Fear of Death
I’ve come to think that fear of death is nothing more than a biological
mechanism that evolved to keep us alive. None of us has any
recollection of the situation before birth. I have yet to meet
anybody who feels traumatized by the state of affairs before they came
to exist. If existence is far superior to non-existence, we
should have negative reactions to non-existence regardless of whether
it occurs before or after our lives.
I wonder if this relates to why we value life so much more when it
already exists. Killing someone is a heinous crime. Denying
birth is a trivial affair. The debate over abortion is all about
whether or not abortion constitutes murder, not about the wrongs of
denying birth. After all, abstinence is also a form of denying
birth.
Which brings me to a question: would you prefer to die tomorrow or never have existed?
Andrew Jarvis
March 14, 2005 @ 1:26 pm
I think this is a simple “bird in hand” situation. Having no evidence that non existence has any value, we can only value what we know: life. Therefore, we will always value life and its preservation. I would say I would absolutely rather die tomorrow than never have existed because I value the life I have lead. This isn’t necessarily a matter of fear or a negative reaction to nonexistence, it’s a value judgment: we value life over all else because we have no reason to believe that non existence should have any value whatsoever.
Phillip Lipscy
March 15, 2005 @ 12:28 am
Thanks for the comment, Andrew. I guess it might just be a type of status quo bias, coupled with the fact that time only moves forward. This sort of begs the question of why the status quo is so valuable, though. If the value of non-existence is zero, that means existence has to be valuable to be sustained. I’m not convinced that all the people who choose to live every day assign a positive value to life. But maybe I’m wrong.
H~
March 19, 2005 @ 12:51 am
Now this is an interesting converstation. I would assert that there are many that have recollections of birth before this lifetime.
the traumatization you refer to is something that the spirit longs to forget in the next life. So while blame cannot be passed verbally you notice it in thier actions and feelings.
Perhaps existence is far superior to non-existence to some, but for others the opposite was true.
Why deny those that believe?
One must value that which it knows, else their be no one to do the valuing.
if by die tomorrow you mean to be reborn again then I take that option. If you mean to say to have never existed, what is the point. Obviously I exist on some plane, else we couldn’t have this discussion.
Andrew, right on brotha
However, I too am not convinced that all people who choose to live every day assign a positive value on life. The thing is, they could, they only need to be shown how to do it.
your status quo question is interesting as well. I guess it is the need for conformity, thing is evolution doesn’t allow for the status quo and requires it to be broken.
I don’t think the value of non-existence is zero. I think the value of non-existence = non-existence My question is how would you account for the equal sign in this equation?
H~
Stephen R. Porter
June 11, 2005 @ 4:37 pm
Well, we DO have something to compare it to, even though we have no recollection of what that something is. One thing we do know, however, is that HERE there are qualities and sensations of color, shape and form which we are reasonably certain we dont find…there. This makes them unique to life in THIS world and the experiences we find are pleasurable. In fact, all of the physical senses are pleasure centers: senses of smell and taste and sound, etc. that also exist only in THIS world and help to bring us joy. There are other things too that add value to our lives like new inventions, recreation and sports, and of course the physical love of others. And even though some people obviously derive more pleasure from life than others, as in love it is better to have lost than never have loved at all. I would rather die tomorrow if I had to choose.
Gabriel
July 30, 2005 @ 3:12 pm
I would say that nonexistance has value, and is important to life. It may be compared respectively to the title of this webpage, the void. It is from this void, this raw potential, that all form arises from and eventually returns to. It is the emptyness of the glass which makes it useful. Therefore, to deny the value of nonexistance, is to deny the very source of your being, and fear your eventual return.
KL
February 7, 2006 @ 10:44 am
We all fear death for more than evolutionary reasons: death is the definite end of our conscious experience. One doesn’t need to be tortured to know it wouldn’t be fun; even if we don’t know what death is, we’re clear on what is isn’t – life.
alex
February 12, 2006 @ 12:38 pm
we consist of body, mind, and spirit. Spirit also known as soul, life force,god. Remove that spirit from the body and the body will drop like a piece of meat and start to deterioate. our ego get control of our mind and body and it keeps us from living a spiritual life. many of us pecieve that we are a body with a soul, but in reality we are a spirit with a body. that spirit is the same for all of us. religion and fear of death are concepts of the ego.
Geoff
July 6, 2006 @ 9:30 pm
id rather die tommorrow
strangeTraveler
November 18, 2006 @ 11:17 pm
Fear is usually caused by anxiety and is exaggerated when their isanxiety and uncertainty about the future. Fear of death is merely fear of what lies ahead, beyond life. Fear of the possible futility of our lives and the consequences of our actions and consuming our entire lives engaging in vain and hedonistic pursuits.
