Fear of Death? My thoughts please comment :P

[Patrickmeister]

It is irrational to fear something that you will never have to witness... It's like fearing that your eye will be gouged by a demented unicorn. Death is something that you do not witness, as you are dead, the becoming of one that no longer belongs to the world you were once a part of. Our very existence is defined by our parts in our world; if we are no longer a part of that world, we simply do not exist. The fear of non-existance is similar to the demented unicorn theory where the fear is irrational as what you were is no longer there; you are neither a corpse, a soul or a force of nature, you are simply nothing, it is irrational to fear not being anything at all, because you will not witness the nothingness, as nothingness (you) can not observe, or experience nothingness. This means that you will not actually witness death as you instantly become non-existant. Therefore, the fear of death is irrational, as death is something you will never have to witness.

My original thoughts, comment, and try to disprove my comment... I wana see people's thoughts on it

[Xen]

i must disagree with your opening statement. even if theres not really a possibility of a demented unicorn gouging out your eye, one can still fear the unproven or seemingly impossible. just as how people can fear the afterlife, in hell, or otherwise, depending on their beliefs. and whether you believe or not, if that person is convinced of the possibility of hell then its a tangible idea to fear in a way. and in death, sure, we may not be conscious of our existence, yet we will still exist. our body becomes a corpse, and its broken down, changes states, etc. but we still technically are a part of the world. even if not as a pure human being.
id imagine people could also fear the becoming nothingness as well, as they are used to, and like being somebody. whether you have to witness death or not. you will still cease to be. your argument, i feel, lies more in the situation of, when you die, you wont exist so you shouldn't fear it. even though its inevitable, people like living. and irrational or not, its still going to happen. though ill conclude with saying that i don't think its irrational, its simply human.

i like your imagination about the unicorn though

[Patrickmeister]

But your argument is based upon the fact that something happens when you die. What if nothing does? What if you are simply gone, as in your soul does not exist, and reality does not exist, and everything you've worked for, or loved is simply non-existent, as well as your contious mind. It is true that many fear the "consequences" of death, (like never being able to see loved ones, never finishing your life's work, ect) but, the fear of death itself is irrational, as no one, except for the dead knows what it's like, and other than fearing the consequences of death, it is irrational to fear death itself, as you, as you were (your life's work, family, ect) are all part of who you are, and if you lose all of that, the parts of who you are disappear, and therefore you do not exist as someone you were before, and therefore, it is irrational to fear death, as you can't long for something you didn't even know you had...

[SWM]

It is irrational to fear something that you will never have to witness... It's like fearing that your eye will be gouged by a demented unicorn.

it might help your argument if you try to qualify this statement with a better example than the demented unicorn.  what about the alternative, is it possible to fear something that you will not witness? what about the death of your loved ones?

Death is something that you do not witness, as you are dead, the becoming of one that no longer belongs to the world you were once a part of.

you make a statement based on your knowledge of life which knowledge is lacking the experience of death. if you had experienced death then your knowledge may be more complete and you may be more qualified to comment on what happens when your current life is ceasing.

Our very existence is defined by our parts in our world; if we are no longer a part of that world, we simply do not exist.

that is true and until you experience death you will not be able to define your existence death. i hope i make my point clear there, it might be confusing. my point is until you exist in death you cannot give your existence a definition concordant with death.

The fear of non-existance is similar to the demented unicorn theory where the fear is irrational as what you were is no longer there; you are neither a corpse, a soul or a force of nature, you are simply nothing, it is irrational to fear not being anything at all, because you will not witness the nothingness, as nothingness (you) can not observe, or experience nothingness. This means that you will not actually witness death as you instantly become non-existant. Therefore, the fear of death is irrational, as death is something you will never have to witness.

My original thoughts, comment, and try to disprove my comment... I wana see people's thoughts on it

my previous remarks relate to the above paragraph also.

many people they have beliefs about death which reinforce their fear. your belief is that your existence ceases and that is nothing to be afraid of. i can understand this position. 
for other people their is the belief in the religious versions of the afterlife, there is also the loss of all they have worked for,  the pain they will leave their family and the not wanting to go to somewhere or become sometihng they don't have any experience of.

i used to say that i had no fear of death, due to the experiences of my life, but i now acknowledge that i have a lot invested in this life and i am not ready to leave. i do however also accept that ultimately my time will come and i will return from whence i came.

