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Does that work for you? Meditating? Do you have any more specific advice you'd want to give someone who would like to be at peace with the thought of it?

fsloth 5y ago
I meant meditating not in the "sitting on the floor, breathing" sense but in the sense of ruminating and thinking. I'm not an expert on death anxiety. There is the "normal" kind, and then there are conditions that probably require a therapist. I am not suggesting life should not be cherished, nor that one should not consider each death a loss. Lots of people have written about getting rid of it. You just probably need to skim through self-helpy books until you find some rationale to appease you. Three points that helped me: It is a huge privilege to be born in the first place. The number of living people is infinitesimally smaller than the number of people who will ever exist (I'm referring to the fact that there is about 70B ways fathers and mothers genome can combine and you are only one of those options - as is any human of their parents genomes who has lived). Being dead is just like being before you were born. Renaissance doesn't cause anxiety in me so I don't know why a future centuries from now on without me would frighten me. There is the "imagine you are dead" visualization. Imagine you are dead, buried to the ground and worms are eating your corpse. Really vividly, focus for a few minutes. Then stop and continue your day. Notice the thought of being dead does not seem so frightening now you've imagined it. Some mythologies purport an afterlife, if you prefer in believing the continuity of consciousness go ahead and do that - I have nothing against it. I think everybody agrees patterns that are related to of us will remain in the world like ripples in the pond after we are gone. But beyond that I have no reason to believe in any sort of continuity.
pps 5y ago
Stoicism. Other than old works from Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epictetus, you can also find modern stoic practitioners, Massimo Pigliucci and Donald Robertson (there are others, but these are the best at teaching IMO). Robertsons book has additional chapter you can find somewhere online on exercises for meditation on death. But it's better to read it after https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stoicism-Art-Happiness-Teach-Yourself/dp/1444187104/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stoicism-Art-Happiness-Teach-Yourse... Edit. Here it is https://learn.donaldrobertson.name/p/the-stoic-contemplation-of-death https://learn.donaldrobertson.name/p/the-stoic-contemplation...
- GeorgeWBasic 5y ago
  Thank you, that's exactly what I was looking for.
NikolaeVarius 5y ago
Why do you care? Do you fear going to sleep? If you die, nothing is a problem for you anymore.
- GeorgeWBasic 5y ago
  That's a really stupid answer.

fsloth 5y ago

I meant meditating not in the "sitting on the floor, breathing" sense but in the sense of ruminating and thinking. I'm not an expert on death anxiety. There is the "normal" kind, and then there are conditions that probably require a therapist. I am not suggesting life should not be cherished, nor that one should not consider each death a loss. Lots of people have written about getting rid of it. You just probably need to skim through self-helpy books until you find some rationale to appease you. Three points that helped me: It is a huge privilege to be born in the first place. The number of living people is infinitesimally smaller than the number of people who will ever exist (I'm referring to the fact that there is about 70B ways fathers and mothers genome can combine and you are only one of those options - as is any human of their parents genomes who has lived). Being dead is just like being before you were born. Renaissance doesn't cause anxiety in me so I don't know why a future centuries from now on without me would frighten me. There is the "imagine you are dead" visualization. Imagine you are dead, buried to the ground and worms are eating your corpse. Really vividly, focus for a few minutes. Then stop and continue your day. Notice the thought of being dead does not seem so frightening now you've imagined it. Some mythologies purport an afterlife, if you prefer in believing the continuity of consciousness go ahead and do that - I have nothing against it. I think everybody agrees patterns that are related to of us will remain in the world like ripples in the pond after we are gone. But beyond that I have no reason to believe in any sort of continuity.

pps 5y ago

Stoicism. Other than old works from Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epictetus, you can also find modern stoic practitioners, Massimo Pigliucci and Donald Robertson (there are others, but these are the best at teaching IMO). Robertsons book has additional chapter you can find somewhere online on exercises for meditation on death. But it's better to read it after https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stoicism-Art-Happiness-Teach-Yourself/dp/1444187104/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stoicism-Art-Happiness-Teach-Yourse... Edit. Here it is https://learn.donaldrobertson.name/p/the-stoic-contemplation-of-death https://learn.donaldrobertson.name/p/the-stoic-contemplation...

GeorgeWBasic 5y ago
Thank you, that's exactly what I was looking for.

NikolaeVarius 5y ago

Why do you care? Do you fear going to sleep? If you die, nothing is a problem for you anymore.

GeorgeWBasic 5y ago
That's a really stupid answer.