You equate death with the beginning of non-existence.
Is there no existence after life? Maybe a HereAfter? Does the mere possibility of life after death further accentuates our fear of death?
If death was indeed the beginning of our end, then there would be no reason to fear death. Maybe our fear of death is a sign of events that might percipitate after we are six foot under, completely alone faced with the truth. (the truth of our meaning)
My conclusion: fear of death captures in the most tangible way man’s fear of contemplating (or many times even refusal to ruminate) his/her larger purpose of life and what might happen after death.
JENNIFER
April 25, 2007 @ 12:02 pm
do you think we just value human existence over non-existence or do you think we value existence in general? If the latter then do you think this could be important for animal ethics; as in if we value existence then we should not kill animals, perhaps unless it will better our own existence to a justifying degree? What do you think?
Doubting Thomas
May 2, 2007 @ 4:24 am
On the subject of fearing death…
Let me put it to you this way: do you fear dreamless sleep?
I’m not referring to typical sleep with dreams because in dreams you have a sort of confused semiconsciousness. In a dream you know that you exist apart from other things and you think you have “experiences.” So dream sleep is not like death.
However, when you have an episode of dreamless sleep (which happens pretty much every night), you are not conscious or aware of anything. Isn’t this the same state as being dead? Of course, the brain does things in your subconscious mind when you aren’t dreaming. And someone can wake you up with a loud noise – your brain is responsive. But you are not AWARE of anything! For all practical purposes, your conscious, aware self is in a state of nonexistence. Your body is alive, but in dreamless sleep, it is only a collection of functioning organs, water (over 50%) and lots of bacteria (90% of the cells in your body aren’t human cells, but microbes) – less even than an animal, which has a limited sense of awareness.
In fact, many people claim they never remember their dreams. From the moment they lost consciousness to the moment the alarm woke them up it seems to them to be a complete and utter void. Now, of course it wasn’t, because everyone dreams and we don’t remember most of our dreams. But in dreamless sleep, the void is there.
Falling asleep is quite pleasant when you are tired because it is natural. Death is natural, although dying may be less pleasant. We do not fear dreamless sleep, so why should we fear death, which leads to the same state of nonexistence?
Everyone knows the answer: you know you will wake up the next day when you fall asleep. But while you are in a dreamless sleep, do you know this and are comforted? Of course not! You aren’t aware or even thinking about anything! We only fear death beforehand because we know we will not wake up, but when we are dead, we cannot think about such things. When we are sleeping without dreaming, we cannot fear anything either, which is why death may not be bad after all – still, it won’t be good either. It will be nothing at all.
This does not end my fear of death – I’m just starting to think about the concept. I’m only 19 years old. I’m trying to savor every moment of youth because it’ll be gone soon.
In conclusion, my ideal death would be to die in my sleep without prior illness (of old age, if you will) because then I would not need to agonize so much beforehand. But few people are so lucky.
A.
July 25, 2007 @ 10:37 pm
I’m feeling very freaked out about death lately. It’s a hard fear to find comfort for…
What I actually fear is non-existance. I want to continue to exist. I hope there is existance after death- existance of my conciousness. Since I don’t know that, I’m just wondering how to live a joyful life and not be anxious about death.
mac mcrae
September 24, 2007 @ 6:28 am
I see many harmful myths being perpetuated in these comments. It is a known fact that no one really dies – they instead go to sugar candy mountain. It is a place where the sun always shines, blueberry kool-aide falls from the sky, song birds crap divinity and candy avalanches happen sporadically. There is such a mind boggling assortment of candy that you will never have the same piece twice. Actually there is so much sugar on sugar candy mountain and so few toothbrushes that everyone gets a permanent pair of metal dentures to chew with and some wd40 to keep them in working order. And when they become worn, you get another pair. So don’t fret, though our time on earth may be limited, our stay on sugar candy mountain will last forever and we will have all the candy we can eat.
sharkskin girl
September 26, 2007 @ 3:00 am
“I have yet to meet
anybody who feels traumatized by the state of affairs before they came
to exist.”
I’m not sure what you mean by this. Is it possible not to be traumatized by holocaust, genocide, atrocities committed before our birth just because they did not directly happen to us? Wouldn’t that then suggest that atrocities during our lifespan that do not directly concern us are not in themselves traumatizing? It would seem an intensely apolitical position to take, and one that is everyday reproduced in the lack of visibility of the war in Iraq in everyday life in the US. Can we not think of existence as a collective rather than singular entity, one that necessarily precedes and succeeds one’s individuality?
