50 People On ‘What Eases Your Thoughts On Death?’
"If a book or movie never finished, then you don't fully appreciate it, or enjoy it as much because you weren't able to complete it."
1.
[Epicurus] translated into normal: death isn’t so bad.
because when you notice it, its not about you.
and when its you, you won’t notice it.
2.
I’m 59 yrs old and lived with chronic back pain for the past 40 years. On a good night I might get 5-6 hours of sleep. My life has been a full one with family and friends whom I love. When death comes for me it will be as an old friend bringing rest and freedom from pain. Until then I will meet each day on it’s own terms and deal with it, as I always have.
3.
that part in Harry Potter when the guy greets Death as a friend.
4.
That I won’t know I’m dead. I won’t have time to really contemplate the fact that I’m dead, I’ll just be gone. It’s not death itself that frightens me, but moreso the time leading up to my death.
5.
My grandparents seemed to have no fear, and even joke about it, so I hope that I’m like that when I’m their age.
6.
I try and remember that I am thinking about it all wrong. If you calculate the odds of yourself being born it is astronomically small. If even one thing changed in the past than maybe you would not have born. Life is a really a blessing that we should enjoy. I try not to live in fear of death because that is taking my life for granted when it really wasn’t.
7.
It will be like before I was born. That wasn’t so bad.
8.
I got this from 7th Heaven but I hope this eases both of you guys fears. Imagine death as you sleeping somewhere else, lets say in the car as a kid and then waking up in your bed. You’re parents picked you up without waking you up and placed you in your bed. You didn’t realize it but it just happened.
Edit: I know its shitty but I hope it helps.
9.
One thing that helps me is that I use my fear to motivate me. “I will one day be dead, my time is finite, how should I live my life with this knowledge?” Use your fear for positive things. Learn that life is too short to spend your time worrying about the end and too short to spend time doing things you don’t love. You will face your demise one day. When that day comes, you will be filled with regret if you realize you spent your entire existence worrying.
Good luck. It’s not easy to get over this but you will be able to one day. Use that knowledge to comfort you.
10.
if a book or movie never finished, then you don’t fully appreciate it, or enjoy it as much because you weren’t able to complete it.
11.
I once read a short story about how everyone who ever existed is all the same soul, and every time you look at someone, it’s you in another life. When you see someone you don’t like, that’s you looking at the past and recognize it as a behavior that’s childish and a behavior you don’t want to repeat. If you see someone you admire, it’s you wanting to become that person, and progessing towards ‘enlightenment’, if you will. You keep becoming reborn until you’re enlightened and ready to move on from there to become a far more intelligent and good creature than a human.
12.
My dad always told me this story when I asked him about death as a kid:
Me: “Dad, what happens after you die? Will I ever see you again?”
Dad: “Well way_fairer, nobody knows for sure, but a lot of really smart people think that after we die we go to a place called heaven to be with our loved ones. Imagine that all the people are glasses of water. When a person dies their glass of water gets poured out. Only all the water gets poured out into the same place. Like our pool in the backyard. The pool is heaven.”
He also said that being born is like taking an empty glass and scooping water out of “the pool.” My dad was an interesting man.
13.
Accepting that there is no purpose, that I am not unique or special, and death is inevitable. Then I consciously turn my mind back toward the present moment. Try to live a good life while I am on earth. Do what I can to prevent and ease suffering. Seek out beauty and love. Acknowledge the ugliness and cruelty that surrounds us and make the radical choice to be positive.
14.
When I am born, I cry and the world rejoices; When I die, while the world cries, I rejoice.
15.
“To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure”
-Albus Dumbledore
16.
I’m Christian, so I gotta admit that finally seeing the God I’ve worshipped blindly all my life will be incredibly fulfilling.
17.
It’s very unlikely a god would exist who would punish people who were honestly mistaken in their beliefs, in my opinion. Such a god would be cruel, and I can’t reconcile why a god so cruel would create a world with such potential for beauty.
18.
I didn’t seem to have a problem with not existing before I was born, I should be fine afterwards as well.
19.
Alcohol mainly.
20.
I like to believe that the universe is a sort of collective consciousness.
There’s this great quote that’s commonly attributed to C.S. Lewis but apparently he didn’t say, “You don’t have a soul. You ARE a soul. You HAVE a body.”
And we’ll all return to that consciousness when we die, in a perpetual, peaceful state of being, which isn’t necessarily heaven but simply the homeostasis of the universe.
The meaning of “Namaste” really sums it up nicely:
“I honor the place in you in which the entire universe dwells. I honor the place in you of which is love, truth, light, and peace. When I am in this place in me, and you are in this place in you, we are one.”
I don’t believe in God as we have anthropomorphicised Him; I believe in God as the highest power, of whom we could not possibly begin to even comprehend.
21.
Quicker and easier than falling asleep.
22.
That we all share death, no matter who we are or what we did in life, or what our circumstances for death were, we all eventually share the singularity of eternal Oblivion.
Death is the great equalizer. We are all born to die.What is soothing about this? To me, the fact that death enables another cycle to begin. The matter that you, me, everyone, and every being is made up of has been here for billions of years. The matter within your body has been cycled through the universe since time began, and long after you and I are dead, that matter will still be here. What is life? It is simply an organic structure composed of matter temporarily borrowed from the universe to sustain itself for a short while before that matter is cycled back.
