How to overcome the fear of death?

[Whateverist]

Fearing the cessation of your existence after life is as irrational as fearing the absence of your existence before life.

Of course it is a damn site easier to fear your death once you're alive than it ever was before you were born.

[Angenlina star]

I agree its not the most comforting of thoughts, but it'll be like falling asleep. I don't think I'll 'know when I'm dead' but my fear may be on death approaching. I'd like to be with some loved ones and hope I would have the courage that Hitch had in facing death.
A dilema in our household is that my husband is a recently born again christian. After his father told me I'm going to hell the other day I asked him if it bothered him that I wouldn't be in heaven with him. He said he hadn't thought about it, clearly some discomfort to him, as he believes he will meet everyone again in the afterlife! More discord than the thought of what happens after death to him

[Voltron]

I don't think much about it beyond: One day my eyes will close, I'll hit the big sleep and won't even be aware that it happened. I just hope I'm easy clean up for the sake of the ones around me.

[Norfolk And Chance]

My question is. After realizing that you do not believe in god, how have you coped with the understanding that death is the absolute end of your awareness?

It's a tough one. I still sometimes ponder my non existence, which will last for ever, just like I was non existent for an infinite amount of time before I was born (assuming there was no start to time).

But the reality is when I die I will not know about any of this, or care. So you just try to enjoy the awareness and life that you have every day.

One thing I take comfort from is that everybody and everything dies, so we're all equal in the end. When you die, you are going through a process that happens to everybody else.

Plus you'll probably miss out on a lot of truly shit things that will likely happen in the future - an asteroid hitting the earth (unless you're unlucky enough for it to happen quite soon), nuclear war, over population of the planet becoming a critical problem - and you'll miss out on other shit things that will certainly happen, like the death of the sun, and possibly the heat death of the entire universe.

You won't give a fuck about any of it, you will not exist.

---

The reason I don't like the idea of dying, is because I cherish my family. I can hardly conceive of all the love I once had for them, not existing anymore.

o jesustapdancingchrist. What the fuck do you want us to say after all that's been said??? Nobody likes the idea of dying. THAT'S WHY we invented thousands of religions.
If you're so afraid than convert to christianity, get stupid, feel fuzzy and stop crying.
It'll change nothing. You're still going to die pal. We all love our families. We're all going to die. Get over it.

A bit harsh there cinjin, he was hardly blubbing on.

[Vincenzo Vinny G.]

My question is. After realizing that you do not believe in god, how have you coped with the understanding that death is the absolute end of your awareness?

Just don't think about it.

When your mind thinks about death, just go look at porn to distract yourself.

[Cato]

Just don't think about it.

When your mind thinks about death, just go look at porn to distract yourself.

As soon as I warm up to you, you say something that makes me conclude that you will never be my Consigliere. You never considered snuff porn before dispensing your wisdom.

[jonb]

I have no fear of death. Stopping, getting off the ride, I would quiet welcome, going on in pain is what I fear, and if there was a heaven and hell, even if I were in the nice part, I would be pained by the knowledge that others were suffering.

[squitten]

I can absolutely empathise with the fear of death. As someone who very recently went through the rejection of God and the afterlife, I was affected very deeply by the realisation that this is it, there is nothing more, etc, etc. It was absolutely terrifying to stare into an abyss that you can't comprehend. I have since learned the following things:

1) The fear is totally normal. Your brain is not designed to embrace death and you instinctively panic at the thought so don't be surprised that you consider the idea with revulsion - it's a natural defence mechanism. Accept it - it's ok to be scared.

2) You actually do experience a total lack of consciousness and awareness every single day when you go to sleep. The only reason you know you have even fallen asleep is that you wake up again. You have no awareness of the state of actually being asleep when it is happening - even dreams only occur at the very end. Consider how the rest of the world is carrying on in your absence while you sleep. Death is like that. Just as you are not aware of the moment of falling asleep, you won't know anything about the fact that you have died. Death itself is actually not something anyone will ever "experience" at all.

3) The universe has existed for untold time before you ever arrived on it. You have no memories of being anywhere "other", having any sensation or any awareness of your state. Death may not be life but it's not terrible either. It's nothing - and that means no fear, no pain. Nothing.

[Napoléon]

I don't see why you feel the need to attack me when I'm simply commenting on the topic of discussion.

My spidey sense is tingling.

[downbeatplumb]

I'm not afraid of death, I am afraid of dying.