I'm Now Old Enough To Know That Death Is Real

[Platos stepchild]

I often think about death, specifically mine. Not that I'm morbid, mind you. Not unless you count waking up each morning, and thinking about all the people who'll die that day, and how most aren't even aware of what's coming. I also wonder about the people who'll wonder the same thing on my last day. How many will idly speculate about what'll be the countdown to my final breath? Hey; Tic-tock, tick-tock..., don't waste your time thinking about death until it's time! But, the gag is, who knows when that is?

Of course, I can't imagine my own death, inasmuch as whenever I attempt to imagine my death, I inadvertently posit myself as doing the imagining. In other words, I'm very much alive, despite the attempt to imagine otherwise. I can contemplate my death, though; and I can fear it. This awareness is supposed to light-a-fire under me. I'm supposed to then make-every-moment-count. But, is it really easier to die, if I minimize all my regrets? Sure, it sounds plausible. But, how can I make any assumptions about a truly unique event, which death is?

Death is the only future event which is a foregone conclusion. Everything else in the future is contingent; it may or may not happen. True; the particulars of death are contingent. But the event itself, shorn of it's particulars is as though it's already happened. Death uniquely binds our pasts and our futures. We, therefore die outside of time, although we're seen to die in our final moments. Yeah, we all walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Yet, we're not even sure how far we must walk to reach our uncertain end, much less whether there is an end.

It may seem odd, but I don't really speculate on the particulars of my death. Given that I'm diabetic, and unless I stroke-out peacefully in my sleep, I expect it'll be painful. I've watched someone die, before; it took all night. There was a lot of phlegmly shuttering; each time seemed like it'd surely be the last. But it wasn't, until it finally was. Mucus, bile, and an inaudible whimper all fled her body in that final moment. But, the valley's gate shut immediately behind her, before I could glimpse the gloom. So, I often think about death...

[Misty]

Platos stepchild,

One can cure oneself from type 2 diabetes, please watch - Hungry for Change movie/documentary. It can be seen for free on youtube, xfinity, etc..

Sincerely, Misty

[Platos stepchild]

Plato's stepchild,

One can cure oneself from type 2 diabetes, please watch - Hungry for Change movie/documentary. It can be seen for free on youtube, xfinity, etc..

Sincerely, Misty

Well, if not diabetes, then it's something else. Once breath becomes precious, you realize there'll eventually be a final one. Then you fixate on what would'ave the one immediately after that.

[Sy Borg]

I too think a lot about death, especially so after my sister died at around my age. Soon afterwards I had a scare that had me wondering overnight about some scan results. For a long time I believed that we just died and that was that, until I realised that it was as much of a belief as those of theists.

I'm not convinced that the subjective realm is as contingent on the objective one as we tend to think, mainly because our senses are so blinkered and dull. No matter how advanced we become we will still miss a lot because we are trying to analyse what is outside of us as though we were not part of that same reality. So everything we perceive is necessarily relative.

I've often tried to imagine the moment when it really is IT. Can there be a more poignant moment in life? All of the barriers and walls are down and you are there, completely vulnerable and on the verge of being turned into a spate of phone calls, emails, conversations, sadness, recollections, administration, legal adjustments, a grave/fertiliser, ash in an urn/fertiliser, a temporary organ farm or an educational organic model.

All those memories. All those useful things you learned that you never managed to pass on. Gone.

As for our own experience, I think that the moment of death will be the most blissful of our lives, a complete letting go all all concerns. With exponential time dilation as death approaches, perhaps even a significant or eternal afterlife could be subjectively experienced in the final second/s of life?

It's ironic that death - of disappearing - is amongst our greatest fears, yet that is what we all yearn for every night. To temporarily disappear. We become tired, need a break. We are all eager to surrender the self. Just as long as we know we'll wake up again. Perhaps that is how it is with life and death? Perhaps death is just another level of surrender in the continuation of particular patterns of life? This particular Plato's Stepchild or Greta will disappear from the Earth, but the law of averages suggests that entities who are very much like us will appear from time to time.

[Misty]

Plato's stepchild,

One can cure oneself from type 2 diabetes, please watch - Hungry for Change movie/documentary. It can be seen for free on youtube, xfinity, etc..

Sincerely, Misty

Well, if not diabetes, then it's something else. Once breath becomes precious, you realize there'll eventually be a final one.

"Then you fixate on what would'ave the one immediately after that"

.

Your last sentence not clear.

On another topic you said you stopped taking medications and was waiting to die. (which sounded like any second) Did you resume taking your meds?

"I'm now old enough to know that death is real." How old is old enough? Death is no respecter of persons, thus, visits all ages. I have thought of death periodically throughout my life and have always considered it real.

[Platos stepchild]

(Nested quote removed.)


Well, if not diabetes, then it's something else. Once breath becomes precious, you realize there'll eventually be a final one.

"Then you fixate on what would'ave been the one immediately after that"
(Nested quote removed.)