On my chest is a tattoo of an Ouroboros. For those who do not know what this is, it is a snake eating it’s own tail. The meaning behind it is simple. What is created is also destroyed, only to be created again in an eternal cycle. Anyway you look at it, that is what the universe is. It gave us life so that we may live, create, destroy, and die. The universe itself goes through cycles of life and death as well. Everything is a cycle, and it gives me comfort to know that neither I nor anyone or anything is exclusive to this.
23.
How do I ease my mind to the thought? I live a the best life I possibly can, and while I’m young, if I died tomorrow, I’d take solace in the fact that I’d done everything I could at this point.
24.
you were dead for billions of years before you were born, has that inconvenienced you at all?
25.
I used to have serious anxiety thinking about death or the idea of non-existence. I never came up with a total solution but what always helped me the most was to just distract myself until the anxiety went away. When I was in my teens and early 20s the best distraction was always to start thinking about sex. Now that I’m a older I’ve basically just decided that really understanding death isn’t possible so I just don’t think about it all anymore. Basically I just live in denial. I think in this case it’s OK since I have no control over it anyway.
26.
I’m religious and I believe that the prayers of the saints will help me during the time of my death as well the prayers of the people I know already living.
27.
I always tell myself that as long as I live on through people by setting an example through the love of my passion, everything will be worth it after all.
28.
I take comfort in knowing that there is no afterlife. I understand that my death will be the end of my life, and no matter what happens, it will be over once that time comes. It doesn’t matter how great my life was, or what regrets I might have; nothing will matter because I will no longer exist. There is no reason to be afraid of nothing.
29.
I’m in a mad scramble to make my life “count,” to leave a legacy, to be someone to remember. What eases my mind about when I eventually die? That I’ll finally be done with working so damn hard to accomplish it all.
30.
What does it matter? I’ll be dead. I have no idea what it’ll be like but it won’t be what its like now. I’m kinda curious to see what its like but I’m doing the alive thing now so I’ll guess I’ll do that when I’m dead.
31.
Everyone who has ever lived, has died or will die. You can’t avoid it, you can only accept it. Not much more to it than that.
32.
Firstly is that its going to happen at some point, its the only certainty in life. There’s no point in worrying over the inevitable, its not as if we have any real control over it.
The second is sort of the same thing, I kinda feel bad to admit it… But there’s the fact that it happens to every single living thing. Theres just something reassuring about it.
33.
my favorite quote about life and death is this: “Life asked Death, ‘Why does everyone love me, but hate you?’ ‘Because,’ replied Death, ‘you are a beautiful lie and I am an ugly truth.'”
34.
When I die, I won’t have any regrets, I won’t have any memories of life. I won’t exist any more
35.
Death is a new adventure. I think that death will come as a relief once its my time and allow me to finally know the answer to that question. What happens when you die?
36.
You will no longer exist so you can’t consciously feel or think anything. Therefore, you won’t be able to care about or feel any pain in not existing!
37.
I’m happy right now and plan to stay happy, so its really whatever if I die happy. I also do not think that there is any meaning to life, so think that life is just what you want it to be. I want it to be happy, so I am happy. If I die then its not a big deal because there is no greater meaning to life.
38.
So much amazing poetry is written about death. What would we find beautiful if nothing died or ever changed but just stayed the same. Life would be boring without death.
39.
My curiosity to find out what happens after death.
40.
As a Christian, I believe I will get to be with God forever, which is sweet.
41.
I had a talk with a couple of my very close friends about this recently. I was diagnosed with something about 2 months ago that could have killed me (I don’t want to divulge what it was because I don’t want someone i know recognising my account). Two friends of mine visited me and we eventually started talking about death.
I have always thought that if I die tomorrow, I know that I have changed some peoples’ live for the better, in some way. Even if it is helping a friend out, or making your parents proud of you; if you’ve done good in the world then your life will have been worth something.
It would be nice to live to 100, and help people out everyday, but the time we’re given varies, so you just have to do your best. If you are a good person, then you will live on in the memories of your loved ones. That is immortality.
These thoughts kept me calm during the few nights when things seemed a bit dire, a few weeks ago. According to my consultant I’m out of the woods now, which is great.
42.
Among species we know, we are alone in the fact that we can grasp our own mortality, but as a small consolation evolution has also given us the ability feel love. I’m 22 now, and when the night terrors start coming in, nothing staves them off for another night better than spooning my fiancee.
43.
I had so many experiences related to the afterlife , so I am ready to go there.
44.
Death is the final sentence in life, make every sentence count and your life will keep expressing itself even after death.
45.
It may be a bit morbid, but I have this curiosity….
I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPENS AFTER I DIE SO BAD!
46.
You know when you sleep at night, and wake up in the morning and are all like “wow, i must have been out like a rock, that felt like 1 second long” because you were out and dont’ remember anything. That, only never waking up so your always in that instant time passage of nothingness…. peaceful.
47.
Reincarnation theory. Lol no really.
48.
I get to see my dad again.
49.
“What does dying feel like?”
Death is like birth. You’re very confused, you’ll shed some tears and you’ll go away from the place you’ve been oh it seems like an eternity.
“But I don’t remember my birth?”
Exactly.
50.
What brings me comfort is the idea that nothing is created and nothing is destroyed, everything always was, everything will always be and is…we can observe that in our everyday life…you set something on fire and it appears to disappear but it isn’t really “gone” it has just changed….and so I think Death is a change…and we all change together :)
