I am not afraid of death. I'd prefer not have a painful dying though.
I'm ok with the thought that my atoms will go on and be a part of something else when I die, I'd like to be a tree.
I actually find the throught of your consciousness just ceasing to exist more peaceful and relaxing than the afterlife lore I hear about all the time. Your consciousness astral body souring through space, or you entering a whole new dimension all just sound really overwhelming and scary.
I have a distinct memory of being 8-10 years old, in the car with my family after church, and telling my parents that (very much paraphrasing - I was probably picking my nose while I said this) "I don't think I want to live FOREVER in heaven, I just want to see what it's like, then maybe have my brain turned off after awhile"
But I just remember being freaked out at the concept of eternal consciousness.
You just brought back some memories I totally forgot about. As a kid I used to daydream about the thought of eternity and it scared the shit out of me to the point where I’d almost panic. Totally forgot about that though
Every thing I hear about Heaven sounds really boring, to be honest. It's the ultimate ego fantasy: be good for a few years and then you will spend ETERNITY in paradise.
Yeah, I’m not necessarily only speaking about Christianity’s afterlife lore. But just all beliefs and religions in general. They all sound like you truly have to brace yourself for the experience because it’s extremely overwhelming. Doesn’t sound too fun.
And not to mention farfetched bullshit. Ceasing to exist just seems peaceful. Like everything that's wrong with life just vanishes in an instant. I'm not suicidal but I welcome death.
By basic understanding of science, electricity is energy, heat is energy. Humans are made of matter that possess energy and the energy is simply transferred into the surroundings on death. My friend you've a shoddy understanding of science.
I think what they meant to say is: matter is neither created nor destroyed. The energy we possess transferring to surroundings is *kinda* like "becoming" a tree...
Sure but science knows what happens on death, that is bodily functions stop and it starts to decay, it is a much more probable outcome compared to what the religions seem to suggest and they don't even have anything to base their speculations upon.
it doesn’t really feel scary in the way that you could describe to anybody. when i died i felt everything all at once. it was more like information transfer. instantly. theres no questioning anything because theres no need to. so. scary? yes. but every emotion is very fleeting when replaced by information transfer.
its kind of just what i call the death language atp. every question you have about the world life love is instantly answered and you instantly accept those answers to be the truth. there is no voice to these answers its just like answering your own questions in your own head.
Same. For me it’s like the deepest sleep. Or what it was before I was alive. I don’t fear that. Perhaps instinctually I do, I’m sure we all have the instincts to survive but the concept of death is cozy to me
Well we constantly gain and lose mass we are not the same at any moment and so there will already be parts of us in the past that have become trees and everything else
this exactly. why be afraid of something that has to happen? why fear the last great adventure of your life?
death is the great equalizer, one of very few truly shared common human experiences.
i look at death like an old friend, always chasing me, ready around any corner. i’m not going to make it easy for him. when he does finally catch me, and the game is over, we’ll share a laugh together.
It's fitting that you used the term "bravest" here. Bravery/courage is one of the four cardinal virtues established by Plato and embraced by the Stoics. Unlike in the modern era, where bravery is generally associated with some sort of heroic act, the Stoics saw bravery as a form of knowledge. In his important work "Epitome of Stoic Ethics," the Alexandrian philosopher (and tutor to Augustus the first Roman empoeror btw) Arius Didymus explained courage like this:
> Bravery is a knowledge of what things are terrible, and what are not, and what are neither.
This makes sense if you put yourself in the mind of an eight-year-old child terrified of the creaky noises coming from the bedroom closet at night. They call for mom, and despite explaining the apparent likelihood of a monster, mom walks in the dark — fearlessly — over to the closet, and opens it up only to reveal that indeed there had not been a monster there. In the eyes of the child, mom seems to have acted with incredible courage... did she? Well yes, according to the Stoic definition — with regards to the creaky closet, she had a knowledge that it wasn't terrible.
But we must take this analogy a step further: to the Stoics, the only thing that is truly "good" in this world are moral virtues, and the only thing truly "bad" in this world are vices or the abandonment of moral virtue. Everything else is indifferent: whether one is wealthy or poor, whether one is powerful or not, whether one is healthy or ailing — sure, we might nominally prefer one case to the other, but since neither situation dictates one's capacity to make excellent/moral/virtuous decisions and judgments in one's own mind, where one sits on any of those scales ultimately isn't really "good" or "bad." So if the mom checking the closet had been a true Stoic, if she opened the door and there HAD been a real monster there, she wouldn't have judged that as "terrible" — she'd have judged the goodness or terribleness of what happened next only by evaluating how virtuous she thought and acted, regardless of the outcome.
So what about death? Well, for one thing, in Stoic philosophy, even the length of one's own life is something held with utter indifference. A death that some people might say came "early," because the person died sooner than his peers, would not necessarily be viewed as a travesty by Stoics. One can live a short life well — excellently and virtuously — just as one can live a long life poorly.
The Ancient Stoics also viewed the universe as deterministic. Everything operates according to a rational and orderly sequence: not only has the past of course already been determined, but the future has as well. So to a certain extent, a fear of one's own death is a rejection of the inevitable order of the rational Logos that permeates all of Nature and the Cosmos. Througout Meditations, you'll find Marcus Aurelius asserting to himself to abandon the compulsive tendency to ruminate on the past or the future; this is from the very beginning of book 12: "You can have all the happiness you seek if you leave hte past behind, entrust the future to Providence, and arrange the present with piety and justice." Throughout his notes to himself, Marcus Aurelius is constantly insisting that the present — not the past or the future — is the only place within our power and the only place we live.
The Stoic consideration of death as somethign indifferent would seem to exist somewhat in opposition to the will to survive, the eagerness to avoid death that is innate in all living creatures. Evolutionary biology is a thing — we exist today because of our distant ancestors' preference for avoiding death. But the rational part of the human mind (which today we would identify as the subfrontal cortex) has the capacity to override the animalistic part of our mind (which today we would identify as the parts of the brain that evolved earlier such as the brain stem).
And so finally we come to a place where we can address your initial question: whether someone can "truly achieve a level to not be afraid of death." Stoic philosophy draws a distinction between things that arise from the physical body and things that arise from the rational mind. The rational mind is where we have freedom to judge, which governs our desires and our impulses to act. This is the true self, it is who one actually is. Our physical bodies are not who we are — we necessarily need to care for them, but we do not have perfect control over them, we just borrow them from the universe — Epictetus said we are effectively souls "sustaining a corpse."
So, things that are wholly of the body are actually external to the rational Self; feelings and emotions might originate in the body, but those "first movements" are are not emotions, according to the Stoics. Stoic philosophy defines emotions as being not instinctual reactions but rather the product of rational processes.
That might sound like a strange and esoteric concept, but we can see this happening all the time — including with death. Consider the person who rushes into a burning building to rescue a child. Certainly their brain stem is not super jazzed about what they're doing, and their body's animalistic instinct is to get away from the flames rather than rushing toward them. But their rational mind overrides this instinct. If you came up behind that person and held a torch to their arm, they woudl jump away — the Stoic would not classify that as fear, they would say that this is a "first movement" bodily instinct. And when the local news channels describe their act of rushing into the burning building as "brave," the Stoics would agree. But the newscaster was probably describing the action as being brave; the Stoics would have said what was "brave" was the person's knowledge that dying by fire wouldn't have been terrible — but walking away from the situation with a child dying inside would have been.
That being said, the Stoics knew that it was one thing to rationally argue that death was not to be feared, and another to actually not fear it. So what can one do to mitigate the fear of death? Seneca wrote brilliantly about this in Letter 82.
> Death is one of the indifferents... Even so, it's not something we can easily ignore. The mind can be toughened by constant practice so as to endure the sight of it and its nearer approach.
He advises a protocol of regularly dosing the mind with thoughts of death, a sort of self-administered inoculation against the poison of fear.
The reptilian complex is the ego/ animalistic part of our mind, mainly concerned with self-preservation.
The paliomammalian, located on top of the reptilian complex, is associated with empathic motivation.
The neocortex envelops the other two brains, balancing these two motives (as well as other functions).
So in a way, we will always fear death (ego/ self-preservation is always there), but we can prefer the rational mind.
I think if there was more certainty about what happens after death, then a lot of ppl would be less scared.
As humans, we hate uncertainty and death is the most uncertain thing we face.
Came to terms with it while serving in a combat zone. I think part of losing the fear of it is being made aware of your mortality. That said I hope it's not painful and don't want it to be soon but if it is it's alright I've had a good life.
Avoiding death doesn't mean that you're afraid of it. You simply prefer to live. I have zero death of dying, but I do have things in life I try to do, and it's much easier to do those when alive.
You might for example also not be afraid of poverty or illness, but it doesn't mean you have to be throwing money away or lick handrails to catch a disease. They're simply dispreferred, so you might even save money or quit smoking / start exercising, for instance. Death like every other dispreferred thing in life is something that you understand does not make your character any worse, but it doesn't mean you need to actively look for it, or even be careless about it.
We get people asking this a lot, and my only question is this - "why"?
If your life playing videos games and working in an office, what exactly are you going to do with "a total lack of fear of death"?
Were you planning to become the next Evel Knieval, but you've found that shitting your pants and abandoning the jump before you hit the ramp doesn't impress audiences? Do you fight crime at night in a superhero costume but you're tired of running away from certain-death scenarios?
