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As a biological organism, life means literally everything. Every part of you has evolved over millions of years for the sole purpose of sustaining your existen

As a biological organism, life means literally everything. Every part of you has evolved over millions of years for the sole purpose of sustaining your existence within this universe. The core intent behind all rational thoughts that a specimen can have is survival; either at the level of the organism or at a genetic level. From the perspective of the organism, survival is literally the only thing that means anything at all. Therefore it makes perfect rational sense to be terrified of death. What if there's nothing after death... for the rest of eternity? This thought makes most people extremely uncomfortable. It is the root of all fears. If death didn't exist, the word "fear" would probably not exit either. I don't think that it's the rarity of death in developed countries which makes people more afraid of it; it's the other way round; that people's fear of death (which is a side effect of better education and weaker religion in developed countries) make them less likely to take risks which might cause them to die.

danharaj 8y ago
Evolutionary pressure is determined by the propagation of genes, not the survival of the organism. Anyway, your reasoning is not sound.
- jondubois 8y ago
  But the organism needs to survive at least long enough to be able to propagate its genes into the next generation.
  - danharaj 8y ago
    You said > Survival is literally the only thing that means anything at all. Which is not true. And even so, evolution does not determine meaning.
michaelmior 8y ago
What if you believe there is something after death? Something much better than life now. Then life isn't everything
- jondubois 8y ago
  If I believed that was the case (with absolute certainty), I would probably no longer be here. I would have taken way more risks in my life. I guess that's why religions have a lot of rules to prevent people from harming themselves and others; it's to offset the increased risk tolerance that comes with religion.
Barrin92 8y ago
>The core intent behind all rational thoughts that a specimen can have is survival; either at the level of the organism or at a genetic level. Not at all. Your genes aren't better than my genes (presumably) just because they're your genes. The instinct for self-preservation is simply self-replication, which is not rational, but actually mindless. There's nothing meaningful about the drive for copying your genes over and over, it's in some sense the least rational or meaningful thing around. So when people decide to sacrifice their survival for higher ends, be it scientific discovery, humanity at large, or some other higher goal, that is arguably much more rational.
reading-at-work 8y ago
> What if there's nothing after death... for the rest of eternity? I have been mulling over this for some weeks now, more intensely than ever before in my life. I'm only 24 but still terrified of the concept, and frankly it's poisoned every waking hour with a mild to extreme sense of dread and foreboding. My mind tends to fixate and freak out over life problems it can't solve, and this is the ultimate one that no one can solve. I'm glad that I still have a lot of my life ahead of me, but I can't stop fixating on the infinite nothingness afterwards and what that truly means. It's to the point that doing enjoyable things day to day feels worthless and just reminds me that it's still all going to end, no matter what I do, and sends me back down a spiral of fear. I know rationally that I shouldn't let it get to me, because there's nothing I can do, but that just makes me apathetic and hopeless. I'm hoping this is a phase that will just pass but if anyone has real advice for how to move through this I would be very grateful.
- User23 8y ago
  Religion is a survival technology. It might be of use to you here since this is exactly the problem it's designed to solve. Edit: Here's some evidence: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/church-attendance-happy-pew-research-center_us_5c545b34e4b0bdf0e7daac7f https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/church-attendance-happy... Edit edit: Physical exercise also helps. I suggest resistance training over cardio, because it produces greater endorphin release. YMMV of course. Good luck and hang in there!
- yesenadam 8y ago
  Well, you also didn't exist before you were born, for a very long time.. Does that bother you too? It's very common to have existential crises (and other related crises) in your teens/20s. I certainly did. I read some philosophy-type books on the meaning of life which helped with that. (Klemke's The Meaning of Life anthology was one I remember that helped a lot.) Ok, so... not living forever seems..bad? So..if you lived forever, that would somehow give you meaning to your life? I can't really see how it would, even if it were possible. An infinite life would probably be infinitely boring. (I don't think people really can imagine forever or eternity) Surely the brevity of life makes its moments more precious. Think on what you're grateful for, treasure the people around you. What an amazing miracle it is to somehow be conscious, alive, here, now, on this planet. I don't think "What is the meaning of life?" is a good question - we give our lives meaning by the things we're involved in. Who cares if they don't last forever? Is a piece of music, a meal, a conversation, a day, the worse for coming to an end? People can help you, and it is a serious problem you are having. Get help if you need it - it's being strong to ask for help. Good luck. p.s. Religion[0] provides answers, but false ones, as far as we know. Believing "we live forever", without any evidence, is just burying your head in the sand. Among the basic facts of life are that we are born and we die. Expecting the universe to be like a child's home, with loving parents and everything designed to make us feel good, a moral universe designed around human desires, is wishful thinking. [0] (which I notice a sibling comment has recommended as a solution)
porpoisely 8y ago
Sure, the basic tenet of biological organism is to survive and procreate. However, no biological organism, other than humans, fear death. No other organism, that we know of, has a conception of death. A dog doesn't have a conception of death. It doesn't worry about whether there is an afterlife. Bacteria obviously doesn't either. Just because survival is important to an biological organism doesn't necessarily mean that they are terrified of death. We know that most biological organism are not terrified of death because they have no conception of death. It's an entirely human "illness", this obsession with death. Especially considering that the self is an illusion and doesn't exist so you can't die since "you" never existed.

