Does the prospect of death frighten you?

Answer 1

In spite of having nearly died on several occasions, I still can't say that I can honestly answer this question to you or to myself.

In a couple of cases, my transition from conscious to unconscious and near death was so swift that I had no time for "conscious" fear, although what I experienced between "slipping away" and being resuscitated was at the least interesting and at the worst extremely distressing.

When I drowned, I had some of what we loosely call near death experiences. I became calm, unaware of any bodily sensation, and the last thing I saw with my eyes was the water around me, which seemed peaceful. Then I was somewhere else, witnessing scenes from my early childhood (I was eleven at the time). Then there was a scene where I was a child playing in our back yard, and my mother came to the back door, called my name and told me to come back, that it was not time for me to go. This scene was followed by a state of complete terror, and a confused kind of semiconsciouness -- best I can describe it. That was the point that where my rescuers reached me. What followed after that was best described as total pandemonium, and I was told later that at that point I was fighting the rescuers and almost pulled one down with me. He told me that he was so exhausted that he feared for his life. He had sprint-swimmed over 100 meters to reach me, and when I struggled it sapped his remaing energy. Fortunately, there were two who came to my aid, and the second was able to help restrain me. They got me to shore, and I had coughed out a lot of water and was breathing again. All three of us were unable to stand for several minutes -- our knees were like rubber. The one who I nearly took down with me, he is my brother. We never spoke of this to our parents or anyone, and for years never spoke of it ourselves.

More recently, I was hospitalized for a severe pulmonary illness. I stopped breathing twice in the ER. Both events were horrible experiences. I convulsed and felt like every fiber of my being was being ripped apart. During one of the events, I felt that I was literally torn from my body and pulled upwards by an invisible force. All the while I was fighting (in my mind) to exert all my will to force myself not to die, to start breathing again. I had no other thoughts except one -- this is really going to suck if I die like this, right now.

I'm still here, and I hope I stick around awhile. I am more aware of my mortality than I'd reckon any average person may be, but I still cannot honestly say if I "fear" death or not. All I can say is I now accept its inevitability, and in that sense, I no longer dread it. So, maybe I don't fear it.

What I do fear is leaving life before I feel ready. I'm still relatively young, and feel I have things to be done ere I go.

Answer 2

It is not the prospect of death that is frightening, but the fear of what may or may not lay beyond. Even people who claim to be true believers in an afterlife must wonder (if only momentarily) because, after all, we still have no absolute proof of life after death. I have read that more people fear speaking in public than of dying, which I find very surprising. Death of a close loved one scares me more than my own.

Answer 3

Death doesn't frighten me much. By itself it doesn't frighten me at all. The kind of death I might go in bothers me a bit. I suppose we would all like our deaths to be painless, but most of the time it isn't. I guess suffering frightens me a bit. Am I rambling? Oh, well.

Answer 4

what is death? if death of your body is the end, then what is there to be scared of? you will not face any consequences you have earned in this life, everything you have done will no longer matter, and you will only be remembered by those who knew you, and if they pass that knowledge on.
On the other hand, what is the death of our cells is not the end? Unless you know for sure what happens if that be the case, you might want to be frightened.

Answer 5

No, as death is part of life you just have to accept it and make the most of each day as you wake up. To dwell on the prospect of death is to already be dead by ones own design.

Answer 6

The prospect of death doesn't frighten me, it's the way I'll die that makes me worry slightly.

Answer 7

No, what frightens me is the thought of dying young and leaving my kids to grow up without a mummy. I know there is a life after death, it has been proved to me without doubt, Just hope its later rather than sooner.

Answer 8

Yes, it terrifies me. But what scares me the most is dying of old age where I just know based on national averages of life expectancy I am doomed and have to live that way knowing like when I'm 76 or so that I have scant few years left. It'd probably be better to die suddenly at a younger age where you never saw it coming and don't even know you're dead really. Or to die a hero saving someones life and always be remembered.

Answer 9

Yes, I think anyone who is honest would answer the same. The state of being appears to be entirely a physical thing made up from your brain and electrical impulses running through it.E.g if an object pierces your head you become physically damaged and stop functioning correctly because of this damage. If the conscience was spiritual I believe this would not be affected you would be you no matter what happened to you physically.

Answer 10

it doesn't so much frighten me as encourage me to do more with my life and live it to the full. And anyway isn't death supposed to be the beginning of another life. If so i want to be reincarnated as a hawk/eagle/falcon.