The Problem of Death

[Nooj]

When I read the existentialists, so much is made of death. Along the lines of: death is not a part of life, it is the end of life. Not its opposite so much as its negation. It is supposed to be the greatest enemy of living, casting a massive shadow from under which we can never escape. This sort of sentiment can be found in numerous other places as well.

But I have never experienced it. Maybe I'm too young and when I get older I'll feel the urgency of death. I did an interesting thing there, I said 'when I get older' as opposed to 'if I get older'. I could die tomorrow, but I don't think about it. Is this because young people think of themselves as invincible? Somehow, I don't think so. I suspect people of all ages have the capacity to take life for granted.

Anyway, back to the point. I don't have any emnity for death. From a purely intellectual position, I think death is like the ending in a movie. Inevitable, sure but also necessary and I think there is a subtle difference between those two words. Life must end for life to be what it is. And what is life? I could use words like fragile or beautiful, but that wouldn't be authentic. Life is not beautiful or fragile although sometimes it is. Life is sometimes tenacious like hell, and you survive things that would otherwise break people. It's also ugly at times. You could list every word in the OED to describe life and not get anywhere near what life really constitutes. To do that, you just have to live it.

A life without an end wouldn't be life - not as we know it. It is a form of existence, sure. And immortality could even be better than life. But it wouldn't be life. According to this view, loving life without loving its end is nonsensical.

So that's my intellectual position. But from an emotional perspective, I feel a distinct lack of negative emotions towards death. It is the big full stop at the end of the sentence. I seem to unconsciously pass my days waiting for that sentence to end. That's not to say I feel desirous towards death, but I don't feel fear or hate it. Is this normal? Should I be afraid of death? Does death rob life of its joys? I'm skeptical of that, I think we can do a good job of robbing life of its joys just on our plain lonesome.

 

[GrowingSmaller]

I dont really care about death too much, except I instinctively protect myself from harm. Also death does not seem that close. I think it's likely that if I were on death's door I might start to fear a little more.

 

[Paradoxum]

When I read the existentialists, so much is made of death. Along the lines of: death is not a part of life, it is the end of life. Not its opposite so much as its negation. It is supposed to be the greatest enemy of living, casting a massive shadow from under which we can never escape. This sort of sentiment can be found in numerous other places as well.

Saying that death is the end of life in no way makes it any less scary.

But I have never experienced it. Maybe I'm too young and when I get older I'll feel the urgency of death. I did an interesting thing there, I said 'when I get older' as opposed to 'if I get older'. I could die tomorrow, but I don't think about it. Is this because young people think of themselves as invincible? Somehow, I don't think so. I suspect people of all ages have the capacity to take life for granted.

I think young people do perceive danger in a different way from older people. I also don't fear death that much yet, but hopefully I will have a good understanding of it by the time I might come to fear it.

Anyway, back to the point. I don't have any emnity for death. From a purely intellectual position, I think death is like the ending in a movie. Inevitable, sure but also necessary and I think there is a subtle difference between those two words. Life must end for life to be what it is. And what is life? I could use words like fragile or beautiful, but that wouldn't be authentic. Life is not beautiful or fragile although sometimes it is. Life is sometimes tenacious like hell, and you survive things that would otherwise break people. It's also ugly at times. You could list every word in the OED to describe life and not get anywhere near what life really constitutes. To do that, you just have to live it.

I also took a position something like this in an essay I wrote fairly recently. Saying that we should think of life like a movie. That to us the story starts with our birth and ends in our death and so for us the universe doesn't continue beyond our lifetime.

A life without an end wouldn't be life - not as we know it. It is a form of existence, sure. And immortality could even be better than life. But it wouldn't be life. According to this view, loving life without loving its end is nonsensical.

I think this is just playing with words. It doesn't matter what you want to call it, the wish not to die is still there.

 

[Jade Margery]

I feel pretty much the same way about death, Nooj. I don't want to not exist, but the idea of not existing doesn't really terrify me or put a gloom over my day. When I don't exist I won't care, so why care now? Why fear or hate the inevitable?

I mean, if someone came at me with a knife, I'd be scared as hell. But if I were diagnosed with an incurable disease, I don't know how I would react. I guess I would be afraid of the pain, and sad that I don't get as much life as I thought I would, but I think I could be okay with it.

 

[leftrightleftrightleft]

So that's my intellectual position.

I agree with you for the most part. So often people talk, especially on this website, about the evils of death (its interesting to note that more atheists do this than theists). So often someone comes on and says, "How could God allow so and so to die?"

Regardless of your belief in the afterlife, death does not have to be good or bad and whatever god you do or don't believe in is irrespective of death's inevitability.

I see death as a necessary part of life. To borrow a Tao proverb: what is up without down?

If life was physically eternal (I can't speak for the spiritual), we would run into a whole host of problems. Logistically, overpopulation would be a serious issue

 

[blarg the 2nd]

death is horible for me its the end of everything about myslef as far as i know and my driving force in life is me

but theirs noting i can do about it

 

[blarg the 2nd]

but hey if i die and find myself some place else that dosent suck ill probably change my mind somewhat

 

[bricklayer]

When I read the existentialists, so much is made of death. Along the lines of: death is not a part of life, it is the end of life. Not its opposite so much as its negation. It is supposed to be the greatest enemy of living, casting a massive shadow from under which we can never escape. This sort of sentiment can be found in numerous other places as well.

But I have never experienced it. Maybe I'm too young and when I get older I'll feel the urgency of death. I did an interesting thing there, I said 'when I get older' as opposed to 'if I get older'. I could die tomorrow, but I don't think about it. Is this because young people think of themselves as invincible? Somehow, I don't think so. I suspect people of all ages have the capacity to take life for granted.

Anyway, back to the point. I don't have any emnity for death. From a purely intellectual position, I think death is like the ending in a movie. Inevitable, sure but also necessary and I think there is a subtle difference between those two words. Life must end for life to be what it is. And what is life? I could use words like fragile or beautiful, but that wouldn't be authentic. Life is not beautiful or fragile although sometimes it is. Life is sometimes tenacious like hell, and you survive things that would otherwise break people. It's also ugly at times. You could list every word in the OED to describe life and not get anywhere near what life really constitutes. To do that, you just have to live it.

A life without an end wouldn't be life - not as we know it. It is a form of existence, sure. And immortality could even be better than life. But it wouldn't be life. According to this view, loving life without loving its end is nonsensical.

So that's my intellectual position. But from an emotional perspective, I feel a distinct lack of negative emotions towards death. It is the big full stop at the end of the sentence. I seem to unconsciously pass my days waiting for that sentence to end. That's not to say I feel desirous towards death, but I don't feel fear or hate it. Is this normal? Should I be afraid of death? Does death rob life of its joys? I'm skeptical of that, I think we can do a good job of robbing life of its joys just on our plain lonesome.

Consider the observation that life is a process (i.e. a prescribed sequence of changes).
Physical life is defined by certain physical biological processes.
We possess intellectual, emotional and willful processes.

Death, it seems, is defined by an absence of life processes.

Would you consider death to be of process or the absence of process?