Why are people so conflicted about what happens after death, but rarely wonder what happens before birth, since they're likely the same states of nonexistence?

Found this as an solid answer,any additional thoughts?

Quote:I would reckon that people are not concerned what happens before birth because the true fear lies in ego death. Our ego is a manifestation of our environment and social conditioning. Our ego developed as a result of life so the birth of our ego was the birth of our personal identity. We came in to this world and an ego developed after birth, so concerning yourself with the past non-existence of it seems to be wasted energy. We spend much more time in fear, anticipating the eventual death of our identity.
That being said the connection you made ia very insightful to those contemplating death. When preparing for it you can take cpmfort in knowing that before this particular life you were amongst the non-existent. We all came from death.

I don't think it's that hard to understand. We weren't conscious before we existed, so now we have experience of something that, at least those in a stable economic conditions, generally enjoy and we don't much fancy loosing it.

It basically boils down to humans who just have to think they are so fucking special.

(June 20, 2014 at 2:09 pm)Minimalist Wrote: It basically boils down to humans who just have to think they are so fucking special.

That appears to be a feature of the human mind; we are the center of the universe and the concept of death is probably way overblown by our minds, because when we die, EVERYTHING DIES. That, or the thought of missing out on whatever it is that comes next. I dunno, we're all at least a bit crazy.

Quote: I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.

Mark Twain

Which answers to OPs question too. We don't worry about before we were born because we have no bad memories of it. This is because we were not.

(June 20, 2014 at 2:11 pm)Tonus Wrote:

(June 20, 2014 at 2:09 pm)Minimalist Wrote: It basically boils down to humans who just have to think they are so fucking special.

That appears to be a feature of the human mind; we are the center of the universe and the concept of death is probably way overblown by our minds, because when we die, EVERYTHING DIES. That, or the thought of missing out on whatever it is that comes next. I dunno, we're all at least a bit crazy.

Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist.

-Epicurus

Isn't reincarnation about your pre existent personality?

When I die, "I" will go back to where "I" came from. Where that is, I cannot say, and anyone who claims they know for sure is at best, deluded, and at worst, insane.

(June 20, 2014 at 6:12 pm)fr0d0 Wrote: Isn't reincarnation about your pre existent personality?

I suppose it is. I never thought I had one, so I hadn't considered it.

--- The ugly thing about some religions that include past lives is that they assume you deserve what you get in this life because you earned in a past life. So it's ok to ignore the poor.

I'm sorry, but I've heard this question before, and I think it's a little bit retarded. We are moving through time in one direction, and there's a moment ahead of us in which we believe we are going to lose everything we've ever worked or cared for: family, friends, home, job, memories, absolutely everything. And we do not LIKE to invest time, effort and emotions in things only to have them taken away.

If you were driving a car with a blindfold, you wouldn't be worried about the road already behind you, because time matters.