You are afraid of death for a reason - a creature with 0 preservation instincts literally couldn't survive. A fear of death is the only reason we look before we cross the road - if your fear of death was quite literally "0" you wouldn't have any internal motivation to keep yourself safe.
The Stoics say "death is no evil", meaning "the impression of death can be managed like any other impression", not "you should literally not fear death - walk across busy highways, charge armed criminals and start fights with ten men".
For me personally I suffer panic attacks when I remember too keenly that I’m going to die. It would be cool to get rid of those.
Avoiding the panic attack itself is probably a question for my therapist but to address your counter question there are legitimate reasons I’d like to stop fearing death besides to start doing dangerous activities.
So one thing modern people seem to do is imagine "solving" a problem by literally getting rid of entire faculty that lets them sense the problem.
People with social anxiety don't ask "what causes my illness and how can I treat it?" but they ask "how can I literally stop caring what anyone thinks - how can I, as an animal with at-least five hundred million years of social living evolutionarily woven into the core of my cognitive processes, just opt-out of that entire part of my nature?".
You will never stop being afraid of death. I am afraid of death - yet I never worry about death. When the impression of death arises, such as last week when a bus decided to overtake a road sweeper with absolutely no time to get around him and almost forced me off the road, I respond to that impression, avoid death, and once death is avoided I stop thinking about death entirely - I'm afraid, but it's not a passion of fear because it goes away once I've made use of the impression.
A fear of death is more at the core of your being than even your social instincts. It will never go away - no creature that was unafraid of death would have survived. It is the most core fear - it is the fear so ubiquitous to life that even microbes flee from environments that might destroy them.
But panicking about death when you're not threatened - that has a specific cause that is unrelated to external reality, and you'll get to that reality much quicker if you stop taking objection to human nature itself, stop trying to jettison entire facilities of the mind that you simply cannot get rid of.
Good distinction between the possibility of being afraid of death without worrying about dying
That’s about how I feel. I know it’s inevitable, it comes with the deal of being alive. But I think just like people have thirst or hunger, there is a fear of death, or at least it’s something people “run from” until they can’t. Unless maybe they’re suicidal, deeply depressed, etc.
> We get people asking this a lot, and my only question is this - "why"?
Speaking for myself, it's because it's a purely base psychological thing. I fear death, because it's been conditioned in me that if "you don't do this, it can lead to death."
And soon it becomes a rather slippery slope. "If you don't get a better job, you can't find a home. No home, you're dead."
"If you don't have a partner, your life is meaningless and no one will be there for you. You'll be alone and die."
Death's not "evil" but it is the one boogeyman we all fear. So to remove that fear is to promote ease, contentment, control. That's my takeaway.
We have all experienced death before. Where were you from the start of time until now? Were you actually created the moment you were born? Science is clear that nothing is created, nothing is destroyed, all is transformed. Your sense of self stems from the moment you were born, but we were always part of this universe, and the definition of “human death” is you returning to being part of this universe. Reality is straightforward and neutral; we perceive fear when we wish things to be different. It’s natural to have such feelings since, biologically, our natural urge is to keep us alive. The same feeling as hunger drives us to eat food and thirst drives us to drink water. Yet one must understand the true philosophy behind life and its existence.
To me death sounds kinda exciting. Like I'll get to see what the fuss is all about - what will I see or hallucinate, what will I feel in my body, what thoughts I will have. It's not like I want to die now, its just when I get to that point I am very curious :)
In my late twenties I started really fearing death since it seemed time was going by so fast. The older I've gotten (54), that fear has slowly diminished.
Also, what helps is knowing it is a journey every living being makes.
Would it be true to say that late twenties feel like yesterday for you now? When has the fear started to diminish? I think by 30 people get an idea of what 10 years passing feels like, so it becomes easy to extrapolate it onward. To realize that just twice that amount of time would bring you to old age with diseases. Another two times would bring you to even worse diseases and daily pain. That is if you survive that far at all. I can't imagine 80-90 year olds are happy to have lived that long, in the rational part of their mind at least
I'd say around 40. It's not so much about how fast time is going but acceptance. Also, I've read about near death experiences. I don't really believe that people really see loved ones or heaven. It's more about how they all had one common thing. How peaceful they felt. Living in the present is all we really have. Meditation also helps me. At my age, my focus is to die well. By that, I mean to be as healthy and happy as I can. Exercise, eating healthy, and having fun . Everyone has to make this journey, and for some odd reason that makes it less scary.
I certainly did not fear death when I was younger and a bit of a hedonist, but I certainly do now. Not because I fear what comes next (I believe absolutely NOTHING comes next), but because I still have many things I want to learn before ceasing to exist. Gathering knowledge is my motivation and I still want to do it for many years. It’s kind of exciting to imagine how much more I will know 10 years into the future compared to what I know now.
So, for me, it was the opposite path. I am just beginning to find myself and discovering what truly motivates me.
You can to some degree,
It's impossible for Life and death to co-exist, when you are alive you have life, death is just a thought, and when you'll be dead there's no longer life. So why You should be afraid when both can't co-exist.
You are alive - You can't be dead.
You are dead - You were never alive.
And more than that, I think people in general fear "not living life" rather than just death.
Do you fear falling asleep at night?
That’s how I think of death.
At some point hopefully in 30 years I won’t wake up from going to sleep, and I will be none the wiser.
To a certain degree, yes. I personally am not afraid of dying but I still hope that I do not die a gruesome death. I came to terms with it over the years after losing multiple loved ones. I accepted that life can abruptly end and there is really not much you can do about it. So I now I just live my life the best I can.
I also confirmed that I actually hold this belief after having two near death experiences over the past 4 years. The moment I realized I was probably about to die was oddly peaceful.
"Get busy living or get busy dying"
"There is no free time, just life time. Go"
Both of those quotes acknowledge death. Live your life and know that it will happen. Do the things that keep you healthy and safe.
I personally haven't achieved it. My worst-case-scenario afterlife is just darkness and nothing happens, but that doesn't seem likely because that'd require consciousness.
The thought of coming back as a different person always eases my mind, so I just stick to that whenever I get really overwhelmed-feeling.
I'm more afraid of leaving my kids without their father, my wife without her husband. Hurting my dad by making him bury his only son after losing his wife very young.
But my personal faith tells me there's a good chance I get to meet my mom when I die.
I want to make sure my family has everything they need from me before I go. I would like to not be mauled, murdered, asphyxiate, drown or otherwise painfully be killed. But I'm also ready to rock, right here right now if my death would be a benefit to my family (via protection from danger, for example.)
However, when my wife tries to scare me in the house, or is just walking around quietly, that absolutely scares the shit out of me. I'm not impervious to fear. I'll die someday, and it'd be great if I was done, or if it meant something.
I like to remember that one quote from a bomb defusal guy
"Either I'm right, or it's not my problem anymore."
Either I'm alive, and enjoy life, or it's not my problem anymore.
^(I do fear whatever pain accompanies death because I'm a wuss tho)
I’m not afraid of death ✌️ I practice Stoicism and believe that:
* The only thing we can control is how to use the current moment, and we should use it to build our character
* We do not own the past or the future, it is out of our control
* Since we don’t own the past or the future, we also don’t lose it when we die
* No matter what someone’s age is, each person only loses the current moment when they die
* There is no point in worrying about anything that’s out of our control (our valuable time would be better spent working on what we can control)
* Everyone must die, if you live your life trying your best motivated by the power of friendship - then no matter when you die you have lived a good life and done your duty in this world :)
A cool Stoic tool for eliminating your fear of death - if someone told you you were going to die in 2 days or someone told you you were going to die in 3 days, there probably wouldn’t be much of a difference in how sad you feel. Therefore we should not worry about whether we will die tomorrow or in many years.
I was diagnosed with lung cancer and told that I had 2 years left. Fortunately I changed hospitals and after targetted radiotherapy I am in remission. Naturally I was terrified at the diagnosis, and pretty much sat waiting for death for 6 months until treatment. I couldn't imagine not being around for my family, but finally I sort of got used to the idea and found it strangely comforting knowing how and roughly when and where I was going to die. Remission was a huge shock. Naturally I am grateful, but also dreading having to go through the whole acceptance procedure again one day.
I worked in nursing homes for a long time. I held the hands of many stoic, incredibly brave people as they passed. No matter what any of them had said previously, non of them were actually ready to die. No matter what our views and beliefs, at the end of the day it is a step into the unknown, which is an incredibly frightening step to take!
Death is not the end of life, it’s just the beginning. Something I remember from my father.
And my mother used to always say everyone dies, but not everyone lives.
>Is it possible to remove the fear of death?
This fear needs to be here for purpose - to prevent dangerous deeds and situations. It can be removed and you'll be fearless only if your brain is damaged (damaged amygdala, also Urbach-Whiete disease).
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No. However, you can ingrain the acceptance of death into your mindset (which is the next best thing) no matter what time it comes. It could be in 5 seconds, 5 minutes, days, years, decades. We can never know when it's our time, just that it will come at some point.
Would you rather spend the little precious time we are given worrying about something unknowable and unavoidable, or just... live until you can't? Find what brings you joy and fill your time with it. When it no longer brings you joy in the ways you require, find something new (the choices are endless). Repeat the cycle until the reaper comes.
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Sorry, but I gotta remove your post, as it has run afoul of our [Rule 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/stoicism/about/rules/). This is kind of a grey area, but we need to keep things on track as best we can.
