Thought for the day: Once you get the idea that we are each an eternal soul playing the not very exciting and by now rather boring game of bodies you can, once you get old, almost look forward to dying as you know the chances are that you will get a bright new healthy body to start all over again with! Actually what upsets me most is the thought of leaving my family behind without me to love and protect them. Actually there is even then some sort of chance that I will meet them again in some form or another -- but even as I write that I think that is a pretty silly thing to say because how could I meet all the families that I've been part of through eternity? Guess its all a bit mystifying!
Funny this reminds me of when my father passed away. I remember hearing my mum say to him on his deathbed…we’ll be ok. It was so poignant, she knew he cared about us & that it was ok to leave
Epicurus got it right, I think. Alternatively consider an image I read years ago that compared consciousness to a sea. Waves (we) emerge from the sea and sink back into it again. The wave does not die - it is subsumed back into a greater whole.
He said, "Death is nothing to us; for that which is dissolved is without sensation, and that which lacks sensation is nothing to us". When I die there will be no “I” to experience anything. Nobody knows, though many speculate about, any kind of afterlife, so there is no point in worrying about it. Alternatively take the Peter Pan approach: “Death will be a very great adventure.” I like that one too.
I think that once you go through the deaths of loved ones, especially parents, you get more used to the idea of your own mortality because you’ve already faced the unthinkable, the unbearable fact that we are not in control and horrific things happen to good people and it’s unfair! It’s amazing how we live through things we thought would kill us, and yet we do, and you will, and whatever you feel about it is irrelevant in the greater scheme of things! Fear is what propels us to try to prevent something bad, to delay it or avoid it, but it never stops the inevitable reality all it does is give you the illusion that you’re working on it, but only time, life experience and aging will help you face your mortality like it does for all of us
Your post is interesting to me. Perhaps it makes me fortunate almost that I don’t have anxieties over death & am almost fascinated by people that do & why it is so powerful to some & not others. What is the purpose of the anxiety…does it empower a person to take more risks?? Does it have something to do with gender?? I’m a mother of three 2 of whom have become estranged over gender ideology, just trying to get through each day & live for the moment. Idk…
Thought for the day: Once you get the idea that we are each an eternal soul playing the not very exciting and by now rather boring game of bodies you can, once you get old, almost look forward to dying as you know the chances are that you will get a bright new healthy body to start all over again with! Actually what upsets me most is the thought of leaving my family behind without me to love and protect them. Actually there is even then some sort of chance that I will meet them again in some form or another -- but even as I write that I think that is a pretty silly thing to say because how could I meet all the families that I've been part of through eternity? Guess its all a bit mystifying!
Funny this reminds me of when my father passed away. I remember hearing my mum say to him on his deathbed…we’ll be ok. It was so poignant, she knew he cared about us & that it was ok to leave
Epicurus got it right, I think. Alternatively consider an image I read years ago that compared consciousness to a sea. Waves (we) emerge from the sea and sink back into it again. The wave does not die - it is subsumed back into a greater whole.
Can you summarise Epicurus' view for us please?
He said, "Death is nothing to us; for that which is dissolved is without sensation, and that which lacks sensation is nothing to us". When I die there will be no “I” to experience anything. Nobody knows, though many speculate about, any kind of afterlife, so there is no point in worrying about it. Alternatively take the Peter Pan approach: “Death will be a very great adventure.” I like that one too.
Thank you
I think that once you go through the deaths of loved ones, especially parents, you get more used to the idea of your own mortality because you’ve already faced the unthinkable, the unbearable fact that we are not in control and horrific things happen to good people and it’s unfair! It’s amazing how we live through things we thought would kill us, and yet we do, and you will, and whatever you feel about it is irrelevant in the greater scheme of things! Fear is what propels us to try to prevent something bad, to delay it or avoid it, but it never stops the inevitable reality all it does is give you the illusion that you’re working on it, but only time, life experience and aging will help you face your mortality like it does for all of us
Your post is interesting to me. Perhaps it makes me fortunate almost that I don’t have anxieties over death & am almost fascinated by people that do & why it is so powerful to some & not others. What is the purpose of the anxiety…does it empower a person to take more risks?? Does it have something to do with gender?? I’m a mother of three 2 of whom have become estranged over gender ideology, just trying to get through each day & live for the moment. Idk…