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Some days, I wonder if I'll get lucky and manage to go the next day without thinking about the enormity of death. Yesterday, I was wrong.

by akanet 10y ago

amelius 10y ago
Here's a way of thinking about it that might make it a little lighter. First, you have to understand that the version of you at this moment is different from the version of you yesterday. You don't feel what you felt yesterday. All that is left are memories, which are somehow engraved in your brain. The part of you that survives is purely physical. So in a sense, dying and living are the same thing: you die at every femtosecond of living. Dying is not special. You (as anyone else) have been doing it for many years now. If this doesn't work for you, then consider the following. We are all living beings, and sometimes some of us die, and sometimes new beings are born. But who says that those living beings aren't just one big living being? Our brains tell us so. But this view is only an artifact of the brain. If our brains were all interconnected more strongly, then I bet our brains would view us as one living being. So what you can take from this is that dying is just like losing a few brain cells. This is also something that you have been doing for years (in fact billions of years). So in this view, you never die until, of course, the universe ends.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- akanet 10y ago
  > you die at every femtosecond of living This is an interesting theory that has its roots in solipsism: the belief the world vanishes the moment you close your eyes. The fact of the matter is that it (and solipsism) just don't seem to be true, not even to solipsists. If you truly believed you were dying at every second, you'd act in all sorts of ways against your long term survival, but here you are posting on the internet. Even if we take the position as true, it seems entirely reasonable to perceive the end of the "chain" of "yous" to be a tragic event. > But who says that those living beings aren't just one big living being? Our brains tell us so. Well, our brains, as well as the general evidence we see in the world around us. If we were one giant interconnected entity, dying would probably be very different. However, there's very little reason to assume that as a given - I can't talk to my dead relatives through any of my living ones. I think this argument is perhaps more simply stated as "you were never a large part of the human race, so your death will not matter in a large way either" which is quite true, in fact. My counterpoint would be that the death of the individual rightly remains terrifying to that individual. If I were the human race, I would correctly not concern myself with the death of a few of my brain cells (and I do not, regarding my own real brain cells), but I would regard the death of the human race (myself) as truly important. If anyone's interested, I've written about some of these kinds of arguments I've heard before: http://vincentwoo.com/2011/04/30/arguing-for-immortality/ http://vincentwoo.com/2011/04/30/arguing-for-immortality/
- junko 10y ago
  I personally don't like thinking that I'm just one part of something much bigger. Yes it IS true, but I consider myself too uniquely different from every other person in this world. It's not vanity, because it's the same for everyone else. No matter who or where you are, you are a universe of its own. You have a mind and a character that will always be different and will never be fully comprehended by others - a snowflake, yeah I get that's cliché but it's true. And imagine that no matter how many billions of snowflakes there are, each one is different from another. Now that's mind-boggling. Whenever I get the "death dread", I think of this, and remember what a privilege it is to be in this world and experience these 'universes' - no matter how brief life may be.
crusso 10y ago
Take luck out of the picture. Learn how to meditate. I find that when the suckiness of mortality intrudes upon my thoughts, twenty minutes of meditation clears my mind and prepares it for handling more immediate concerns. Being trapped in negative patterns of thought can be unhealthy. It's best to break those patterns. Exercise is also very helpful.
- loonattic 10y ago
  Do you recommend looking into any specific more complicated theory or guidance into meditation, or do you think it's sufficient to focus on breathing while letting thoughts flow and be?
  - firepoet 10y ago
    Each person's causes and conditions are different, so each bit of guidance has to be tailored to them. That said, I have found great support in Shambhala International. It's a Western Buddhist tradition grounded in the Vajrayana from Tibet. You can find a Center here: http://shambhala.org/centres/find-shambhala-centre/ http://shambhala.org/centres/find-shambhala-centre/ One excellent text that comes from one of the parent lineages of Shambhala is the Tibetan Book of the Dead, which is basically a preparation for the Bardo, or the "in-between" stages after life. You can read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardo_Thodol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardo_Thodol There is a vast library of teachings from our senior teachers here: http://shambhala.org/teachings-library/ http://shambhala.org/teachings-library/ Plus a bunch of recorded talks by our very controversial founder: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=chogyam+trungpa https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=chogyam+trungpa For Tibetans, the practice of meditation is simply the practice of preparing for death. You are becoming familiar with your mind so you will be able to see through the delusions that arise when your mindstream is no longer attached to a physical body. Of course, you don't necessarily have to believe in rebirth to find value in these traditions. I have found the community aspects of Shambhala to be quite supportive, even when I had doubts, which in this tradition are expected to be plentiful, and are celebrated. Happy to answer any questions!
    - 10y ago
Delmania 10y ago
> Some days, I wonder if I'll get lucky and manage to go the next day without thinking about the enormity of death. Why? The fact we are aware of our death is important.
alanwatts 10y ago
Memento mori. Be mindful of death. Let's look at it another way, the enormity of death shows us the precious value of being alive. GO out and live your life! Go do what makes you happy and feel alive. If you couldn't die, you wouldn't know you were alive, like a rock. Many of those who have come close to death claim to feel more alive than they ever have, unless they are drugged out by pain killers and such.