.

Your last sentence not clear.

On another topic you said you stopped taking medications and was waiting to die. (which sounded like any second) Did you resume taking your meds?

"I'm now old enough to know that death is real." How old is old enough? Death is no respecter of persons, thus, visits all ages. I have thought of death periodically throughout my life and have always considered it real.

When I said, regarding our final breath that we [f]ixate on what would'ave been the one after that, I meant that we yearn to know what it'd be like to have lived one more breath. Death, as the cessation of life, is absurd. And because it's absurd, I decided not to try and orchestrate my own death. As much as I abhor the artificial extension of my life with pharmaceuticals, I abhor the petty drama of calculating my final breath by not taking them.

Here's a question for you: when you were experiencing the dread of finding out the results of your scans, it sounded like death would'ave made all the joy in your life a profound waste. Given that the results were apparently negative, is it still your belief that, in the shadow-of-death, joy a waste?

-- Updated December 2nd, 2015, 9:44 am to add the following --

I **** up that last sentence. Disregard the whole posting. It's nothing but ****.

-- Updated December 2nd, 2015, 9:46 am to add the following --

I hate being censored. I f u c k e d up that last sentence. Disregard the whole posting. It's nothing but s h i t.

[Misty]

Your last sentence not clear.

On another topic you said you stopped taking medications and was waiting to die. (which sounded like any second) Did you resume taking your meds?

"I'm now old enough to know that death is real." How old is old enough? Death is no respecter of persons, thus, visits all ages. I have thought of death periodically throughout my life and have always considered it real.

When I said, regarding our final breath that we [f]ixate on what would'ave been the one after that, I meant that we yearn to know what it'd be like to have lived one more breath. Death, as the cessation of life, is absurd. And because it's absurd, I decided not to try and orchestrate my own death. As much as I abhor the artificial extension of my life with pharmaceuticals, I abhor the petty drama of calculating my final breath by not taking them.

"Here's a question for you: when you were experiencing the dread of finding out the results of your scans, it sounded like death would'ave made all the joy in your life a profound waste. Given that the results were apparently negative, is it still your belief that, in the shadow-of-death, joy a waste?"

Platos stepchild,

Thank you for explaining what you meant.

Your last paragraph/question must have been meant for Greta as it was she who mentioned having a scan.

Misty

[Platos stepchild]

I messed up. Please disregard this forum.

[Sy Borg]

It's okay, PS. You responded to something I said but said it to Misty:

Here's a question for you: when you were experiencing the dread of finding out the results of your scans, it sounded like death would'ave made all the joy in your life a profound waste. Given that the results were apparently negative, is it still your belief that, in the shadow-of-death, joy a waste?

I think a cancer diagnosis would have felt like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, or over a metaphorical event horizon. Nothing would ever be the same again. I would have having many "this is the last time that ..." moments. There would be enormous sense of loss and realisation of good things taken for granted and the small challenges I pointlessly amplified, but also a realisation that life does involve "wearing filters" and pretty well everyone makes these kinds of existential mistakes and it's okay. If we were all perfect we wouldn't still be evolving.

In a sense death is very routine and ubiquitous in all history - both natural and human. It's only our success at gentrifying our existence that makes death seem so mind blowing. Also humanity's emergent intellect isn't sufficient to understand what's really going on. Everything about our current orthodox thinking on the subject smells of superficiality and placeholder hypotheses. Our descendants (or intelligent life elsewhere in the universe) will develop a far deeper understanding of life and death. At least then they won't be as subject to the fear of the unknown as their ancestors.

[Misty]

I messed up. Please disregard this forum.

We all mess up at times, Platos stepchild, there is no shame in it. We all feel bad when we mess up but others understand and forgive because they also mess up and need understanding and forgiveness.

Hope you will continue to interact with us.

Sincerely, Misty

-- Updated Sat Dec 05, 2015 6:10 pm to add the following --

Platos stepchild, I have answered your pm but you need to open your mailbox so I can send it. Misty

[New_View_of_Physics]

When I was very young I had a thought of what it was to die. The family was watching a black and white western in a movie theater and the film broke. They was nothing on the screen but white and we were told that we had to leave. So I thought that death must be the same. Ages and eons will pass and I will never know what happened. And would never know again anything! Luckily I saw something else when I was 17. I met a girl in High School who said she was dying and later I asked God about it. Sitting at the edge of my bed I closed my eyes and asked God why. The whole room started to rotate, shrink, and vanish. I opened my eyes nothing had moved, everything was like it was. So I closed my eyes and asked why. I felt the whole universe spinning around me sinking and vanished. I was flying over this dark ocean and I saw that the words I was thinking "Lord, why?" was me like puffs of light coming from me and moving forward. I came against some type of barrier and fought to go through it.
I woke up finding that I forgotten to breath. I searched my memory on what happened and saw a shadow of a man who said "Yes we know. We are very proud of her." And that was all I could remember.
I don't know if this is any help to you. Later on I heard a lot of people talk about a near death experience and talk about events like I encountered. I would rather call them a near life experience. I've always been scientific in my thinking and to have a reality different than what my mind can relate to has been an eye opening experience. However being scientific I kept it quiet until I could understand it. I am now 68 and if you want you can download my book for free; google "Little Book Open" Butterworth or go to my site google subspacescience no space. Hope that this is of a help. The younger generation is being lied to. The universe is much richer and wider than our leaders want to admit. And everything is going to change suddenly. Your kids or grand kids could live on Mars. We are just about ready to explore space. But we will find what is inside of us even richer.

