-Death Experiences » Internet Infidels (archive)

Penn and Teller also did a debunking of NDEs on "Penn & Teller: Bullshit!" awhile back. A tl;dw is that it's oxygen deprivation, with the example of NDE-like experiences training pilots may have in a centrifuge.

Also that creepy "being of light" or "pure unconditional love" in the tunnel of typical Western NDEs creeps me out. Always wants something from the NDEr.

reincarnation
"Reincarnation" really is another form of hell to me. Not as bad as "the lake of fire", but it's still BS. "Paying karmic debt" by suffering misery in another life is also BS. It's like an asshole hitting a dog with a newspaper for something the dog did last week and doesn't remember. It doesn't fix the problem that caused the "bad karma", and it can creates more "bad karma" and thus suffering. Like a murderer getting killed in another life by another murderer. To me, "karma" is revenge, not "justice".

I like the books "The Case Against Reincarnation" by James Webster, and "Reincarnation: A Critical Examination" by Paul Edwards.
 
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Life has taught me there are worse things than death. I used to be afraid of dying as a teenager but that all changed in adulthood as I went through many trials. I do have fears but none of them are death related, at least not for myself.

You will suffer far more in this life than you ever will in death. Death is a rest. I don't advocate suicide, that's not what I'm talking about here. I'm simply trying to get across that life is our hardest test.
 
Death is cool. I don't fear death and I definitely don't worship it--though i do enjoy the earthy feel of graveyards--but I am at peace with it. Death is just death. I have never understood why people are so anxious over dying. Once I'm dead, I can just sleep and people can just leave me a lone.
 
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I prefer to think of near death experiences as hallucinations, or at best spiritual visions. NDEs can contradict eachother. Even in the same culture.

Hallucinatory Near-Death Experiences » Internet Infidels (archive)

Penn and Teller also did a debunking of NDEs on "Penn & Teller: Bullshit!" awhile back. A tl;dw is that it's oxygen deprivation, with the example of NDE-like experiences training pilots may have in a centrifuge.

Also that creepy "being of light" or "pure unconditional love" in the tunnel of typical Western NDEs creeps me out. Always wants something from the NDEr.


"Reincarnation" really is another form of hell to me. Not as bad as "the lake of fire", but it's still BS. "Paying karmic debt" by suffering misery in another life is also BS. It's like an asshole hitting a dog with a newspaper for something the dog did last week and doesn't remember. It doesn't fix the problem that caused the "bad karma", and it can creates more "bad karma" and thus suffering. Like a murderer getting killed in another life by another murderer. To me, "karma" is revenge, not "justice".

I like the books "The Case Against Reincarnation" by James Webster, and "Reincarnation: A Critical Examination" by Paul Edwards.
My kingdom for a "Euphoric" rating.
 
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