Are you afraid of death?

[blushingbride]

Date: 5/26/2010 10:35:16 AM
Author: somethingshiny
I was thinking about this thread more and more throughout the day yesterday and I''ve realized that although I''m not afraid of death, I''m slightly afraid/nervous/weary about my afterlife. I do believe that I will go on and live for eternity. I''m afraid I''ll get bored. Like I''m going to be given this amazing gift and then just be bored after a few centuries. The only way I can think of that I wouldn''t be bored is if the afterlife was something more like reincarnation, again and again. Then I could live several different lives and get to experience one type for a while and then move on to something else.

This is similar to how I feel - I hope and pray there is an after life where I can see my family and friends again. However, like you, I hope we have the chance for reincarnation once in a while living life in eternity.

My great aunt died a few years ago and she was a devout Catholic - went to church almost everyday and prayed the rosary. When I was at her viewing, I remember looking at her wondering if she was in heaven like she had believed she would be or did she just cease to exist. Was there nothing after dying - did everything just go blank for her? That''s probably my biggest fear (besides my family dying before me) - is just having nothing once I''m dead. Everything I lived for gone. Everyone I loved gone.

 

[monkeyprincess]

I''m horribly afraid of losing a close family member. When I really let myself think about that, it almost paralyzes me with fear. I too am somewhat afraid of my own death. I never really think about the actual dying part (I hope it is when I am much older and peaceful of course), but I do think of the effect on my family if it were to be an accident or sudden. If I''m honest, I''m also afraid of what comes next for me, but that is because I struggle with questions of faith. To me, the idea of my mind ceasing to exist is unimaginable, but like others have said, if that is what happens, then I won''t know the difference.

 

[beaujolais]

No. I just don''t want it to be painful or scary.

In fact, except (huge mega exception, that is) for my little one, I''d really like to be done. I''ve got a painful body and think people are actually not that nice, for the most part. (Don''t mean to sound sour, grouchy - where is work is verrrry click-ish and catty and this colors my perception.) (All of you are lovely, though.)

No, I''m not depressed. That''s just what I''ve thought for a long time now.

 

[MakingTheGrade]

Not really.

I''m not scared of people dying so much as I''m sad when it''s someone I''m close to. I''m not afraid for them or for me, I just know I''ll miss them.

I learned and practiced meditating at a young age from my Buddhist grandpa, it was kind of like spending 20 minutes a day pretending to be dead since one of the goals of the exercise is to let go of "me" and feel connected to the world but at the same time have no personal connections to it. My grandpa passed away a few years ago, and I have to say, he was pretty at peace with it.