[YIOSTHEOY]

I too think a lot about death, especially so after my sister died at around my age. Soon afterwards I had a scare that had me wondering overnight about some scan results. For a long time I believed that we just died and that was that, until I realised that it was as much of a belief as those of theists.

I'm not convinced that the subjective realm is as contingent on the objective one as we tend to think, mainly because our senses are so blinkered and dull. No matter how advanced we become we will still miss a lot because we are trying to analyse what is outside of us as though we were not part of that same reality. So everything we perceive is necessarily relative.

I've often tried to imagine the moment when it really is IT. Can there be a more poignant moment in life? All of the barriers and walls are down and you are there, completely vulnerable and on the verge of being turned into a spate of phone calls, emails, conversations, sadness, recollections, administration, legal adjustments, a grave/fertiliser, ash in an urn/fertiliser, a temporary organ farm or an educational organic model.

All those memories. All those useful things you learned that you never managed to pass on. Gone.

As for our own experience, I think that the moment of death will be the most blissful of our lives, a complete letting go all all concerns. With exponential time dilation as death approaches, perhaps even a significant or eternal afterlife could be subjectively experienced in the final second/s of life?

It's ironic that death - of disappearing - is amongst our greatest fears, yet that is what we all yearn for every night. To temporarily disappear. We become tired, need a break. We are all eager to surrender the self. Just as long as we know we'll wake up again. Perhaps that is how it is with life and death? Perhaps death is just another level of surrender in the continuation of particular patterns of life? This particular Plato's Stepchild or Greta will disappear from the Earth, but the law of averages suggests that entities who are very much like us will appear from time to time.

For me the issue has also been before me since childhood.

My cousin died very young in early elementary school. As a child, I missed her afterwards and wondered where she had gone?

Anytime my mom would take me to Catholic Church I always wondered if she was an angel in Heaven somewhere?

My father has also passed away and my mom is in her late 80's and probably will soon go as well.

My aunt and uncle are gone too now, so that leaves me, my sisters, and two other cousins as the only ones left from a huge family reunion a long time ago when we were kids and the grownups organized everything. The family cemetery is now the repose point for all their graves.

For me therefore death is inevitable and very real.

Since we did not any of us fear the millions of years before we were born, it makes no sense to fear the millions of years that will come after our deaths. In the philosophy of death, this is the most logical answer given that fear of death is foolishness.

Like Greta says, I think it will be a happy experience when it comes to each of us, as long as we don't accelerate the process ourselves.

The Philosophy God has the power of death over us and we should not interfere in that process, in my view. The Philosophy God decreed that we should each be born, and He/She/It/They has/have decreed that we should each die as well. There is no sense in fighting it. Might as well just accept it.

My view of course is a Catholic view, and it has obviously been programmed into me as such all my life by my parents, my teachers, and this one really beautiful nun who was in her early 20's as I recall and she loved children so she used to teach the children's catechism to us.

[LuckyR]

Just as we all remember where we were when we heard of the Challenger disaster or 9/11 or the Kennedy assassination (I was 2 so it's a bit foggy...), I can definitely remember the situation when I very first grasped the idea that my parents would not be here forever (a completely illogical idea that as a child I never second guessed). It only takes a minimal amount of thought to extrapolate from the mortality of one's parents to one's own mortality.

I have always looked back at my father's medical scare (he lived for many years afterwards) as a blessing since armed with my new outlook, I valued every possible interaction with my parents and "stopped to smell the roses" along the way.

[YIOSTHEOY]

Just as we all remember where we were when we heard of the Challenger disaster or 9/11 or the Kennedy assassination (I was 2 so it's a bit foggy...), I can definitely remember the situation when I very first grasped the idea that my parents would not be here forever (a completely illogical idea that as a child I never second guessed). It only takes a minimal amount of thought to extrapolate from the mortality of one's parents to one's own mortality.

I have always looked back at my father's medical scare (he lived for many years afterwards) as a blessing since armed with my new outlook, I valued every possible interaction with my parents and "stopped to smell the roses" along the way.

Herodotus the ancient Greek historian and father of history had an interesting expression about death.

He said, in peacetime sons bury their fathers, while in wartime fathers bury their sons.

It is always good to appreciate what we have while we have it.