>Two: Stay Relevant to Stoicism
>Our role as prokoptôntes in this community is to foster a greater understanding of Stoic principles and techniques within ourselves and our fellow prokoptôn. Providing context and effortful elaboration as to a topic’s relevance to the philosophy of Stoicism gives the community a common frame of reference from which to engage in productive discussions. Please keep advice, comments, and posts relevant to Stoic philosophy. Let's foster a community that develops virtue together—stay relevant to Stoicism.
>If something or someone is 'stoic' in the limited sense of possessing toughness, emotionlessness, or determination, it is _not_ relevant here, unless it is part of a larger point that is related to the philosophy.
>Similarly, posts about people, TV shows, commercial products, et cetera require that a connection be made to Stoic philosophy. "This is Stoic" or "I like this" are not sufficient.
Sorry, but I gotta remove your post, as it has run afoul of our [Rule 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/stoicism/about/rules/). This is kind of a grey area, but we need to keep things on track as best we can.
>Two: Stay Relevant to Stoicism
>Our role as prokoptôntes in this community is to foster a greater understanding of Stoic principles and techniques within ourselves and our fellow prokoptôn. Providing context and effortful elaboration as to a topic’s relevance to the philosophy of Stoicism gives the community a common frame of reference from which to engage in productive discussions. Please keep advice, comments, and posts relevant to Stoic philosophy. Let's foster a community that develops virtue together—stay relevant to Stoicism.
>If something or someone is 'stoic' in the limited sense of possessing toughness, emotionlessness, or determination, it is _not_ relevant here, unless it is part of a larger point that is related to the philosophy.
>Similarly, posts about people, TV shows, commercial products, et cetera require that a connection be made to Stoic philosophy. "This is Stoic" or "I like this" are not sufficient.
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Ever hear of kamikaze pilots or the taliban suicide bombers? I believe they believe they're doing a righteous act and welcome the experience. Some probably were afraid, but I imagine most aren't. Idk for sure, though. Fanaticism in any form is bad.
Yes. One way is by living and giving all you have and doing what you really want with your life so whenever death comes it’s a well earned respite. And ultimately it’s the final destination, one of the only reasons you have life is because you have death. So enjoy the journey.
To me it’s about adopting an optimist attitude on things and being outcome independent. It’s similar to the fear of rejection to me.
If you’re outcome independent, you can admit that human beings truly have no idea what happens after death. Sure, you can STRONGLY believe in Heaven, or Hell, or pure oblivion, but you can’t know. You simply cannot.
Being open and embracing you do not and will not know is the same as fear of asking that person you really like out. You can sit and wonder if they’ll like you back or try to get clues that they do or don’t, but you aren’t them. As strongly as you can believe one way or the other, you have to believe the truth that you will not know the answer until the time comes.
But what use comes in worrying is much about if they do or not? Thinking about that moment doesn’t change the outcome, only taking action does. Obviously don’t kill yourself or try to die, but it doesn’t change the fact that it will happen someday. Worrying about eh outcome of that happening is a useless endeavor for the time you have now, as long as you embrace the truth that you do not know the answer.
Additionally, embracing topics of the true nature of reality and science has helped me too. I think that one conclusion we have drawn in our modern scientific endeavors is that the “true” nature of reality is FAR, FAR more complex than we currently have any ability to understand. There could be an entire universe worth of things that happen after death, or the universe and your consciousness and all life or all physical things could be much more interwoven together than we have any understanding of. These things helped me embrace the outcome independence of death.
No, you cannot remove the biological response that we label “Fear of Death”.
But I think what you mean is, “Is it possible to remove the fear from the anticipation of death?”
And that is a “Yes”.
What helped me is thinking both forwards, and backwards.
I have no fear of the time that I didn’t exist BEFORE my birth, so why be afraid of what will be exactly the same experience (that is, NO experience at all) after my death?
If I wasn’t living in a body made of meat in a universe full of fire, teeth, and entropy, then death would really suck.
But, as I age, death simply feels like a friend coming to me at their own pace, and when they arrive my pain and weariness will end.
What's the alternative? Living for all eternity? That doesn't sound particularly great to me.
There's things around death that I am uneasy about e.g. pain, my family being upset and inconvenienced, loss of agency etc. However being dead itself is definitely not something I worry about. I'm at peace with it being something which will come along for me at some point in the future.
No. I think it's just more that you can't do anything about it so focusing on it and being afraid of it is pointless. It's like I don't remember who said it but it was basically "Worrying before you know there is a need to worry is prolonging unnecessary suffering"
I have never been afraid of death and I am in my 50's. It's coming someday and there's nothing I can do about it. I do what's in my control, such as eating healthy, exercising, and not engaging in excessively risky behavior, but there's no point of being afraid.
Death will come like a thief in the night, and then I won't know anything else.
"A well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well-used brings happy death"
Every time I encounter the anxiety of death I become more and more certain of this quote. It's possible that if you lived a good life, you welcome death once it comes.
This also reminds me of Socrates's death.
When death smiles upon us the best we can do is smile back. I do not fear death, I look forwards to it as I will see family that went before me and I miss. Mind you I do not have a death wish, I know we all have an expiration date, we just don’t know when. Which is why momento mori is important. I’m am still on this earth because life is not done with me yet.
I consider it like when growing up and the street lights came on I was to be in the house. No negotiations. You cant argue with a kidney stone just as you can’t argue with death. Accept it gracefully living your life to its fullest. A ship is meant to be sailed not remain in safe harbor.
Ps. I received notice yesterday that my sister passed away. I rest easy knowing she doesn’t hurt anymore. But feel for all the loved ones she left behind. Her absence is felt
I think someone who truly doesn’t fear death, would probably die within a week. Our fear of death is what makes you look before you cross the street. It’s an important fear, just have to distinguish when it’s holding you back and when it’s keeping you alive.
I agree with you that it is probably unrealistic to completely remove the fear of death. For me, the fear of death is not so much about the ending of my life, that is inevitable, it’s the natural order. For me it’s more the fear of NOT living my life. However, that I can control, so why fear death when I can put my energy into living life? Why fear the inevitable?
I think when the Stoics talk about not fearing death, they aren’t saying you should suppress all feelings around death, they are suggesting that the fear of death shouldn’t prevent you from living.
Seeing death as a natural part of life can reduce its hold on us. It’s about focusing on living well and accepting the inevitable.
Ok this may sound strange. But I have totally removed my fear of death. To give you some context, I’m currently deployed in a combat zone where I’m actively trying to be killed. Well me and my fellow brothers and sisters. A lot has happened here and I just learned to accept it all. Death is a very natural thing in life. Fearing it wont help you in anyway. Understanding your mortality will show you how little time you have and how to appreciate every single second you live. Enjoy the ride. The party ends for us all. Monento Mori
Sure. I have terminal brain cancer and nearly died the day I found out. I was lucky enough that my wife got me to the Mayo Clinic and I was in surgery before I knew it but still nearly died that night. I had what could only be described as a near death experience. It was a very peaceful lucid dream that I kept returning to...until I woke up from my heart rate monitor alarm going off and waking me up as the Nurses ran in. Each time I fell asleep I was back in the same peaceful dream. So I no longer have any fear of death, just enjoying every day I can!
Hopefully my experience helps you a bit and you won't need a near death experience of your own. :) I should add that I'm not religious at all, (stoicism really helped in my recuperation) but confident that there is definitely something waiting for all of us on the other side. So? Make the best of this life and try to make things better whenever you can.
After my 3rd mushroom trip I lost the fear of death and it hasn’t come back. I still do my best to stay alive of course, it’s just not at all a dark looming prospect. Death is the same as birth is the same as awakening or falling asleep. It’s just one part of it all
I had to face death early in my life, losing my mother and sister both within a year. I pretty much had to come to terms with it then. I'm old and ready to go but hope not a long or painful death. I do want to know if there is alien intelligent life before I go, though!
I remember reading about some drug they give you at the hospital to make you forget when you wake up during surgery that makes you feel like a god if you just take it while awake.
I wouldn't say "zero" fear of death, but I think many stoics don't fear death.
They are more concerned with not wasting the time they have, however short.
I would be afraid of death if it could happen more than once, since it can't, what's to be afraid of? Once you're dead, you're dead. That's it. It's over.
Jesus alone! Trust in him for the forgiveness of your sin, turn from it. You will receive the Holy Spirit who you actually can feel and experience and evidences to you that you will be saved. He alone gives confidence.
I don't fear death. I am disappointed that there will likely be beautiful things I'll miss out expirencing after I die. I do fear dying as it is least likely that it will be painless. I am glad we don't die like the rest of the animals out there. Being ripped apart as pray or starving to death as a predator seems like the status quo in the animal kingdom. It's all messed up but I don't see any other options.
I am also not afraid of death.
I had a stroke and pretty much every time we go under general anesthesia, we 'die' then wake up to a new Reality.
Death is just greater change. Most won't even be aware of their own passing.
As my years have gone on, I realize that I should get on living because death is inevitable. It doesn’t scare me now but it does provide a sense of urgency.
Your insight is correct. Depression sees death as an escape from the pain of living // suffering. When your time comes it will come in one of a few ways. If you don’t expect it then you may have regrets or you may not but fearing it is wasted on the unexpected. Maybe it comes as a slow death, hopefully this is old age from a long life or maybe it’s a sickness. Either way you can overcome the fear by reck oIng that death will end the suffering.
