Processing our mortality

[Amarok]

I would rather 5 minutes of life .To an eternity of lingering . It's as Queen put it

[bennyboy]

Oh yeah? Would you trade places with Freddie Mercury?

[Amarok]

Oh yeah?  Would you trade places with Freddie Mercury?

Hell yes it's Freddy Mercury

[Dropship]

..I've heard Hitchens' bittersweet adaptation: 'the party is going to continue, but I have to leave.'..

Jesus said wine will be served at that great party in the sky; beats me why Hitchens didn't want to go..
PS- I don't drink, so that's me out then (sniffle)

[ignoramus]

Pooping out kids?!  

Brewer, I think it's time we sit down together and have that talk about the birds and bees.  [emoji13]

I'm with you MH. I just dropped 3 kids off at the pool. No idea what she's talking about?

[bennyboy]

Oh yeah?  Would you trade places with Freddie Mercury?

Hell yes it's Freddy Mercury

Yeah, he's dead though.  That's probably not gonna be a great trade for you.

[Edwardo Piet]

It's always been easy for me because I never believed in an afterlife and assumed death was the end anyways. I remember when I was like 7 crying at one point because I was so happy and never wanted to die and I was thinking about the fact I was going to die one day. I was like 7. Yeah I've always been deep

[LastPoet]

I do reckon that being a parent does make me fear for my life. I am needed for my daughter, otherwise, no, it will happen whenever and I am OK with it. I am not afraid to die, just don't want to.

[LadyForCamus]

It did; thank you.  You explained my angst better than I did.  It IS that broader paradox that frightens me.  It's not so much about a world, or an earth without me (as people have graciously, and correctly reminded me that my memory will live on in those I've loved), but this notion that crossing from existence into non-existence, from the experiencer's POV is indiscernible from not ever having experienced existence in the first place.  Some day I will not even have been a blip on my own radar, because there will be no radar. The utter intangibility of it is...as you said, mind boggling.

Sometimes I feel that not only is existence a mistake, but that consciousness itself is an evolutionary abomination.  How cruel is a trait (is it incorrect to call consciousness a trait?) that gives us, and only us the ability to comprehend and consider the cessation of our very existence?  Or the ability to ponder existence at all?  

I have a couple more ideas about this stuff. One is whether the child "me" is dead, non-existent but not exactly "dead," or exists in an evolved form in my adult state. What exactly is it that gives the sense of continuity from moment to moment? One might for shorthand just say "memory," but I don't think just remembering past similar states really is identical to the experiential sense of continuity we have.

I have often wondered this as I've watched my children grow. Sometimes I even feel a sense of loss when I realize, for example, that "baby Christopher" is gone, and soon, "baby Nicholas" will be gone too. Is "replaced" the right word? If we experience consciousness on a continuum, is there a threshold of cumulative changes, or a point that exists where baby-me transformed into a different-me? We've taken our three-year-old son to the zoo every year since he was born, and every year he is experiencing it for the first time. Is two-year-old Christopher who went to the zoo last year, "dead"? Or just integrated? Weird, wild stuff, lol

=In discussing the idea of an "eternal soul" or something, I'd suggest there are two kinds of eternity-- one in which you really have time stretching forward forever in this Universe, i.e. in which you are a god; but a different kind wherein time is meaningless-- for example for a photon, or for a black hole, or for the Big Bang singularity and MAYBE for ideas/events/etc. which aren't forced by consciousness to march in an ordered set from moment to moment. After all, you can only have an end to things when time is defined. It seems to me plausible that since everything is connected, that "you-ness" is more pervasive than it seems when you look at it through the eyes of a confused monkey stepping through moments in life.

I know this may be mocked for wild woo speculation, but it seems to me that losing and gaining consciousness might be something like the experiential equivalent of entering/escaping a singularity: everything is undefined. . . until it IS defined.

A friend of mine shared a theory about the "afterlife" once. He proposed that perhaps humans do experience an eternal bliss at the point of death/"after" death, but in the form
of a lucid dream or hallucination that occurs as the brain is deprived of oxygen, and dies. Much the same as I may go to sleep tonight and have dream that, to me, the experiencer, seems to span across weeks, (but in reality only lasts seconds), perhaps humans experience something like this at the point of death, but much more vivid, and seemingly endless.

---

LFC....
Why worry so much? You're thinking too much. When you think too much you worry too much. You know, we're all going to kick the bucket one way or the other, one day or the other. So what can we do? hmmmm. You know, I'm not the old & wise type you'd find around these parts in fact I'm convinced I'm of the young & dumb variety :p but what do what do gots to look out for the sis LFC yeah?
My suggestion? Hmm. Actually let me give my diagnosis first haha. what "I" think is you're a lovely lovely person that loves your loved ones and you wondered one day "whatll happen when "I" kick the bucket?" "what;ll hapepn to THEM" "Will they remember me?" "I don wonna leave em"

YOU. NEED. HUGS.

Somebody give her some hugs ffs. You know what? I extend my digital arm through this (really fucking heavy) laptop and give you a squishy squishy hug(you dont like it but whatr u gona do eh).

Aww, thanks, Matey! [HEAVY BLACK HEART]️ you're a peach.

So. My point is we're all kicking the bucket one day what're we gonna do? We're gonna enjoy our time here, we're gonna cherish the times spend together with people we LOVE and we hope genuine(if at all any) tears are shed in our funeral. We're going to leave the world a better place, have experiences that'll make us feel good for being alive. You know, you don't want to regret NOT doing something at least once(just don't skydive without a parachute). Do something dumb, make people happy, and you know..be amazing...

I'm very good at doing dumb things. Check, that one [emoji16].

Last but not the least....(drum roll anyone?) why would you worry about death when every breath we take, every second we live, we're heading towards our death...like every second we're living we're getting one step closer to our grave...

You sure know how to spot that silver lining. [emoji13]

you know what they say... the biggest cause of death is life ....the game is rigged sis..so are you going to let the game play you or play the game before it plays you Just be the chunk of awesomeness everybody knows you are and you'll be fiiiiine, i knowww you'll be.

Thank you much, dear. I know you're right, and I sincerely appreciate the kind words.

---

..I've heard Hitchens' bittersweet adaptation: 'the party is going to continue, but I have to leave.'..

Jesus said wine will be served at that great party in the sky; beats me why Hitchens didn't want to go..
PS- I don't drink, so that's me out then (sniffle)

https://youtu.be/AZQxH_8raCI

We're going to the place that's the best! [emoji13]

[The Grand Nudger]

Hell yes it's Freddy Mercury

Yeah, he's dead though.  That's probably not gonna be a great trade for you.

We'll all be dead soon enough, at least he got to be Freddie Mercury in the interim.  I dig holes for a living. I'm not saying it's an easy call...I'm just saying it's not always an easy call.