Do you think about Death?

It's taking forever.

I will not “pass.”

I love it, because it’s the only thing truly fair in the universe. In death, all beings are perfected beyond desire and need, beyond conflict or competition. Death is the only true answer to life.

I think about two things related to my death: the disposal of all my stuff and whether or not I’ll go through a lot of pain.

Everyday.

All the time. I have chronic health issues and I'm just wishing for a peaceful passing, instead of the almost certain slow death I'll be forced to endure instead.

Just sometimes. I'm 63. I think about accidental death because I am clumsier and not as coordinated and strong as I used to be. I can be a bit reckless and must remind myself I am not young anymore.

I think more about taxes

I never thought about it before I turned 45. When you're closer to the end than the beginning, it definitely starts to creep into your mind.

R2 = the Balrog.

“A toast to that invincible bunch, the dinosaurs surviving the crunch…”

Even the dinosaurs died.

I think about death all the time, for those I hope will die soon. As for myself it's not something I wonder about. At 71 I realize my time could very well be limited. Or, I could live decades longer. My one gay uncle lived to 93. If I do have a much longer life I don't want to spend any time fretting over when it's going to happen.

Unlike many I believe there is nothing after death-no conscience no nothing. It’s a lovely fantasy heaven and angels but no.

I think about it occasionally but what's the point?

I just try to greet each new day with openness and curiosity.

What's there to think about? We won't know anything about it until it happens. Any thinking before hand leads to worry, fear and anxiety. Just do the best you can until it happens. Make ends meet until you meet your end!

I think about the suffering that may happen before. Saw that with loved ones.Would rather blow brains out.

Only that if I'm onstage, I want 30 seconds to get offstage.

Tommy Cooper wasn't kidding.

I worry about my mom's death more than mine. I feel like I will be helpless without her. After my own death, I assume you can fuck anyone you've ever wanted to fuck.

Let me know your death date and let me know if I can have your stuff.

We're supposed to die.

Matter is death and life all that the same time.

I'm approaching my mid 60s. I'm just grateful that I can still have moments when I'm astounded.

A positive instance of that is when I was watching Nova on PBS this year.

I learned for the first time in my life that space didn't just say to Earth "here you go, here's a little atmosphere for you."

Instead, it came from Earth millions of years ago! I marvel at that. Basically, Earth belched it out of its system from its innards.

"The atmosphere is a layer of gas and suspended solids extending from the Earth's surface up many thousands of miles, becoming increasingly thinner with distance but always held by the Earth's gravitational pull.

The atmosphere surrounds the Earth and holds the air we breathe; it protects us from outer space; and holds moisture (clouds), gases, and tiny particles. In short, the atmosphere is the protective bubble in which we live."

- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Matter is death and life all at the same time. ^

OP you could start by not referring to death as “passing”.

You will die. As will we all. Accepting that inevitable fact rather employing the silly euphemism of “passing” is a good start to dealing with death.

My death is something that other people will have to deal with. I'm not worried about it.

[quote]Do you think about Death?

Do you mean in the context of capitalizing the word as if capitalization is some sort of honorific?

Yes.

Oh, dear.

OP sure asks a lot of questions.

Will I be famous? Will I be rich? Que Sera Sera.

Maybe he’s had some bad news.

Della, if that info came from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, get ready to not see any more of it.

And Trump will be marking hurricane paths with a Sharpie.

You're so right, r27.

The teacher said don’t worry; we’re to be bees happily going about our bee business. I go with that.

Aside from that, I still want to die from an explosion like a character off SCTV.

Not really. I just try to go about my life minding my own business, paying my bills, and doing my best to avoid drama (and people who love bringing drama). I do worry about losing my loved ones, though.

Yes I think about it all the time. I thought me and my husband and grandkids were gonna die when our house was destroyed by a landslide, while we were in it. We lost everything. Thank God my son was at work because his room was totally flattened. I was gonna lay our granddaughters in his bed for a nap, but my husband said " no, baby leave them here on the couch" so. I listened and left them there. But, I was rocking my grandson to sleep when it happened. I crawled out under the door with my grandson and then realized the house and our car were buried. We were very lucky to escape, but I got hurt and it's been hell ever since. My sons came to the scene when my neighbor called them at work and said " the house has been buried in a landslide, but everyone is ok." I really thought we were gonna die, it happened so fast.