John
September 28, 2007 @ 1:52 pm
I wonder if there are many millions wh, like me are puzzled by, actually, obsess over the question of death. We do not regret that we were not alive before we were born, so why are we bothered by the fact that we will not be alive after death?
It is clear that our species would not exist if there were not some “hard wired” will to live. If we had the individual ability to make the rational choice of retturning to the condition before birth, I suspect that there would be many more suicides than there are.
The recent movie about the penguins of Antartica was amazingly well photographed and beautiful to watch, but it portrayed a species whos only purpose seemed to be seal food. They lived an entirely terrible existance, doing nothing but survive the harshest climate in the world, until the opportunity came to dive into the frigid water to be eaten by the waiting seals. This is an example of the powere of the will to live gone amuck. They seem to live only because the will to live left no other choice.
So – why do we choose to live if we believe that there is a better life after death? I don’t have the statistics, but I suspect that the suicide rate of believing Christians is no greater than among atheists. I have searched and found no prohibition of suicide in the Bible. I know that there are some Christian denominations that prohibit suicide, but I do not think that there is a valid biblical basis.
Eileen
November 5, 2007 @ 11:08 am
I’ve been feeling the same way lately too. I’ve never seemed to think about death too much. I knew it would happen to me but I felt comfortable that when it did it would simply be that my time was up and that I would then go to that better place. I grew up Catholic and was given the belief at an early age that there is an after-life. Just recently for some reason, I’ve been strongly questioning my religion as well as whether or not there exists an after-life. This may be why my fear of death has grown just recently. I no longer believe that there may be a continued existance of my conciousness, or my soul. I desperately want to believe that there will be, but for some reason having to question it often keeps me up late at night in utter terror for what will happen to my mind and soul and thought process for when I die. The fear comes from more than just the physical discomfort that may exist, but the loss and effect of my mentality and soul for when I die. Does anyone else feel this way?
Mike
December 1, 2007 @ 9:20 pm
Ahh. The fear of death. It will keep you up at night. That’s for sure. No way around that.
This is a wonderful thread. I’ve really enjoyed reading all the different thoughts and comments that people have posted.
Do we put more value on existence? Sure. Because we exist. This makes sense. If we didn’t exist, it’d be hard for us to place any value on anything.
But the value of non-existence is real, as noted above. The universe, to the best of our knowledge, arose out of nothing. So too do we. The empty glass analogy, I liked. Very nice.
One of the things I’ve always been interested in is the reason why we are aware of our deaths. is this just a by-product of our evolutionary process, through which we became self aware? Or, does it serve an evolutionary function in and of itself, helping those who are aware that death is out there make sure they accomplish things (like passing on their DNA) while they’re alive?
My hunch is the former is true. But I’d love to hear other thoughts.
TANUSHREE BISWAS
December 13, 2007 @ 2:30 am
This is just to reconsider the value of non-existence. Isnt the non-being of tommorow in terms of our posiibilities, a force of motivation. Isnt it that it is the void in our being, the source of desire and aversion. Doesnt non-existent influence our actions more than what is?
antonio
January 22, 2008 @ 11:17 pm
I don´t think there´s any argument that can ease the fear of death, unless one wants to fool himself. The (perhaps) well-intentioned people who propose us to celebrate the joy of life, or to take refuge in a life-after-death expectation use a human logic adequated only to daily matters. Humans, for some strange reason, think they must have some afterlife, and deny the animals the same fate (remember the thousands of chickens that are “sacrificed” every day; will they survive bodily death?). Of course, there is hypnosis, and drugs we can take to blur this feeling. I don´t want to follow this course; I´d feel I was being brainwashed.Do you fear death, and have fits of panic when you think about it? So do I. Let´s shake hands, my friend, and accept the fact that there´s no way out.
scott
February 21, 2008 @ 6:06 am
I never thought about death, not seriously anyway, until this year. I’m 29. Life seemed to move so slowly until I was about 21 so I figured death was something I’d never have to think about. Then I blinked and I was 29.
I too have a fear of non-existence. I like living. I want to live forever, to keep waking up every morning and enjoying my mundane life because it’s what I know, it’s comfortable, and feels good. I don’t want to cease to be. I don’t have a hard life, I live well, I own a successful company, and I don’t have anyone to answer to. I can travel when and where I want to, and I love my family and my dogs. Who would want to leave that?
Yes of course I consider that there may be a higher power (since it seems impossible that all that we know, life, the DNA programming of living things, just sprang up at random without some kind of guiding power), but how do I know that the higher power wishes to preserve my consciousness beyond my death? Maybe that’s just not its priority?