If you’re after of the void then I invite you to take a few plunges into fear. Psychedelics is sometimes that experience.
A lot of questions like this boil down to the clash between the classical and Freudian models of consciousness. The classical model says that yes, you can stop being afraid of death and overcome all this by using reason, through courage, or (in the Christian view) through faith. The Freudian model says no, you are hard-wired to fear death and you can never overcome that fear, and all systems of philosophy and religion are just a way of coping with death. In the Freudian view, the lower instincts or "drives" are actually running the show, and the rest is just a rationalization. The Freudian view has very much come to dominate popular consensus about human nature. The stoic view is the classical view, that through moral philosophy human beings are capable of transcending their primal drives.
I think we will always have the fear of death. We also have the ability to not let that fear control us. Soldiers, for example, are doing it every day. I can also see how some would find it preferable to the lives they live.
I think unless you have experienced death or something really close to it like war or something I believe you can’t really grasp the idea of not fearing death. And even then most will always fear it but just embrace it. But idk
I am sincerely not afraid of death. I have terminal cancer. There is no reason for fear, as I see it. It's as normal as birth. It is the natural cycle of things. Do I want to die? No. But I am not afraid. I am a bit excited to see what is next when the time comes.
I personally don't fear death, but the ripple effect of it.
Not my pain, not my loss, but the fear of how my children will move on from it. I'm not unique in that aspect I'm certain, it's likely the root of manys fear of dying... What's left behind.
So to answer your question, is there a way to remove the fear outright? Sure.
You just have to separate yourself from everything that makes you a human.
The base emotion of being a person with connections to others is the basis of the fear. The physical pain is secondary.
But, if we are willing to go to those extremes, to separate ourselves from the very thing that makes life worth living to begin with, however small...
Why bother at all?
Better to disregard a fear of dying, and instead lean into those things that make dying so hard. Lean into friendships and family. Lean into connections.
You may find that doing so doesn't remove the fear of dying, but gives you the strength and courage to confront them and say "yeah, but it was all worth it in the end".
Best of luck on your journey.
After I had a severe traumatic brain injury 15 years ago, I don’t have any fear of death.
Death is inevitable, random, and mainly not within my control.
Depends on the context:
During my day to day I love to embrace it.
If you put a gun to my head you will see me shivering and begging to not pull the trigger.
Having multiple procedures where I am fully sedated helped me to realize there is nothing to fear. I usually just take a “nap” and wake up with no knowledge of being out. I imagine that is what death is and I’m at peace with it. Nothing happens, nothing to be scared of. Just a peaceful ceasing to be alive. My biggest concern is not doing enough to help others while I’m alive.
So long as theres a will to live...... No. We are living for reroduction or a possibility of reproduction as the main factors ofc. The only way i can see a possibility of removing the fear of death is either an evironmental change/circumstance that removes the fear death based on mindset, or a lack of a will to live due to your life being far more painful than your life ever will be in death. (Please take these statements with a grain of salt im just your average redditor drunk and shitting on the toilet during the weekend.)
Well I've had issues with depression, so I can't exactly say I'm unbiased. But not being alive wouldn't feel like anything. It's more the dying part, and being stuck thinking about all the things you wish you had done that would suck. All you can control is trying to leave yourself with as few things you wish you had done before death. For example: call your parents or grandparents. They won't be around forever, and the day will come when you can't do that anymore and wish you could.
I remember a comic book called world war hulk from marvel. There was a character called Hiroim I think. He said the words in a fight with the Hulk “May He who dies , die well.” It resonated ever since.
It might sound facetious but I assure you it's not. Magic mushrooms. If you don't believe me, Google it.
An extraordinary experience of deep connection with the natural world, an understanding that your body is made from other living organisms and a realisation that you will become part of the fabric of life again.
It sounds silly but it is probably the most profound and compelling experience of my life. Highly recommended!
The reptilian complex is the ego/ animalistic part of our mind, mainly concerned with self-preservation. The paliomammalian, located on top of the reptilian complex, is associated with empathic motivation. The neocortex envelops the other two brains, balancing these two motives (as well as other functions).
So in a way, we will always fear death (ego/ self-preservation is always there), but we can prefer the rational mind.
I’m in the fortunate position that, even though my heart has stopped on three separate occasions (major car crash) i’ve lived to tell the tale.
When was in cardiac arrest (i think the first time but i don’t really know) i went into a white space, i saw two blurry figures in the distance and i was calmly moving towards them. I thought the smaller one was my childhood friend who i’d lost touch with but i never found out - the CPR worked and i survived.
There is a lot more to this story as you can imagine ^ but to focus on the question “can you remove the fear of death?” And i do think, yes to this question. I don’t fear death now, but what I do fear is not living.
At times in my past (after said event), it was THE FEAR OF LIVING that caused me to almost loose my life. I’ve never mentioned this to anyone but anyways, at that moment and since i’ve not feared death. Rather, it’s life that’s my main concern. Thankfully i lived to tell the tale there as well.
I’m in a much better place now, 15 years later with two masters degrees and the whole world at my feet i’m trying to live my best life.
[in a supportive voice] if you have regular thoughts about death or dying it may be a good sign you need to speak to someone.
To remove the fear of death is to remove the fear of losing life. To live is to die. If you’re too attached to the concept of life or life itself, you’ll fear death.
From experience, won’t say I’ve fully removed the fear of death, I’m just indifferent to it. It’s a part of life that will eventually run its course. I think it’s the fear of the unknown attached to death that most people fear.
I have to ask those who are mothers - do you find your fear of death increased after motherhood? The anxiety I feel about leaving my children behind is the biggest fear
You cannot remove the fear of death but you can overpower it with a strong purpose. Initially deep thinking tends to make you feel depressed. But when you find your purpose, that's when you will want to keep living. Find your purpose. Do you want to contribute to a particular field? Do you want to explore a particular field? Do you maybe want to do something big in life like build a startup which revolutionizes a particular field? Or maybe you want to live a chill life? You have just one life. Extract all you can out of it. Explore the various aspects of life. Science, technology, art, philosophy, maybe try out various martial arts etc etc.
In the right circumstances you'd welcome it. It only looks scary when you're young, healthy and happy. Imagine being old, barely walking, having daily pain, chronic diseases. You'd be waiting for it.
Before this life, do you remember having any complaints? Do you remember having any misery or suffering?
If not, why would you be afraid to go back to that place? The last time you were there everything was fine wasn't it?
I feel like you have to define death. The words that come to mind for me in overcoming the fear of death are: surrender, and faith.
Surrender allows you to accept what is coming without resistance to it, ultimately making the process as easy as possible.
Faith allows us to surrender
So what do you have faith in? God? Afterlife? Reincarnation? Something? Nothing? If you believe death is the end of you forever then that could be really scary, or really easy- depending on how you relate to it. If you believe that you will be reincarnated then death can be easy or dreadful depending on how you relate to it.
So I would say it is define possible to remove your fear of death. But it requires faith (in something), practicing surrender, and a relationship with your definition of death
Actually some people have zero fear. And you can see it in their life. They put themselves out there where they are in the spotlight. This creates haters and those plotting against them at all times. Sure they don’t want to die, but they are willing to take the risk where it doesn’t paralyze them
The curiosity of what actually happens when we cross that line is what brings the peace for me. I enjoy life, but I’m excited to see what’s next, if anything, when I die.
Stoicism is a school of philosophy that teaches the development of self-control and fortitude as a means of overcoming destructive emotions. When it comes to the fear of death, Stoic philosophers provide several strategies and perspectives to manage and reduce this fear:
1. Understanding Nature; Stoics believe that death is a natural part of life and an inevitable process. By understanding and accepting this natural order, one can reduce the fear associated with death.
2. Focus on the Present;Stoicism emphasizes living in the present moment and not worrying about the future, which includes the fear of death. This practice helps individuals focus on what they can control and find peace in the present.
3. Rational Reflection;Stoic philosophers encourage rational examination of death. They argue that fearing death is irrational because it is a part of the natural cycle of life. Seneca, for instance, noted that we don't fear the time before we were born, so we shouldn't fear the time after we die.
4. Living a Virtuous Life;By living a life of virtue and fulfilling one's duties, Stoics believe that one can achieve a state of inner peace and not be troubled by the prospect of death. A virtuous life leads to a good life, regardless of its length.
5. Contemplation of Mortality;Stoics often practice the contemplation of mortality, which means regularly reminding oneself of the inevitability of death. This practice, known as "memento mori," helps individuals appreciate life more fully and reduces the fear of death by making it a familiar concept.
6. Role of Fate;Stoics believe in accepting fate and understanding that death is beyond one's control. By recognizing that some things are not within our power, individuals can focus on what they can influence and let go of the anxiety related to death.
Overall, Stoicism teaches that by accepting the natural order, living virtuously, and focusing on the present, one can significantly diminish the fear of death and live a more fulfilled and tranquil life.
Living well means to die with a peace of mind.
Yes is very simple to remove the fear of death. I actually create a video on why we should not fear death. If you are interested in watching you can click the link below
https://youtu.be/ny5ZkI6PIJo
Yes.
I believe this is possible through the various contemplative Stoic practices which situate your sense of self within the *logos*.