Sounds like death is no match for you R31

Every single living creature proves that statement a lie, r32.

Much more now that we have the orange president.

Fondly, and entirely too often.

I held my father's hand as he died. I totally sensed that something had left, not died. My mother was visited by her long deceased mother as she was dying of cancer at a fairly young age (52). My father told me this. My mother was actually quite lucid until the very end, then died quickly. This visitation had to have happened when she was still relatively healthy and lucid.

I've been watching these videos for awhile, mainly because I like her and I'm in the medical field. She gives great information about the bodily process of death and other things that happen. As to the process, she keep saying that our bodies know how to die if we let it. If you think about, our bodies have done extraordinary things without our even doing anything!

I don’t believe in the afterlife. Our consciousness is tied to our brain. If the brain dies, so goes the consciousness. The afterlife is going back to nothingness, the moment before birth. There may be some truth to reincarnation. We may reborn as a different person but most of us won’t remember our past. There may be some instances where some do remember their past up to a certain age. Watch “The Boy Who Lived Before” documentary. It’s an interesting take on the possibility of reincarnation.

I don't think about it enough.

I have a false sense of security that I will die quickly and instantaneously of a heart attack like all my relatives. No one in my family, on either side, has ever had cancer or a long painful illness or hospice, etc. They all just die instantly of a heart attack or shortly thereafter in the hospital. I'm hoping for this kind of quick death but with my luck I'll be the one to break the cycle and have a long illness. I should prepare for the alternative.

[quote] I held my father's hand as he died. I totally sensed that something had left, not died.

That seems right to me. I was taught that the human body may cease to function, but our consciousness remain to move on to the next experience.

I think about it quite a lot after I turned 40. It’s my midlife crisis.

No. He'll be out of office next month.

I do think that as we humans advance, future generations will have the option of reverse aging and health-related issues resolved. Being able to live forever if you will. The only way you’ll die is by an accident. Unfortunately, our generation won’t see that as we’re not quite there yet. They already successfully reversed aging in a mouse and all the old-age health-related issues also disappeared.

I don't believe a post-physical consciousness exists.

But on the very off, off chance that it does, I'm not interested unless we can turn it off and on when we want to.

Doesn't anybody else find the thought of eternal consciousness a turn-off?

As I am old, I think about it often. I find this comforting.

Eternal life does seem boring, after you're done fucking everyone you ever wanted to fuck.

R44 Eternal consciousness sounds exhausting. Especially having certain desires and not being able to do a damn thing about because you don’t have the physical body to carry out the act.

[quote] Doesn't anybody else find the thought of eternal consciousness a turn-off?

R44 Not really, Della. My spiritual teacher tells me that when we leave our human bodies in this lifetime, our consciousness enters our next existence where we left off in this one. Only we don't remember our previous life times. We just carry on up the spiritual spiral to divine perfection.

I mean, who really knows? I do think about it sometimes. Like, is there a VIP section in the afterlife, or am I just floating around like it’s an eternal networking event? God forbid.

As for when it’ll happen or how? Honestly, worrying about that feels like drinking Diet Coke for hydration. It’s not helping. Live your life, eat the pasta, wear the damn boots, you know?

Will you remember this lifetime? Maybe, maybe not. But if you do, I’d hope you remember the good stuff. The moments that matter. And let the rest go like an old pair of jeans that don’t fit anymore.

As for preparing, you’re doing it just by being a decent human being, by showing up for the people you care about, by trying to leave the world a little better than you found it. You don’t need to overthink it. Just live fully and authentically, because at the end of the day, that’s the legacy you leave behind. Now go make a margarita.

Not all the time, but it does factor into how I see the world. I’m aware that EVERY beautiful love story will have grief when it ends, and that every single one will end because nobody lives forever. Of course I don’t constantly think about it. But I’m not in denial about it. Love and grief go hand in hand.

When people talk about how devastated they’d be if their partner dies I get surprised, because it’s a matter of when, not if. And that’s okay. That’s part of life. But it’s something to be aware of when sharing your heart. You never know how much time you have with them.

Yes, I think about it pretty much on a daily basis. Sometimes I can’t believe that we all have to go through it. It just doesn’t make sense. It makes me panic. I just don’t understand how we live in this vast, nearly infinite space of nothing and we are just floating on a minute fleck of rock amongst it all, alone. We are the only things we know of that the universe created where consciousness rose. And then it’s all going to end.