danharaj 8y ago

Evolutionary pressure is determined by the propagation of genes, not the survival of the organism. Anyway, your reasoning is not sound.

jondubois 8y ago
But the organism needs to survive at least long enough to be able to propagate its genes into the next generation.
- danharaj 8y ago
  You said > Survival is literally the only thing that means anything at all. Which is not true. And even so, evolution does not determine meaning.

michaelmior 8y ago

What if you believe there is something after death? Something much better than life now. Then life isn't everything

jondubois 8y ago
If I believed that was the case (with absolute certainty), I would probably no longer be here. I would have taken way more risks in my life. I guess that's why religions have a lot of rules to prevent people from harming themselves and others; it's to offset the increased risk tolerance that comes with religion.

Barrin92 8y ago

>The core intent behind all rational thoughts that a specimen can have is survival; either at the level of the organism or at a genetic level. Not at all. Your genes aren't better than my genes (presumably) just because they're your genes. The instinct for self-preservation is simply self-replication, which is not rational, but actually mindless. There's nothing meaningful about the drive for copying your genes over and over, it's in some sense the least rational or meaningful thing around. So when people decide to sacrifice their survival for higher ends, be it scientific discovery, humanity at large, or some other higher goal, that is arguably much more rational.

reading-at-work 8y ago

> What if there's nothing after death... for the rest of eternity? I have been mulling over this for some weeks now, more intensely than ever before in my life. I'm only 24 but still terrified of the concept, and frankly it's poisoned every waking hour with a mild to extreme sense of dread and foreboding. My mind tends to fixate and freak out over life problems it can't solve, and this is the ultimate one that no one can solve. I'm glad that I still have a lot of my life ahead of me, but I can't stop fixating on the infinite nothingness afterwards and what that truly means. It's to the point that doing enjoyable things day to day feels worthless and just reminds me that it's still all going to end, no matter what I do, and sends me back down a spiral of fear. I know rationally that I shouldn't let it get to me, because there's nothing I can do, but that just makes me apathetic and hopeless. I'm hoping this is a phase that will just pass but if anyone has real advice for how to move through this I would be very grateful.

User23 8y ago
Religion is a survival technology. It might be of use to you here since this is exactly the problem it's designed to solve. Edit: Here's some evidence: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/church-attendance-happy-pew-research-center_us_5c545b34e4b0bdf0e7daac7f https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/church-attendance-happy... Edit edit: Physical exercise also helps. I suggest resistance training over cardio, because it produces greater endorphin release. YMMV of course. Good luck and hang in there!
yesenadam 8y ago
Well, you also didn't exist before you were born, for a very long time.. Does that bother you too? It's very common to have existential crises (and other related crises) in your teens/20s. I certainly did. I read some philosophy-type books on the meaning of life which helped with that. (Klemke's The Meaning of Life anthology was one I remember that helped a lot.) Ok, so... not living forever seems..bad? So..if you lived forever, that would somehow give you meaning to your life? I can't really see how it would, even if it were possible. An infinite life would probably be infinitely boring. (I don't think people really can imagine forever or eternity) Surely the brevity of life makes its moments more precious. Think on what you're grateful for, treasure the people around you. What an amazing miracle it is to somehow be conscious, alive, here, now, on this planet. I don't think "What is the meaning of life?" is a good question - we give our lives meaning by the things we're involved in. Who cares if they don't last forever? Is a piece of music, a meal, a conversation, a day, the worse for coming to an end? People can help you, and it is a serious problem you are having. Get help if you need it - it's being strong to ask for help. Good luck. p.s. Religion[0] provides answers, but false ones, as far as we know. Believing "we live forever", without any evidence, is just burying your head in the sand. Among the basic facts of life are that we are born and we die. Expecting the universe to be like a child's home, with loving parents and everything designed to make us feel good, a moral universe designed around human desires, is wishful thinking. [0] (which I notice a sibling comment has recommended as a solution)

porpoisely 8y ago

Sure, the basic tenet of biological organism is to survive and procreate. However, no biological organism, other than humans, fear death. No other organism, that we know of, has a conception of death. A dog doesn't have a conception of death. It doesn't worry about whether there is an afterlife. Bacteria obviously doesn't either. Just because survival is important to an biological organism doesn't necessarily mean that they are terrified of death. We know that most biological organism are not terrified of death because they have no conception of death. It's an entirely human "illness", this obsession with death. Especially considering that the self is an illusion and doesn't exist so you can't die since "you" never existed.