Here's one of my favorite quotes which expresses this sentiment:
> Don’t let yourself forget how many doctors have died, after furrowing their brows over how many deathbeds. How many astrologers, after pompous forecasts about others’ ends. How many philosophers, after endless disquisitions on death and immortality. How many warriors, after inflicting thousands of casualties themselves. How many tyrants, after abusing the power of life and death atrociously, as if they were themselves immortal.
> How many whole cities have met their end: Helike, Pompeii, Herculaneum, and countless others.
> And all the ones you know yourself, one after another. One who laid out another for burial, and was buried himself, and then the man who buried him—all in the same short space of time.
> In short, know this: Human lives are brief and trivial. Yesterday a blob of semen; tomorrow embalming fluid, ash.
> To pass through this brief life as nature demands. To give it up without complaint.
> Like an olive that ripens and falls.
> Praising its mother, thanking the tree it grew on.
In other words, our individual lives are insignificant moments in the unfolding of this strange and beautiful world, and the emphasis on being aware of this fact and being able to feel gratitude for it before that mortal nature completes its course.
Far from being a perspective rooted in depression, I find it to be grateful, magnanimous, and made buoyant by the deepest kind of love.
A quote was found to be attributed to Marcus Aurelius in his Meditations 4.48 (Hays)
^(Book IV. ()[^(Hays)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources?isbn=9780812968255)^)
^(Book IV. ()[^(Farquharson)](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Meditations_of_the_Emperor_Marcus_Antoninus/Book_4)^)
^(Book IV. ()[^(Long)](https://lexundria.com/m_aur_med/4.48/lg)^)
I am not afraid of death. I'd prefer not have a painful dying though. I'm ok with the thought that my atoms will go on and be a part of something else when I die, I'd like to be a tree.
I actually find the throught of your consciousness just ceasing to exist more peaceful and relaxing than the afterlife lore I hear about all the time. Your consciousness astral body souring through space, or you entering a whole new dimension all just sound really overwhelming and scary.
I have a distinct memory of being 8-10 years old, in the car with my family after church, and telling my parents that (very much paraphrasing - I was probably picking my nose while I said this) "I don't think I want to live FOREVER in heaven, I just want to see what it's like, then maybe have my brain turned off after awhile" But I just remember being freaked out at the concept of eternal consciousness.
Like never getting to sleep again. Even if it wasn't needed for survival idk how I'd feel about that even as an adult haha
You just brought back some memories I totally forgot about. As a kid I used to daydream about the thought of eternity and it scared the shit out of me to the point where I’d almost panic. Totally forgot about that though
I have a very similar memory and still am freaked out by the thought. It’s a major source of anxiety for me.
Every thing I hear about Heaven sounds really boring, to be honest. It's the ultimate ego fantasy: be good for a few years and then you will spend ETERNITY in paradise.
Yeah, I’m not necessarily only speaking about Christianity’s afterlife lore. But just all beliefs and religions in general. They all sound like you truly have to brace yourself for the experience because it’s extremely overwhelming. Doesn’t sound too fun.
Ha! So boring I agree. Well said.
Exactly, paradise means nothing if there’s no expiration date.
And not to mention farfetched bullshit. Ceasing to exist just seems peaceful. Like everything that's wrong with life just vanishes in an instant. I'm not suicidal but I welcome death.
Maybe you won’t cease to exist. Maybe you will. Doesn’t matter either way.
The evidence for you will part is speculation while the you won't part is science. But you're right, doesn't matter anyway.
From my perspective, according to science I don't think we will cease to exist as you can't destroy energy.
And we are not energy
Really? By what definition.
By basic understanding of science, electricity is energy, heat is energy. Humans are made of matter that possess energy and the energy is simply transferred into the surroundings on death. My friend you've a shoddy understanding of science.
I think what they meant to say is: matter is neither created nor destroyed. The energy we possess transferring to surroundings is *kinda* like "becoming" a tree...
What about sentience? It is energy as well.
Both are speculation. Even science can’t answer what happens after death.
Or hasn’t yet I should say!
Sure but science knows what happens on death, that is bodily functions stop and it starts to decay, it is a much more probable outcome compared to what the religions seem to suggest and they don't even have anything to base their speculations upon.
You cannot destroy energy. Our energy has to end up someplace. Where? I'm not sure.
it doesn’t really feel scary in the way that you could describe to anybody. when i died i felt everything all at once. it was more like information transfer. instantly. theres no questioning anything because theres no need to. so. scary? yes. but every emotion is very fleeting when replaced by information transfer.
Sorry, but I’m struggling to understand. What do you mean by information transfer?
its kind of just what i call the death language atp. every question you have about the world life love is instantly answered and you instantly accept those answers to be the truth. there is no voice to these answers its just like answering your own questions in your own head.
Same. For me it’s like the deepest sleep. Or what it was before I was alive. I don’t fear that. Perhaps instinctually I do, I’m sure we all have the instincts to survive but the concept of death is cozy to me
Exactly, Preferential indifference towards not having a painful death. I would also like to be a tree ☺️
There is a company that will put your ashes in like a tree bag and you can plant the tree and the tree will absorb your remains as nutrients.
With the amount of atoms in your body, you're almost guaranteed to be a tree eventually
Shit, I'm a tree right now. Feels good. May sprout later just to see how that works.
Well we constantly gain and lose mass we are not the same at any moment and so there will already be parts of us in the past that have become trees and everything else
this exactly. why be afraid of something that has to happen? why fear the last great adventure of your life? death is the great equalizer, one of very few truly shared common human experiences. i look at death like an old friend, always chasing me, ready around any corner. i’m not going to make it easy for him. when he does finally catch me, and the game is over, we’ll share a laugh together.
Same here. In a way, we’ve always been here and we’ll continue to be here.
I want to be fed to a pack of wild board and shat out into a pile of
It's fitting that you used the term "bravest" here. Bravery/courage is one of the four cardinal virtues established by Plato and embraced by the Stoics. Unlike in the modern era, where bravery is generally associated with some sort of heroic act, the Stoics saw bravery as a form of knowledge. In his important work "Epitome of Stoic Ethics," the Alexandrian philosopher (and tutor to Augustus the first Roman empoeror btw) Arius Didymus explained courage like this: > Bravery is a knowledge of what things are terrible, and what are not, and what are neither. This makes sense if you put yourself in the mind of an eight-year-old child terrified of the creaky noises coming from the bedroom closet at night. They call for mom, and despite explaining the apparent likelihood of a monster, mom walks in the dark — fearlessly — over to the closet, and opens it up only to reveal that indeed there had not been a monster there. In the eyes of the child, mom seems to have acted with incredible courage... did she? Well yes, according to the Stoic definition — with regards to the creaky closet, she had a knowledge that it wasn't terrible. But we must take this analogy a step further: to the Stoics, the only thing that is truly "good" in this world are moral virtues, and the only thing truly "bad" in this world are vices or the abandonment of moral virtue. Everything else is indifferent: whether one is wealthy or poor, whether one is powerful or not, whether one is healthy or ailing — sure, we might nominally prefer one case to the other, but since neither situation dictates one's capacity to make excellent/moral/virtuous decisions and judgments in one's own mind, where one sits on any of those scales ultimately isn't really "good" or "bad." So if the mom checking the closet had been a true Stoic, if she opened the door and there HAD been a real monster there, she wouldn't have judged that as "terrible" — she'd have judged the goodness or terribleness of what happened next only by evaluating how virtuous she thought and acted, regardless of the outcome. So what about death? Well, for one thing, in Stoic philosophy, even the length of one's own life is something held with utter indifference. A death that some people might say came "early," because the person died sooner than his peers, would not necessarily be viewed as a travesty by Stoics. One can live a short life well — excellently and virtuously — just as one can live a long life poorly. The Ancient Stoics also viewed the universe as deterministic. Everything operates according to a rational and orderly sequence: not only has the past of course already been determined, but the future has as well. So to a certain extent, a fear of one's own death is a rejection of the inevitable order of the rational Logos that permeates all of Nature and the Cosmos. Througout Meditations, you'll find Marcus Aurelius asserting to himself to abandon the compulsive tendency to ruminate on the past or the future; this is from the very beginning of book 12: "You can have all the happiness you seek if you leave hte past behind, entrust the future to Providence, and arrange the present with piety and justice." Throughout his notes to himself, Marcus Aurelius is constantly insisting that the present — not the past or the future — is the only place within our power and the only place we live. The Stoic consideration of death as somethign indifferent would seem to exist somewhat in opposition to the will to survive, the eagerness to avoid death that is innate in all living creatures. Evolutionary biology is a thing — we exist today because of our distant ancestors' preference for avoiding death. But the rational part of the human mind (which today we would identify as the subfrontal cortex) has the capacity to override the animalistic part of our mind (which today we would identify as the parts of the brain that evolved earlier such as the brain stem). And so finally we come to a place where we can address your initial question: whether someone can "truly achieve a level to not be afraid of death." Stoic philosophy draws a distinction between things that arise from the physical body and things that arise from the rational mind. The rational mind is where we have freedom to judge, which governs our desires and our impulses to act. This is the true self, it is who one actually is. Our physical bodies are not who we are — we necessarily need to care for them, but we do not have perfect control over them, we just borrow them from the universe — Epictetus said we are effectively souls "sustaining a corpse." So, things that are wholly of the body are actually external to the rational Self; feelings and emotions might originate in the body, but those "first movements" are are not emotions, according to the Stoics. Stoic philosophy defines emotions as being not instinctual reactions but rather the product of rational processes. That might sound like a strange and esoteric concept, but we can see this happening all the time — including with death. Consider the person who rushes into a burning building to rescue a child. Certainly their brain stem is not super jazzed about what they're doing, and their body's animalistic instinct is to get away from the flames rather than rushing toward them. But their rational mind overrides this instinct. If you came up behind that person and held a torch to their arm, they woudl jump away — the Stoic would not classify that as fear, they would say that this is a "first movement" bodily instinct. And when the local news channels describe their act of rushing into the burning building as "brave," the Stoics would agree. But the newscaster was probably describing the action as being brave; the Stoics would have said what was "brave" was the person's knowledge that dying by fire wouldn't have been terrible — but walking away from the situation with a child dying inside would have been. That being said, the Stoics knew that it was one thing to rationally argue that death was not to be feared, and another to actually not fear it. So what can one do to mitigate the fear of death? Seneca wrote brilliantly about this in Letter 82. > Death is one of the indifferents... Even so, it's not something we can easily ignore. The mind can be toughened by constant practice so as to endure the sight of it and its nearer approach. He advises a protocol of regularly dosing the mind with thoughts of death, a sort of self-administered inoculation against the poison of fear.