[Xen]

But your argument is based upon the fact that something happens when you die. What if nothing does?

well, im with you on that. but go ahead and TRY convincing every single person on the earth that there is no afterlife or otherwise. merely nothingness. and good luck with that...
my point is, people themselves are, by their nature, irrational. and arguing religion is like trying to fly by flapping your hands, you'll never succeed.
as i see it, your point is more towards when you're already dead, you wont exist and wont fear, so why fear the process of getting there?
but like i said, people will fear. for one reason or another. and while i may agree with you somewhat on the afterlife vs. nothingness point, thats just me. not every religious person out there who would call YOU irrational for proposing such a thing.

when considering a point, you must examine all sides of it. to know a city you must walk many streets, not one. religion is just one big boulevard you missed there

[Patrickmeister]

but there are no two sides of truth. I am not trying to convince everyone about the afterlife, I'm simply trying to see what is most likely the truth of death. Whether people believe me or not does not matter.

[Xen]

okay i gotcha, well yes, there are no two sides of truth to this matter. unfortunately, we have no way of proving what happens when one dies.
and asking for the most likely truth of death would pretty much end up being a poll of opinions.
and no it doesn't, i just meant to say if you ask a million different people about death and if you should fear it, you'd get a million different answers. and even though some, or one, may be right, it can't really be proven. 

[Patrickmeister]

true, i guess death isn't knowable unless you witness it...

[Xen]

yeah, unless you happen to run across a zombie and manage to have a worthwhile conversation without it eating your brain 

[Patrickmeister]

haha... love how you said "worthwhile conversation"

[Xen]

 why thank you lol. just think it'd be kinda hard to talk with someone who's vocabulary consisted of "blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhh" and "BRAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNS!!!" 

[sky]

The fear of death is misunderstood. If you think about it, We don't fear the act of being dead but four other things that come with it.

1)The fear of pain while dying or the pain it will inflict on others

2) Nonexistence-the fear of everything you have made for yourself and others like love and home to suddenly be gone forever.

3) Unfinished- We are curious.  If we die then we may never understand the big questions like "what is the meaning of life?". 

4) Change. If you keep up with politics you will notice that while people have a common goal they dont like change... I dont like change

these are just the things I think tho.  We spend such a long time "making our mark" and Building our selves and knowing mostly what our plans are that we dont want that to change. Death is change

[subguy2]

i do not fear death of myself,
i fear death of those i love.

[psy_guy]

It's something as sky said in my opinion. We do not fear of being dead. We fear of the process of dying. Some of us fear the pain it might cause to someone we know. We fear, that we won't be able to do anything else in this life. We won't be able to go shopping or shake the hand of the president. And we fear, that we will lose everything we had. I agree with sky on his stuff there.

[DamnedShadow88]

It is irrational to fear something that you will never have to witness... It's like fearing that your eye will be gouged by a demented unicorn. Death is something that you do not witness, as you are dead, the becoming of one that no longer belongs to the world you were once a part of. Our very existence is defined by our parts in our world; if we are no longer a part of that world, we simply do not exist. The fear of non-existance is similar to the demented unicorn theory where the fear is irrational as what you were is no longer there; you are neither a corpse, a soul or a force of nature, you are simply nothing, it is irrational to fear not being anything at all, because you will not witness the nothingness, as nothingness (you) can not observe, or experience nothingness. This means that you will not actually witness death as you instantly become non-existant. Therefore, the fear of death is irrational, as death is something you will never have to witness.

My original thoughts, comment, and try to disprove my comment... I wana see people's thoughts on it

I believe part of it is the fear of losing the happiness that one has in their life.  There have been times when I really thought that if something were to happen and I were to be faced with death, I would not be scared because I felt I had nothing to live for.  Other times when I'm actually happy in life I dread dying because I'm happy living and existing as a human. 

Fear of death can also extend from the idea that power-crazed morons introduced to control the masses through fear that if we weren't pristine little angels in this life that well have to suffer an eternity in torment.  I've done things I shouldn't have in the eyes of the Christian God; should I fear an eternity of torment?  If I chose to believe that, sure!  But I choose not to believe that so I don't. 

There really isn't any rational reason to fear death because of exactly what you said; It is fear of the unknown that does us in, before the fact.

[DamnedShadow88]

as no one, except for the dead knows what it's like

Actually, from what you're saying, they won't even know because they are non-existant :p