In Regards to Fear

Emi said:
What about those that fear death due to fearing the future of humanity?


Death is always hard. It's devastating quite honestly. However, thinking of things like reincarnation or heaven give a much kinder light to the entire experience. :)
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I just don't believe this, sorry. When an aged person, having lived a great life, and is stuck in some hospital just waiting to die, finally dies, it is often just relief. My mother passed of Alzheimers.

Accidents or any sudden unexpected deaths, on the other hand, ARE tough. My toughest was a 9 year old student in my class from an asthma attack over the weekend. Oddly, her classmates handled it far better than any of the adults around.
 
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Aussie Thoughts said:
With all due respect. You really don't know enough about me to make that assessment. Anxiety does not always lead to fear nor does jumping to conclusions always lead to truth.
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I did not say it always lead to fear. also, there is always a why. always. Behaviors may be learned, mimicked, assumed, but there is a why. It is your choice whether or not you'd ever want to discover why you feel a certain way. However, "I just do," does mean that you do not know. I'm not assuming anything, I'm simply stating you don't know why you feel anxiety towards the unknown. You said this as well. What is the problem?
 
Senthil said:
I just don't believe this, sorry. When an aged person, having lived a great life, and is stuck in some hospital just waiting to die, finally dies, it is oftyen just relief. My mother passed of Alzheimers.

Accidents or any sudden unexpected deaths, on the other hand, ARE tough. My toughest was a 9 year old student in my class from an asthma attack over the weekend. Oddly, her classmates handled it far better than any of the adults around.
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I agree. My grandmother died on hospice. after she passed, I felt relieved because I knew she only wanted to die at that point. I felt happy and never cried after her death, despite how close we were. I even smiled. I was just genuinely happy that she was okay now.
I usually don't go to funerals for older people in my family that die like this because it ruins the happiness I have for their suffering to be over.
 
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Emi said:
anxiety is related to fear and often leads to it.
There is a reason why you fear this, or have anxiety to it, you just do not know what it is yet.
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We try to avoid commenting on each other on here and stick to the opinions, facts and statements. It's smoother that way.
 
Aussie Thoughts said:
Sure you are. You're doing it within your own post by assuming there's always a why. Sometimes things just are. No need to stress over the why.

No problem. We just look at things differently. No harm in that.
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I'm glad there's no problem. I ask why because I support science and humanity would never have progressed anywhere if we never asked why. There's always why, just sometimes it isn't known yet. There's nothing wrong with not knowing. I was just wondering if you knew the reason why you felt this way.
I suffer from severe anxiety and have no idea the reasons why. Don't know if I ever will.
 
Emi said:
I suffer from severe anxiety and have no idea the reasons why. Don't know if I ever will.
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Sorry to hear that. I do know how devastating that can be for some people. My anxiety is relatively minor, but I'm stubborn enough not to let it get in the way.;)
 
Aussie Thoughts said:
Sorry to hear that. I do know how devastating that can be for some people. My anxiety is relatively minor, but I'm stubborn enough not to let it get in the way.;)
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Nah, it's fine. Meditation has actually helped me a lot. I used to be Catholic and thought the idea was silly when I was younger. I became Hindu years later after being inbetween faiths and realized how helpful the practice is for me.
If all else fails, I also have pills I can and do take from time to time.
 
Namaste Jesus said:
My concerns regarding death stem from having watched helplessly as my mom suffered through her last several days and knowing how hard that was on her and her loved ones.
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I get you mate. The same thing happened to me when my father had his stroke. Seeing someone who was always a tower of strength suffer like that is hard to take. One can't help wonder if a similar fate awaits. My dad was never quite the same after that, but remained stubborn as ever right up to the end. He insisted on tilling half an acre all by himself the morning before he died.
 
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Speaking to the OPs post. I believe there is a fear of death amongst humans for a number of reasons. There is the fear of the potential pain that causes the death. (Obviously this doesn't refer to people who are slowly dying of some disease). How much does it hurt to die in a car crash, for example. That scares most people.

There is also the fear that there really is nothing after this reality. Aside from a minority of people who are extremely sure of their faith, the majority of us do have that uncertainty. Many people who profess faith of an afterlife still have that inner doubt. As long as we can't say for certain that there is something after this, people are going to fear the ending of this reality. It is the ending of them.
 
Devils' Advocate said:
Speaking to the OPs post. I believe there is a fear of death amongst humans for a number of reasons. There is the fear of the potential pain that causes the death. (Obviously this doesn't refer to people who are slowly dying of some disease). How much does it hurt to die in a car crash, for example. That scares most people.

There is also the fear that there really is nothing after this reality. Aside from a minority of people who are extremely sure of their faith, the majority of us do have that uncertainty. Many people who profess faith of an afterlife still have that inner doubt. As long as we can't say for certain that there is something after this, people are going to fear the ending of this reality. It is the ending of them.
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Do you believe these fears are instinctual or stem from other means?
 
Good question. It seems to me that it would be a mixture of both. All living things naturally move away from perceived death events. So it is with humans as well. That seems instinctual to all.

It is accepted that humans also have a sense of 'self' that other animals lack, and thus fear the end of 'self' that may be the end result of our death. That is, I believe, more hereditary than instinctual. So the end of our self is a human condition. Or is it.

The question then becomes do other creatures, besides humans, have a fear of the death of 'self'. The answer to that question is a lot more difficult to answer. Most would say animals do not possess such a concept. I wonder though. Especially amongst mammals, we are learning that there is a lot more going on in their brains than we willing to accept even a few decades ago. It is generally accepted these days that mammals can feel all the emotions humans can feel, happiness, sorrow, fear, anger, depression, and so on. How can we know if mammals have a sense of self or not. I'm not sure we can know.

What we do know is that certain mammals such as elephants, dolphins do have a sense of self. Or at least we know they are capable of recognizing themselves in a reflection. They can process the concept that the image they are looking at - 'that is me'. If they do, perhaps many more species do. In which case mammals at least may have the same hereditary concept as humans do.

To which many would respond that even assuming all that, other mammals do not have the concept of an afterlife. Again - how do we know? Animals are so much more attuned to their world than people are - perhaps they are cognizant of what is beyond. Is it possible that the complexity of the human brain, ironically, has cut people off from something basic those we perceive as inferior to us attune in to very naturally.

Provable? Not likely. An interesting thought though is it not?
 
Emi said:
What about those that fear death due to fearing the future of humanity?
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I think that would be more an instinct to preserve the species rather than fear. To fear the future of humanity, at least in the flesh, represents attachment to that which is impermanent to me.
 
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