Death is just nature's way of telling you to slow down.

I think what scares me most about death is not death itself but the death of our continued knowledge of this world and being able to witness where the human race is going.

My heaven has cable TV so you can keep up with everything.

I used the death calculator upthread and was surprised that it said I would only live to 74. I assumed it would be a lot longer based on my parents' longevity (mom is a nonagenarian). It's probably bunkum, but it gave me something to think about.

Three years ago along with her best friend, I was present and witnessed my Aunt's medically assisted death (it's legal up here in Canada). She was 86 and had liver cancer. Though I still miss her, remembering her death is not something I avoid as it was very peaceful and very much her own choice. When my time comes, I hope I have the same option. Though I don't pretend to understand WHAT it is or WHERE it is, I strongly believe in an after-life because of having seen another Aunt almost 8 years AFTER she died...and NO, I'm NOT nuts and wasn't partaking of the 'shrooms. I take great comfort in both those experiences.

R38, yes, I've thought that, too. But, it's scary as hell to think there's nothingness. I've wondered about reincarnation but, even if are born into another person at death, we know who we were before that. It scares me so much.

It really does R32. We were very lucky.

I do not believe there is "nothing" after our physical forms cease to exist. But unlike others, I do not claim to know what happens. I will say that I would rather there be "nothing" than just more suffering, after we die.

Of course I think about death, I'm 72 years old.

I think how weird it is that relatively soon I won't exist!

ME, the most amazing, complicated, unique, flawed, person I know. So what if people miss me, I would miss me!

This body dies and the consciousness is untethered from space and time - that may be a split second for those of us facing linear time limitations, but it could be eternity to the consciousness.

We’re on one side guessing the other like one of Stephen Kings gunslinger characters listening through the tattered linen walls of a tent…and those who bother to answer are likely slightly funny looking and mildly mentally delayed. Boooooooooo!

"It’s one of the great wonders of life: What will it be like to go to sleep and never wake up? And if you think long enough about that, something will happen to you. You will find out, among other things, that it will pose the next question to you: What was it like to wake up after never having gone to sleep? That was when you were born. You see, you can’t have an experience of nothing. Nature abhors a vacuum."

~Alan Watts

Absolutely nothing for an indeterminate amount of time. And then, because of the vastness of the universe, and one of those “infinite monkeys and infinite typewriters” type things, poof…. Your “sense of self” pops back up somewhere else. Perhaps another planet billions of light years away.

I only imagine that (not really believe it) because of the improbability that my consciousness exists NOW based on the age of the universe. Give my the age of the universe and my age, it seems quite improbable that my consciousness exists at all. So maybe it ALWAYS exists.

Just a thought, as I travel through existence.

As a history buff, I think about all the history I will miss out on.

Oh brother, there's a lot of hot air and boilerplate wish fulfillment on this thread.

I am 64. Both of my parents are still living. My great-great grandmother (my grandmother's grandmother) was alive until I was nearly 2 1/2 years old. I honestly still can't imagine dying, however I know that I have more years behind me than ahead of me. People don't live to be 128!!

I have “died” three times and came back from wherever I was going each time. The first was an out-of-body experience, the second time I flatlined in the driveway and woke up in the ER, and the third time in the Sutton Place Hotel in Toronto. The first time was just like Space Mountain at Disneyworld, the second time they had to cut my shirt off, and the third time they got a doc to the room in five minutes. I survived ‘em all.

I’ve seen the abyss. It’s called anaphylaxis. It’s not pretty, but having survived and survived and survived, nothing (about death, anyway) scares me now. When my time comes, I’ll go. Until then I’m enjoying my life.

I think about LIFE

^ Henry Luce, posting from the Great Beyond.

I believe in reincarnation. This happens with child prodigies who have extraordinary talents or abilities. These musical kids who can't even read music, but listen to it and can play it note for note. Many have had no training and are very young, like Mozart. Or, the math genius who can flawlessly do complicated math problems with ease. They came into the world with these talents. What else but reincarnation could do this? They had these talents in a previous life and can perform them very soon in their new life. Most people do not remember previous lifetimes and I suspect it is so they do not dwell on previous experiences, but continue to grow in their new life times.

A hopeful post, r70.