This is such a good read. Thank you.
Excellent!
This guy stoas
The reptilian complex is the ego/ animalistic part of our mind, mainly concerned with self-preservation. The paliomammalian, located on top of the reptilian complex, is associated with empathic motivation. The neocortex envelops the other two brains, balancing these two motives (as well as other functions). So in a way, we will always fear death (ego/ self-preservation is always there), but we can prefer the rational mind.
Well spoken!
I think if there was more certainty about what happens after death, then a lot of ppl would be less scared. As humans, we hate uncertainty and death is the most uncertain thing we face.
The most uncertain certain thing :)
Came to terms with it while serving in a combat zone. I think part of losing the fear of it is being made aware of your mortality. That said I hope it's not painful and don't want it to be soon but if it is it's alright I've had a good life.
Avoiding death doesn't mean that you're afraid of it. You simply prefer to live. I have zero death of dying, but I do have things in life I try to do, and it's much easier to do those when alive. You might for example also not be afraid of poverty or illness, but it doesn't mean you have to be throwing money away or lick handrails to catch a disease. They're simply dispreferred, so you might even save money or quit smoking / start exercising, for instance. Death like every other dispreferred thing in life is something that you understand does not make your character any worse, but it doesn't mean you need to actively look for it, or even be careless about it.
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We get people asking this a lot, and my only question is this - "why"? If your life playing videos games and working in an office, what exactly are you going to do with "a total lack of fear of death"? Were you planning to become the next Evel Knieval, but you've found that shitting your pants and abandoning the jump before you hit the ramp doesn't impress audiences? Do you fight crime at night in a superhero costume but you're tired of running away from certain-death scenarios? You are afraid of death for a reason - a creature with 0 preservation instincts literally couldn't survive. A fear of death is the only reason we look before we cross the road - if your fear of death was quite literally "0" you wouldn't have any internal motivation to keep yourself safe. The Stoics say "death is no evil", meaning "the impression of death can be managed like any other impression", not "you should literally not fear death - walk across busy highways, charge armed criminals and start fights with ten men".
For me personally I suffer panic attacks when I remember too keenly that I’m going to die. It would be cool to get rid of those. Avoiding the panic attack itself is probably a question for my therapist but to address your counter question there are legitimate reasons I’d like to stop fearing death besides to start doing dangerous activities.
So one thing modern people seem to do is imagine "solving" a problem by literally getting rid of entire faculty that lets them sense the problem. People with social anxiety don't ask "what causes my illness and how can I treat it?" but they ask "how can I literally stop caring what anyone thinks - how can I, as an animal with at-least five hundred million years of social living evolutionarily woven into the core of my cognitive processes, just opt-out of that entire part of my nature?". You will never stop being afraid of death. I am afraid of death - yet I never worry about death. When the impression of death arises, such as last week when a bus decided to overtake a road sweeper with absolutely no time to get around him and almost forced me off the road, I respond to that impression, avoid death, and once death is avoided I stop thinking about death entirely - I'm afraid, but it's not a passion of fear because it goes away once I've made use of the impression. A fear of death is more at the core of your being than even your social instincts. It will never go away - no creature that was unafraid of death would have survived. It is the most core fear - it is the fear so ubiquitous to life that even microbes flee from environments that might destroy them. But panicking about death when you're not threatened - that has a specific cause that is unrelated to external reality, and you'll get to that reality much quicker if you stop taking objection to human nature itself, stop trying to jettison entire facilities of the mind that you simply cannot get rid of.
Good distinction between the possibility of being afraid of death without worrying about dying That’s about how I feel. I know it’s inevitable, it comes with the deal of being alive. But I think just like people have thirst or hunger, there is a fear of death, or at least it’s something people “run from” until they can’t. Unless maybe they’re suicidal, deeply depressed, etc.
I look for cars because I’d rather not get killed for being careless, not because I am afraid of dying. Fear means something specific in Stoicism.
Well said.
> We get people asking this a lot, and my only question is this - "why"? Speaking for myself, it's because it's a purely base psychological thing. I fear death, because it's been conditioned in me that if "you don't do this, it can lead to death." And soon it becomes a rather slippery slope. "If you don't get a better job, you can't find a home. No home, you're dead." "If you don't have a partner, your life is meaningless and no one will be there for you. You'll be alone and die." Death's not "evil" but it is the one boogeyman we all fear. So to remove that fear is to promote ease, contentment, control. That's my takeaway.
We have all experienced death before. Where were you from the start of time until now? Were you actually created the moment you were born? Science is clear that nothing is created, nothing is destroyed, all is transformed. Your sense of self stems from the moment you were born, but we were always part of this universe, and the definition of “human death” is you returning to being part of this universe. Reality is straightforward and neutral; we perceive fear when we wish things to be different. It’s natural to have such feelings since, biologically, our natural urge is to keep us alive. The same feeling as hunger drives us to eat food and thirst drives us to drink water. Yet one must understand the true philosophy behind life and its existence.
To me death sounds kinda exciting. Like I'll get to see what the fuss is all about - what will I see or hallucinate, what will I feel in my body, what thoughts I will have. It's not like I want to die now, its just when I get to that point I am very curious :)
In my late twenties I started really fearing death since it seemed time was going by so fast. The older I've gotten (54), that fear has slowly diminished. Also, what helps is knowing it is a journey every living being makes.
Would it be true to say that late twenties feel like yesterday for you now? When has the fear started to diminish? I think by 30 people get an idea of what 10 years passing feels like, so it becomes easy to extrapolate it onward. To realize that just twice that amount of time would bring you to old age with diseases. Another two times would bring you to even worse diseases and daily pain. That is if you survive that far at all. I can't imagine 80-90 year olds are happy to have lived that long, in the rational part of their mind at least
I'd say around 40. It's not so much about how fast time is going but acceptance. Also, I've read about near death experiences. I don't really believe that people really see loved ones or heaven. It's more about how they all had one common thing. How peaceful they felt. Living in the present is all we really have. Meditation also helps me. At my age, my focus is to die well. By that, I mean to be as healthy and happy as I can. Exercise, eating healthy, and having fun . Everyone has to make this journey, and for some odd reason that makes it less scary.
A wise person once said, "It is foolish to be afraid of death. While you are living, you are not dead. When you are dead, you cannot be afraid."
If you can't be free of fear, you can't be happy either, and a life of misery isn't worth living.
I certainly did not fear death when I was younger and a bit of a hedonist, but I certainly do now. Not because I fear what comes next (I believe absolutely NOTHING comes next), but because I still have many things I want to learn before ceasing to exist. Gathering knowledge is my motivation and I still want to do it for many years. It’s kind of exciting to imagine how much more I will know 10 years into the future compared to what I know now. So, for me, it was the opposite path. I am just beginning to find myself and discovering what truly motivates me.
Brave is not equal to fearless, it's taking action despite fear.
You can to some degree, It's impossible for Life and death to co-exist, when you are alive you have life, death is just a thought, and when you'll be dead there's no longer life. So why You should be afraid when both can't co-exist. You are alive - You can't be dead. You are dead - You were never alive. And more than that, I think people in general fear "not living life" rather than just death.
My fear is not of dying, but the fear of what will happen to my family when I’m not around. I don’t know how to nullify that.
Do you fear falling asleep at night? That’s how I think of death. At some point hopefully in 30 years I won’t wake up from going to sleep, and I will be none the wiser.
To a certain degree, yes. I personally am not afraid of dying but I still hope that I do not die a gruesome death. I came to terms with it over the years after losing multiple loved ones. I accepted that life can abruptly end and there is really not much you can do about it. So I now I just live my life the best I can. I also confirmed that I actually hold this belief after having two near death experiences over the past 4 years. The moment I realized I was probably about to die was oddly peaceful.
"Get busy living or get busy dying" "There is no free time, just life time. Go" Both of those quotes acknowledge death. Live your life and know that it will happen. Do the things that keep you healthy and safe.
I personally haven't achieved it. My worst-case-scenario afterlife is just darkness and nothing happens, but that doesn't seem likely because that'd require consciousness. The thought of coming back as a different person always eases my mind, so I just stick to that whenever I get really overwhelmed-feeling.