Some days, I wonder if I'll get lucky and manage to go the next day without thinking about the enormity of death. Yesterday, I was wrong.

by akanet 10y ago

Some days, I wonder if I'll get lucky and manage to go the next day without thinking about the enormity of death. Yesterday, I was wrong.

amelius 10y ago

Here's a way of thinking about it that might make it a little lighter. First, you have to understand that the version of you at this moment is different from the version of you yesterday. You don't feel what you felt yesterday. All that is left are memories, which are somehow engraved in your brain. The part of you that survives is purely physical. So in a sense, dying and living are the same thing: you die at every femtosecond of living. Dying is not special. You (as anyone else) have been doing it for many years now. If this doesn't work for you, then consider the following. We are all living beings, and sometimes some of us die, and sometimes new beings are born. But who says that those living beings aren't just one big living being? Our brains tell us so. But this view is only an artifact of the brain. If our brains were all interconnected more strongly, then I bet our brains would view us as one living being. So what you can take from this is that dying is just like losing a few brain cells. This is also something that you have been doing for years (in fact billions of years). So in this view, you never die until, of course, the universe ends.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
akanet 10y ago
> you die at every femtosecond of living This is an interesting theory that has its roots in solipsism: the belief the world vanishes the moment you close your eyes. The fact of the matter is that it (and solipsism) just don't seem to be true, not even to solipsists. If you truly believed you were dying at every second, you'd act in all sorts of ways against your long term survival, but here you are posting on the internet. Even if we take the position as true, it seems entirely reasonable to perceive the end of the "chain" of "yous" to be a tragic event. > But who says that those living beings aren't just one big living being? Our brains tell us so. Well, our brains, as well as the general evidence we see in the world around us. If we were one giant interconnected entity, dying would probably be very different. However, there's very little reason to assume that as a given - I can't talk to my dead relatives through any of my living ones. I think this argument is perhaps more simply stated as "you were never a large part of the human race, so your death will not matter in a large way either" which is quite true, in fact. My counterpoint would be that the death of the individual rightly remains terrifying to that individual. If I were the human race, I would correctly not concern myself with the death of a few of my brain cells (and I do not, regarding my own real brain cells), but I would regard the death of the human race (myself) as truly important. If anyone's interested, I've written about some of these kinds of arguments I've heard before: http://vincentwoo.com/2011/04/30/arguing-for-immortality/ http://vincentwoo.com/2011/04/30/arguing-for-immortality/
junko 10y ago
I personally don't like thinking that I'm just one part of something much bigger. Yes it IS true, but I consider myself too uniquely different from every other person in this world. It's not vanity, because it's the same for everyone else. No matter who or where you are, you are a universe of its own. You have a mind and a character that will always be different and will never be fully comprehended by others - a snowflake, yeah I get that's cliché but it's true. And imagine that no matter how many billions of snowflakes there are, each one is different from another. Now that's mind-boggling. Whenever I get the "death dread", I think of this, and remember what a privilege it is to be in this world and experience these 'universes' - no matter how brief life may be.

crusso 10y ago

Take luck out of the picture. Learn how to meditate. I find that when the suckiness of mortality intrudes upon my thoughts, twenty minutes of meditation clears my mind and prepares it for handling more immediate concerns. Being trapped in negative patterns of thought can be unhealthy. It's best to break those patterns. Exercise is also very helpful.

loonattic 10y ago
Do you recommend looking into any specific more complicated theory or guidance into meditation, or do you think it's sufficient to focus on breathing while letting thoughts flow and be?
- firepoet 10y ago
  Each person's causes and conditions are different, so each bit of guidance has to be tailored to them. That said, I have found great support in Shambhala International. It's a Western Buddhist tradition grounded in the Vajrayana from Tibet. You can find a Center here: http://shambhala.org/centres/find-shambhala-centre/ http://shambhala.org/centres/find-shambhala-centre/ One excellent text that comes from one of the parent lineages of Shambhala is the Tibetan Book of the Dead, which is basically a preparation for the Bardo, or the "in-between" stages after life. You can read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardo_Thodol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardo_Thodol There is a vast library of teachings from our senior teachers here: http://shambhala.org/teachings-library/ http://shambhala.org/teachings-library/ Plus a bunch of recorded talks by our very controversial founder: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=chogyam+trungpa https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=chogyam+trungpa For Tibetans, the practice of meditation is simply the practice of preparing for death. You are becoming familiar with your mind so you will be able to see through the delusions that arise when your mindstream is no longer attached to a physical body. Of course, you don't necessarily have to believe in rebirth to find value in these traditions. I have found the community aspects of Shambhala to be quite supportive, even when I had doubts, which in this tradition are expected to be plentiful, and are celebrated. Happy to answer any questions!
  - 10y ago

Delmania 10y ago

> Some days, I wonder if I'll get lucky and manage to go the next day without thinking about the enormity of death. Why? The fact we are aware of our death is important.

alanwatts 10y ago

Memento mori. Be mindful of death. Let's look at it another way, the enormity of death shows us the precious value of being alive. GO out and live your life! Go do what makes you happy and feel alive. If you couldn't die, you wouldn't know you were alive, like a rock. Many of those who have come close to death claim to feel more alive than they ever have, unless they are drugged out by pain killers and such.