Personally I no can longer opine on such topics with any certainty.

My outlook on life can be best summed up as an amalgamation of greatest hopes and greatest fears.

I do now that I took the test

Reincarnation sounds dreadful to me, what with climate change and right-wingers taking over the world. I wouldn't want to start over again as a child in 30 years when things get really shitty.

I want to be driving down the street in a great mood and wham an asteroid slams into my car and poof I'm gone. Also I want a car load of teenagers driving behind me screaming "That was fucking awesome".

I love you R60.

Every single day.

Holy Sonnet 6 from Holy Sonnets: Divine Meditations *

6

Death be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not some,

For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,

Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill mee;

From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,

Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,

Rest of their bones, and soules deliveries.

Thou art slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,

And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,

And better then thy stroake; why swell’st thou then?

One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,

And death shall be no more, Death thou shalt die.

Something's always coming for ya. Usually the last thing you'd expect. Live in the now. All ya got.

Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.

Do you ever focus on Indian leg wrestling??

I hope reincarnation isn't real. I want to go somewhere better when I die, not come back to the hellhole we've made of earth.

R81 Don't fret. When you come back you won't remember the good old days of your previous existence. The only think you will ned to remember is to bow before Emperor Elon when his carriage drives by.

[quote] I hope reincarnation isn't real. I want to go somewhere better when I die, not come back to the hellhole we've made of earth.

And this is why I know ghosts do not exist.

Assuming an afterlife, why would I hang around what I have already experienced? I'd be off exploring time and galaxies and the furthest reaches of matter.

Now cue those who believe in ghosts to post that they hang around because they have unfinished business to attend to.

Nope. The only ghosts that exist are our memories of family and friends who have died.

Can we have a group hug?

R63, thank you. You have perfectly articulated what I have been unable to say about what my own gut tells me. I think you’re as close to being correct as anyone can possibly be.

R19, I took the quiz. I only have 12 years left, and I'm 55!

I took the quiz for my husband it says he has nine more years to live. Sadly, he died 28 months ago.

My death is predicted for 1/31/32. I took a similar test a few years back that had me dying in Nov. 2029.

It really upsets me. 70-90 years is nothing. I wish the human lifespan was more like 300-400 years. I think there’s nothing after death. But that’s horrifying to me. So much of my life has been miserable. I want more time.

Same R88. See you at the hospice.

I’m saving as if I’ll live well into my 50s

YOU SHALL [bold]NOT PASS![/bold]

I control the vertical,

but the horizontal is beyond me.

R17 Just like that!

Yes. I'll be buried by the bluebell wood on the farm. Some beech and chestnut trees growing nearby, and a simple headstone or funerary statue marking the spot.

I think aboout the deaths of others.

The rest is silence.

Ooh! A funerary statute!

Très chic.

Thanks r19, that was interesting. I have 4 years and 3 months, just in time for Trump's third term

I welcome it if gets me away from you cretins.

And yet here you are, R100, having made sure you’re here with us.

Then why not move on then, R100? No one would miss you. I'm guessing you don't because*you* would miss DL, though. How pitiful for you.

From dust to dust... that is enough for me.

OP, I am thinking about the sweet and very talented DLer who died today. My heart is broken. This one hurts so very terribly.

RIP, dearest OP:

Rest in Post

Yes. I have no idea what happens when you die. I think I do, but who knows really as no one has come back in reality to tell us. I think it's arrogant to think about it actually. All I know is I miss my husband desperately every minute and if there is any chance I could see him, hold him, kiss him again, I would be willing to just drop dead if only for a few minutes with him again. I'm of no use to anyone now that he's gone anyway.

Yay I have 17 more years. 2042

If I had money, I would probably want to live as long as possible. But I am poor, so I dream of dying constantly.

I'm thinking of YOU.

Isn't that more important, OP?

I apparently have 11 more years, probably because I said I drink every day.

I hope I don't live too long. Though I'm not sure when the right time is. 70? 75? 80? And then my greatest fear is the process of dying. Long, drawn out, painful? No I don't want that at all. So do I commit suicide before I get too old? If I find I get cancer do I choose suicide by going to Belgium? I don't want to shoot myself, jump off a cliff or poison myself with drugs.

More so now that I'm old. There's nothing I can do about it when that time comes so I've accepted that it's an inevitability so it's best to live in the now.