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.

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.

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.

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.