I'm more afraid of leaving my kids without their father, my wife without her husband. Hurting my dad by making him bury his only son after losing his wife very young. But my personal faith tells me there's a good chance I get to meet my mom when I die. I want to make sure my family has everything they need from me before I go. I would like to not be mauled, murdered, asphyxiate, drown or otherwise painfully be killed. But I'm also ready to rock, right here right now if my death would be a benefit to my family (via protection from danger, for example.) However, when my wife tries to scare me in the house, or is just walking around quietly, that absolutely scares the shit out of me. I'm not impervious to fear. I'll die someday, and it'd be great if I was done, or if it meant something.
I’ve sat with a dying man who didn’t fear death. It’s possible.
I like to remember that one quote from a bomb defusal guy "Either I'm right, or it's not my problem anymore." Either I'm alive, and enjoy life, or it's not my problem anymore. ^(I do fear whatever pain accompanies death because I'm a wuss tho)
I’m not afraid of death ✌️ I practice Stoicism and believe that: * The only thing we can control is how to use the current moment, and we should use it to build our character * We do not own the past or the future, it is out of our control * Since we don’t own the past or the future, we also don’t lose it when we die * No matter what someone’s age is, each person only loses the current moment when they die * There is no point in worrying about anything that’s out of our control (our valuable time would be better spent working on what we can control) * Everyone must die, if you live your life trying your best motivated by the power of friendship - then no matter when you die you have lived a good life and done your duty in this world :) A cool Stoic tool for eliminating your fear of death - if someone told you you were going to die in 2 days or someone told you you were going to die in 3 days, there probably wouldn’t be much of a difference in how sad you feel. Therefore we should not worry about whether we will die tomorrow or in many years.
I was diagnosed with lung cancer and told that I had 2 years left. Fortunately I changed hospitals and after targetted radiotherapy I am in remission. Naturally I was terrified at the diagnosis, and pretty much sat waiting for death for 6 months until treatment. I couldn't imagine not being around for my family, but finally I sort of got used to the idea and found it strangely comforting knowing how and roughly when and where I was going to die. Remission was a huge shock. Naturally I am grateful, but also dreading having to go through the whole acceptance procedure again one day. I worked in nursing homes for a long time. I held the hands of many stoic, incredibly brave people as they passed. No matter what any of them had said previously, non of them were actually ready to die. No matter what our views and beliefs, at the end of the day it is a step into the unknown, which is an incredibly frightening step to take!
Zero fear of death over here. That is not stoicism though, it’s nihilism.
Death is not the end of life, it’s just the beginning. Something I remember from my father. And my mother used to always say everyone dies, but not everyone lives.
>Is it possible to remove the fear of death? This fear needs to be here for purpose - to prevent dangerous deeds and situations. It can be removed and you'll be fearless only if your brain is damaged (damaged amygdala, also Urbach-Whiete disease).
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No. However, you can ingrain the acceptance of death into your mindset (which is the next best thing) no matter what time it comes. It could be in 5 seconds, 5 minutes, days, years, decades. We can never know when it's our time, just that it will come at some point. Would you rather spend the little precious time we are given worrying about something unknowable and unavoidable, or just... live until you can't? Find what brings you joy and fill your time with it. When it no longer brings you joy in the ways you require, find something new (the choices are endless). Repeat the cycle until the reaper comes.
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Sorry, but I gotta remove your post, as it has run afoul of our [Rule 2](https://www.reddit.com/r/stoicism/about/rules/). This is kind of a grey area, but we need to keep things on track as best we can. >Two: Stay Relevant to Stoicism >Our role as prokoptôntes in this community is to foster a greater understanding of Stoic principles and techniques within ourselves and our fellow prokoptôn. Providing context and effortful elaboration as to a topic’s relevance to the philosophy of Stoicism gives the community a common frame of reference from which to engage in productive discussions. Please keep advice, comments, and posts relevant to Stoic philosophy. Let's foster a community that develops virtue together—stay relevant to Stoicism. >If something or someone is 'stoic' in the limited sense of possessing toughness, emotionlessness, or determination, it is _not_ relevant here, unless it is part of a larger point that is related to the philosophy. >Similarly, posts about people, TV shows, commercial products, et cetera require that a connection be made to Stoic philosophy. "This is Stoic" or "I like this" are not sufficient.
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Ever hear of kamikaze pilots or the taliban suicide bombers? I believe they believe they're doing a righteous act and welcome the experience. Some probably were afraid, but I imagine most aren't. Idk for sure, though. Fanaticism in any form is bad.
Yes, once you learn r/gatewaytapes and “aware” that incarnation is real, you will have no fear of death, instead you will more “alive”
I've learnt the hard way that while we cannot rid ourselves of fear, we can let go.
Even severely depressed people sometimes fear death. It’s the realities of life that become too much to carry.
Yes. One way is by living and giving all you have and doing what you really want with your life so whenever death comes it’s a well earned respite. And ultimately it’s the final destination, one of the only reasons you have life is because you have death. So enjoy the journey.
To me it’s about adopting an optimist attitude on things and being outcome independent. It’s similar to the fear of rejection to me. If you’re outcome independent, you can admit that human beings truly have no idea what happens after death. Sure, you can STRONGLY believe in Heaven, or Hell, or pure oblivion, but you can’t know. You simply cannot. Being open and embracing you do not and will not know is the same as fear of asking that person you really like out. You can sit and wonder if they’ll like you back or try to get clues that they do or don’t, but you aren’t them. As strongly as you can believe one way or the other, you have to believe the truth that you will not know the answer until the time comes. But what use comes in worrying is much about if they do or not? Thinking about that moment doesn’t change the outcome, only taking action does. Obviously don’t kill yourself or try to die, but it doesn’t change the fact that it will happen someday. Worrying about eh outcome of that happening is a useless endeavor for the time you have now, as long as you embrace the truth that you do not know the answer. Additionally, embracing topics of the true nature of reality and science has helped me too. I think that one conclusion we have drawn in our modern scientific endeavors is that the “true” nature of reality is FAR, FAR more complex than we currently have any ability to understand. There could be an entire universe worth of things that happen after death, or the universe and your consciousness and all life or all physical things could be much more interwoven together than we have any understanding of. These things helped me embrace the outcome independence of death.
Absolutely, I even consider dying to be a chance, although I don’t want to rush it.
No, you cannot remove the biological response that we label “Fear of Death”. But I think what you mean is, “Is it possible to remove the fear from the anticipation of death?” And that is a “Yes”. What helped me is thinking both forwards, and backwards. I have no fear of the time that I didn’t exist BEFORE my birth, so why be afraid of what will be exactly the same experience (that is, NO experience at all) after my death? If I wasn’t living in a body made of meat in a universe full of fire, teeth, and entropy, then death would really suck. But, as I age, death simply feels like a friend coming to me at their own pace, and when they arrive my pain and weariness will end.
Yes, by accepting it as part of life.
Go sky diving
Done. If informed I had 5 minutes left to live, my heart rate wouldn’t go up by 5 beats per minute. Practice momento mori daily.
What's the alternative? Living for all eternity? That doesn't sound particularly great to me. There's things around death that I am uneasy about e.g. pain, my family being upset and inconvenienced, loss of agency etc. However being dead itself is definitely not something I worry about. I'm at peace with it being something which will come along for me at some point in the future.
No. I think it's just more that you can't do anything about it so focusing on it and being afraid of it is pointless. It's like I don't remember who said it but it was basically "Worrying before you know there is a need to worry is prolonging unnecessary suffering"
I have never been afraid of death and I am in my 50's. It's coming someday and there's nothing I can do about it. I do what's in my control, such as eating healthy, exercising, and not engaging in excessively risky behavior, but there's no point of being afraid. Death will come like a thief in the night, and then I won't know anything else.
"A well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well-used brings happy death" Every time I encounter the anxiety of death I become more and more certain of this quote. It's possible that if you lived a good life, you welcome death once it comes. This also reminds me of Socrates's death.
I've heard that its completely removed after you die. So could just wait til then?
When death smiles upon us the best we can do is smile back. I do not fear death, I look forwards to it as I will see family that went before me and I miss. Mind you I do not have a death wish, I know we all have an expiration date, we just don’t know when. Which is why momento mori is important. I’m am still on this earth because life is not done with me yet. I consider it like when growing up and the street lights came on I was to be in the house. No negotiations. You cant argue with a kidney stone just as you can’t argue with death. Accept it gracefully living your life to its fullest. A ship is meant to be sailed not remain in safe harbor. Ps. I received notice yesterday that my sister passed away. I rest easy knowing she doesn’t hurt anymore. But feel for all the loved ones she left behind. Her absence is felt
I think someone who truly doesn’t fear death, would probably die within a week. Our fear of death is what makes you look before you cross the street. It’s an important fear, just have to distinguish when it’s holding you back and when it’s keeping you alive.
You should be just as afraid of where you were before this as where are going next.
I agree with you that it is probably unrealistic to completely remove the fear of death. For me, the fear of death is not so much about the ending of my life, that is inevitable, it’s the natural order. For me it’s more the fear of NOT living my life. However, that I can control, so why fear death when I can put my energy into living life? Why fear the inevitable? I think when the Stoics talk about not fearing death, they aren’t saying you should suppress all feelings around death, they are suggesting that the fear of death shouldn’t prevent you from living. Seeing death as a natural part of life can reduce its hold on us. It’s about focusing on living well and accepting the inevitable.
