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I guess we have to accept that this perspective will be at the bottom of such threads. But this is the conclusion I’ve come to as well. I used to fear death, n
by erikpukinskis 3y ago
I guess we have to accept that this perspective will be at the bottom of such threads.
But this is the conclusion I’ve come to as well. I used to fear death, now I fear wasting my life.
The more I learn about the natural world, the more I can see that death is a gift, a mechanism for renewal as well as for protecting things which have existed for millions of years.
Nothing I have in my brain is that special, compared to what the collective of life has created. I’m happy to give up living and become a more background part of what comes next. It’s an honor. And I hope I can honor it.
It’s very interesting to read this thread though and remember that so many people see death as a simple black line that might just as well be evaded as understood.
- pyth0 3y agoI feel similarly to you, and yet there is always such a strong negative reaction to this sort of sentiment in anti-aging threads. I wonder what people outside the HN bubble think of this, since I've always thought that coming to terms with death and your own mortality was just a part of growing up.
- DennisP 3y agoComing to terms with death is a necessary adaption to the fact that we're all going to die in a fairly short time. If we had an expected lifespan of ten thousand years, then I wonder how many people would think that the way to "grow up" is to give up 99% of that time, rather than living those years and learning whatever lessons they bring. Perhaps, when the solar system is full of 5000-year-olds, they'll marvel that we infants were able to muddle through at all.