My death anxiety

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

This has been a persistent issue that’s popped up again the last couple days, and has made it very difficult to sleep.

I have bad death anxiety. I am absolutely terrified of what’s beyond death because I see no reason to believe there is anything beyond it. It’s why I’m pretty adamant about life extension. I don’t just want a hundred years of existence and then oblivion eternal.

I’m wondering if there’s anyone here that has similar feelings and issues. I’m looking for anything that might help calm this down.

[bagelman]

I feel the same way. Nonexistence is absolutely terrifying. It's a concept without thought, without time. One second and a billion years are the same and nothing happens.

There has to be something after death. Reincarnation, an afterlife, existing as a spirit, anything is "preferable" to pure nonexistence.

[afleitch]

This has been a persistent issue that’s popped up again the last couple days, and has made it very difficult to sleep.

I have bad death anxiety. I am absolutely terrified of what’s beyond death because I see no reason to believe there is anything beyond it. It’s why I’m pretty adamant about life extension. I don’t just want a hundred years of existence and then oblivion eternal.

I’m wondering if there’s anyone here that has similar feelings and issues. I’m looking for anything that might help calm this down.

I feel the same way. Nonexistence is absolutely terrifying. It's a concept without thought, without time. One second and a billion years are the same and nothing happens.

There has to be something after death. Reincarnation, an afterlife, existing as a spirit, anything is "preferable" to pure nonexistence.

As I've said before when this has came up, non existence applied to 'you' (before there was a you) for billions of years. You didn't experience it. It can't 'terrorise' you because the feeling of terror is based on having the human physical faculties, including the brain, to experience it.

If death is a return to the state of non existence, why fear what it feels like (or that it doesn't feel)?

You've already not existed before.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I'm with Afleitch here. I really don't understand fearing nonexistence. I mean don't get me wrong, living is nice, I have a pretty good life and would to make the most of it. But not existing doesn't hurt me in any way either? If I'm not existing I can't suffer, I can't be upset by it in anyway. It's by definition morally neutral.

Honestly, if after I died I was asked to choose between nonexistence or an unknown afterlife, without knowing anything else, I'd probably choose the former, since the worst-case scenario in the latter could potentially be very bad and I'm naturally risk-averse.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

How old are you? Do you have any potentially life-threatening or life-shortening medical conditions? If the answer to the first question is a low number and if the answer to the second is 'no', then you need to see someone about this in the real world, not post on Atlas about it.

[Beet]

This has been a persistent issue that’s popped up again the last couple days, and has made it very difficult to sleep.

I have bad death anxiety. I am absolutely terrified of what’s beyond death because I see no reason to believe there is anything beyond it. It’s why I’m pretty adamant about life extension. I don’t just want a hundred years of existence and then oblivion eternal.

I’m wondering if there’s anyone here that has similar feelings and issues. I’m looking for anything that might help calm this down.

It's perfectly normal. A rational person would, as soon as they found out what death was as a child, spend every waking moment from then onwards desperately researching a cure. Alas, none of us are rational. You'll get over it.

[Mr. Reactionary]

I’m looking for anything that might help calm this down.

Id love to tell you about my friend Jesus.

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

I’m looking for anything that might help calm this down.

Id love to tell you about my friend Jesus.

Just don’t put his name on my bus ok

[TheReckoning]

I believe in the afterlife, but the way I see it, your “existence” here on earth carries far after you die. Sure, you might not be physically here, but your influence- based on the choices you make here on Earth- continue to impact the world forever. And the more you the make out of your time here on Earth, the bigger your impact will be.

So, take some of that death anxiety, and put it towards doing things here right now.

[Del Tachi]

As afleitch said, the basic thought is that if death is non-existence then it shouldn't be personally worrying.  Something that doesn't exist (you) cannot be harmed.  You will not be able to perceive your own non-existence after dying, since you won't exist.

A perfectly reasoned and convincing argument, albeit totally nonpersuasive.  Our pre-birth non-existence is a receding reality, always becoming further and further removed from the present.  Death is constantly and monotonously approaching us. 

But death isn't synonymous with the end of sensation.  We have already lived thousands of deaths in our short lives, and many more will come before the ultimate end.  Experiencing the satisfaction of a hot shower, the euphoric high you get after a good run/workout, etc will likely end years before our physical deaths as our bodies age and certain sensations become permanently closed to us.       

[Mopsus]

This has been a persistent issue that’s popped up again the last couple days, and has made it very difficult to sleep.

I have bad death anxiety. I am absolutely terrified of what’s beyond death because I see no reason to believe there is anything beyond it. It’s why I’m pretty adamant about life extension. I don’t just want a hundred years of existence and then oblivion eternal.

I’m wondering if there’s anyone here that has similar feelings and issues. I’m looking for anything that might help calm this down.

I feel the same way. Nonexistence is absolutely terrifying. It's a concept without thought, without time. One second and a billion years are the same and nothing happens.

There has to be something after death. Reincarnation, an afterlife, existing as a spirit, anything is "preferable" to pure nonexistence.

As I've said before when this has came up, non existence applied to 'you' (before there was a you) for billions of years. You didn't experience it. It can't 'terrorise' you because the feeling of terror is based on having the human physical faculties, including the brain, to experience it.

If death is a return to the state of non existence, why fear what it feels like (or that it doesn't feel)?

You've already not existed before.

As true as all of this is, in practice it isn’t actually comforting to people with death anxiety. As far as I can tell, the only things that actually help people overcome that angst are near-death experiences (whether one is actually dying or just experiencing a sensation one interprets as death), belief in an afterlife, and/or a worldview shift in which one comes to see the cosmos itself as more important than one’s individual existence.

[Benjamin Frank]

1.It is normal for all humans to have death anxiety on a number of occasions, even for people as young as those in high school.

2.There are people who argue that life is nothing more than trying to distract from these death anxieties.  The animated television show BoJack Horseman is entirely built around that premise.  

3.However, if you think anxiety about death is the worst thing, imagine the notion that the brain or consciousness doesn't die, but knows it's trapped in a coffin for all eternity.  I think that's even much worse. This is why I want to be cremated.

Hope this helps.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Lol, you aren't gonna die right now unless you have AIDS, and you can still live a full life with it, only if you have a terminal illness will you die, so stop worrying about it

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

Lol, you aren't gonna die right now unless you have AIDS, and you can still live a full life with it, only if you have a terminal illness will you die, so stop worrying about it

Thank you king

[Person Man]

It is what it is. I have it too but I keep telling myself that even though there cannot be objective proof of an afterlife, there are signs in everything we have collectively seen or deduced that it is advertising its existence in a way that requires faith.

Still. I get it. I'm all for life extension, too. Not because I want to life forever but because I want help in making the most out of all of my time.

But come to think of it, it’s not death anxiety. It’s probably about something else for me.