The ONLY comfort I came up with is the thought that I didn’t exist before I was born – before I was born, I was non-existent for billions and billions of years until one day I existed for 29+ years – a mere teeny snapshot of time, then went back to the state I was in for many more billions of years. In fact if I cease to be again, then I will be unaware of the passage of time so in essence, time itself and all life and the universe will essentially end the moment I die, as far as I’m aware.
That, and the thinking that death must be like a deep sleep and as stated above, deep sleep isn’t scary but the thought of never waking up, is.
I do think that death is something we can prevent. Our bodies are machines, and we are intelligent beings developing technology at a feverish pace. We already know that aging is a disease, and we are eradicating illnesses and medical conditions daily. We even know how to freeze people’s brains until such time as technology can repair the brain and give that person a cloned body from their DNA. I have to admit, the freezing idea sounds good to me, though if it did work, it would be freaky to wake up to a radically different world.
I don’t know if I will ever accept death. I don’t accept death when those I love die. I rebel against it and get angry at it. It’s the one thing I have no control of and can’t seem to stop. I wish I could accept it and have peace with it but something in me makes me want to fight it with every ounce of strength. Surely then, since we’re biologically programmed to hang on to life, life must be better than non-existence.
simon
March 6, 2008 @ 11:11 am
If one looks at the concept of identity what does one find? This being both a universal and topical subject with many ‘experts’ and commentators chipping in. One suggestion premised on DID (lDisassociated Identity Disorder) premises that we have no identity (not born with one anyway) and therefore we are a blank canvas – following on from the observation that like the universe we come from nothing. What we adopt (I know, there is always the nature/nurture argument) in our lives becomes the lables that then make up our identities into which we slip into creatures of habit holding on metaphorically (though more often literally) to our sense of ‘value/s’ and ego until we are tipped over into the ‘void’ back into nothingness…I should say that this is me just conjecturing. And then again, what thoughts on the “law of attraction” as it relates to the living and therefore to the binary opposite: death?
Erin
April 8, 2008 @ 11:09 pm
*raises hand* I’m another up-late-at-night, panic-stricken-at-the-thought-of-nonexistence person. I don’t want to feel this way, and I try to consider it rationally, but this sickening sort of terror just kicks in whenever I start thinking about not existing any longer. I can’t stop thinking about it, and it scares the, um, life out of me. I would like to believe that my consciousness will stay intact after my body dies, but I really don’t think I do believe that. Honestly, I’m so unbelievably scared not to BE. All the memories and experiences and thoughts and emotions that (I feel) make me who I am, just … gone.
Pablo
May 16, 2008 @ 2:57 am
Hello from Argentina, everyone!
I am not at all afraid of ceasing to exist. And I’m also glad to find that that seems to be a rational attitude to adopt (as per the Epicurean argument, which I had reasoned out for myself even before reading about it). Perhaps I was at some point in my childhood, but it is even difficult to recollect that feeling clearly. It does not make sense to me now.
But there remains a fear strictly of death, besides the pain and decay issue, and such fear is due to the fact that death shortens the time I have to do and live many things I want to do and live. If that time is a long way away, it doesn’t worry me much. But if someone informed me that I had only a few hours left, I could not live those hours just as if I hadn’t been told.
It’s not what might happen after life that worries me, but rather, what might not happen before.
And one never has enough time. How much is enough? That’s what life’s training has to be all about. Knowing that time is running out is what fuels me in my endeavours. I am a musician, and the fear of playing badly makes me study harder before the concert. Likewise, the fear of death must make us undertake whatever it is that has meaning for us right now in the present with our full being. And also, contemplating ourselves to the outmost (our posture, our breathing) can make us forget ourselves. When I forget myself there is no one to do de fearing.
Will
August 9, 2008 @ 9:45 pm
It is a meaningless statement to make a proposition about something you do not have an experience attached too. Anything that does not have an experience tied to it is absolutely and purely subjective and meaningless.
Shane Micael Davey
September 28, 2008 @ 12:07 am
I’m coming 21 in a few months and it wasn’t until this time last year i ever gave the issue any daily thought. My grandfather took a stroke, and my family and I were told if he were to make it through he would be left disabled. Two days later he died, everyone went home to get changed and wash and I was on the one in the hospital room when it happened. He died holding my hand, and its something I never want to experience again.
Since that day happened last year I have been thinking about death ever since. I have the romantic view that i hope I’ll die when I’m old and with my family etc, but that just isn’t the reality no matter how much I wish or hope. It could happen any time like the flash of a light and I’m never going to be ready for it.
To the question;, I would rather have not existed. That way I don’t get to be disappointed when this wonderful thing called life ends.