Ok this may sound strange. But I have totally removed my fear of death. To give you some context, I’m currently deployed in a combat zone where I’m actively trying to be killed. Well me and my fellow brothers and sisters. A lot has happened here and I just learned to accept it all. Death is a very natural thing in life. Fearing it wont help you in anyway. Understanding your mortality will show you how little time you have and how to appreciate every single second you live. Enjoy the ride. The party ends for us all. Monento Mori
Sure. I have terminal brain cancer and nearly died the day I found out. I was lucky enough that my wife got me to the Mayo Clinic and I was in surgery before I knew it but still nearly died that night. I had what could only be described as a near death experience. It was a very peaceful lucid dream that I kept returning to...until I woke up from my heart rate monitor alarm going off and waking me up as the Nurses ran in. Each time I fell asleep I was back in the same peaceful dream. So I no longer have any fear of death, just enjoying every day I can! Hopefully my experience helps you a bit and you won't need a near death experience of your own. :) I should add that I'm not religious at all, (stoicism really helped in my recuperation) but confident that there is definitely something waiting for all of us on the other side. So? Make the best of this life and try to make things better whenever you can.
After my 3rd mushroom trip I lost the fear of death and it hasn’t come back. I still do my best to stay alive of course, it’s just not at all a dark looming prospect. Death is the same as birth is the same as awakening or falling asleep. It’s just one part of it all
It is possible to withhold assent to the thought that your death is bad.
Based on near-death experiences when death arrives it appears that the brain puts you into a comfortable state, so no, not really!
I think that when you die you just stop existing, it is like it was before you were born, you are not there anymore
Yes.
I had to face death early in my life, losing my mother and sister both within a year. I pretty much had to come to terms with it then. I'm old and ready to go but hope not a long or painful death. I do want to know if there is alien intelligent life before I go, though!
I remember reading about some drug they give you at the hospital to make you forget when you wake up during surgery that makes you feel like a god if you just take it while awake.
I sleep at night like a person in a grave. 😬 it somehow helps my fear of death.
Yes, but it happens after you die
I wouldn't say "zero" fear of death, but I think many stoics don't fear death. They are more concerned with not wasting the time they have, however short.
I would be afraid of death if it could happen more than once, since it can't, what's to be afraid of? Once you're dead, you're dead. That's it. It's over.
Jesus alone! Trust in him for the forgiveness of your sin, turn from it. You will receive the Holy Spirit who you actually can feel and experience and evidences to you that you will be saved. He alone gives confidence.
I don't fear death. I am disappointed that there will likely be beautiful things I'll miss out expirencing after I die. I do fear dying as it is least likely that it will be painless. I am glad we don't die like the rest of the animals out there. Being ripped apart as pray or starving to death as a predator seems like the status quo in the animal kingdom. It's all messed up but I don't see any other options.
Fear of death and intimidated by one's mortality are different things.
Fear of death, or fear of what might possibly come after death?
I am also not afraid of death. I had a stroke and pretty much every time we go under general anesthesia, we 'die' then wake up to a new Reality. Death is just greater change. Most won't even be aware of their own passing.
I honestly have no fear of death
Yep. I do not fear death for myself. I do worry about my kids and wife surviving without me but I’m sure they would manage.
I lost my fear of death after so many suicide attempts, I embrace it when, where, and however it happens
As my years have gone on, I realize that I should get on living because death is inevitable. It doesn’t scare me now but it does provide a sense of urgency.
Sure. Acceptance. It is just the way it is.
Stoicism helped me get over it. I’m sure I’ll panic when it happens, but I’m no longer captive to frequent anxiety.
Your insight is correct. Depression sees death as an escape from the pain of living // suffering. When your time comes it will come in one of a few ways. If you don’t expect it then you may have regrets or you may not but fearing it is wasted on the unexpected. Maybe it comes as a slow death, hopefully this is old age from a long life or maybe it’s a sickness. Either way you can overcome the fear by reck oIng that death will end the suffering. If you’re after of the void then I invite you to take a few plunges into fear. Psychedelics is sometimes that experience.
A lot of questions like this boil down to the clash between the classical and Freudian models of consciousness. The classical model says that yes, you can stop being afraid of death and overcome all this by using reason, through courage, or (in the Christian view) through faith. The Freudian model says no, you are hard-wired to fear death and you can never overcome that fear, and all systems of philosophy and religion are just a way of coping with death. In the Freudian view, the lower instincts or "drives" are actually running the show, and the rest is just a rationalization. The Freudian view has very much come to dominate popular consensus about human nature. The stoic view is the classical view, that through moral philosophy human beings are capable of transcending their primal drives.
I think we will always have the fear of death. We also have the ability to not let that fear control us. Soldiers, for example, are doing it every day. I can also see how some would find it preferable to the lives they live.
I think unless you have experienced death or something really close to it like war or something I believe you can’t really grasp the idea of not fearing death. And even then most will always fear it but just embrace it. But idk
I am sincerely not afraid of death. I have terminal cancer. There is no reason for fear, as I see it. It's as normal as birth. It is the natural cycle of things. Do I want to die? No. But I am not afraid. I am a bit excited to see what is next when the time comes.
You don't have control over that feeling. You can, however, accept the fear of death.
I personally don't fear death, but the ripple effect of it. Not my pain, not my loss, but the fear of how my children will move on from it. I'm not unique in that aspect I'm certain, it's likely the root of manys fear of dying... What's left behind. So to answer your question, is there a way to remove the fear outright? Sure. You just have to separate yourself from everything that makes you a human. The base emotion of being a person with connections to others is the basis of the fear. The physical pain is secondary. But, if we are willing to go to those extremes, to separate ourselves from the very thing that makes life worth living to begin with, however small... Why bother at all? Better to disregard a fear of dying, and instead lean into those things that make dying so hard. Lean into friendships and family. Lean into connections. You may find that doing so doesn't remove the fear of dying, but gives you the strength and courage to confront them and say "yeah, but it was all worth it in the end". Best of luck on your journey.
I’ve never been afraid of death. I’m afraid of pain and suffering, for sure, but i’m not afraid of dying suddenly and painlessly. Why would I be?
ATM I fear no death but I also don't wanna die meanlessly. One life! got to spend it on good stuff I guess.
We don’t have a choice
After I had a severe traumatic brain injury 15 years ago, I don’t have any fear of death. Death is inevitable, random, and mainly not within my control.
Depends on the context: During my day to day I love to embrace it. If you put a gun to my head you will see me shivering and begging to not pull the trigger.
Having multiple procedures where I am fully sedated helped me to realize there is nothing to fear. I usually just take a “nap” and wake up with no knowledge of being out. I imagine that is what death is and I’m at peace with it. Nothing happens, nothing to be scared of. Just a peaceful ceasing to be alive. My biggest concern is not doing enough to help others while I’m alive.
Best you can do is act like you are not scared
if you believe death is the end....you night fear it.....but if you believe it's a new beginning.....well that's up to you
So long as theres a will to live...... No. We are living for reroduction or a possibility of reproduction as the main factors ofc. The only way i can see a possibility of removing the fear of death is either an evironmental change/circumstance that removes the fear death based on mindset, or a lack of a will to live due to your life being far more painful than your life ever will be in death. (Please take these statements with a grain of salt im just your average redditor drunk and shitting on the toilet during the weekend.)
Religion. For example, in Islam, the best Muslims are only afraid of God
Yes, when the pain of being alive is greater than it
Well I've had issues with depression, so I can't exactly say I'm unbiased. But not being alive wouldn't feel like anything. It's more the dying part, and being stuck thinking about all the things you wish you had done that would suck. All you can control is trying to leave yourself with as few things you wish you had done before death. For example: call your parents or grandparents. They won't be around forever, and the day will come when you can't do that anymore and wish you could.
Zen philosophy. Have a read.
I remember a comic book called world war hulk from marvel. There was a character called Hiroim I think. He said the words in a fight with the Hulk “May He who dies , die well.” It resonated ever since.
It might sound facetious but I assure you it's not. Magic mushrooms. If you don't believe me, Google it. An extraordinary experience of deep connection with the natural world, an understanding that your body is made from other living organisms and a realisation that you will become part of the fabric of life again. It sounds silly but it is probably the most profound and compelling experience of my life. Highly recommended!
It's not bravery, it's a healthy perspective that there is no way to change it and therefore no point in fearing it.
The reptilian complex is the ego/ animalistic part of our mind, mainly concerned with self-preservation. The paliomammalian, located on top of the reptilian complex, is associated with empathic motivation. The neocortex envelops the other two brains, balancing these two motives (as well as other functions). So in a way, we will always fear death (ego/ self-preservation is always there), but we can prefer the rational mind.
I’m in the fortunate position that, even though my heart has stopped on three separate occasions (major car crash) i’ve lived to tell the tale. When was in cardiac arrest (i think the first time but i don’t really know) i went into a white space, i saw two blurry figures in the distance and i was calmly moving towards them. I thought the smaller one was my childhood friend who i’d lost touch with but i never found out - the CPR worked and i survived. There is a lot more to this story as you can imagine ^ but to focus on the question “can you remove the fear of death?” And i do think, yes to this question. I don’t fear death now, but what I do fear is not living. At times in my past (after said event), it was THE FEAR OF LIVING that caused me to almost loose my life. I’ve never mentioned this to anyone but anyways, at that moment and since i’ve not feared death. Rather, it’s life that’s my main concern. Thankfully i lived to tell the tale there as well. I’m in a much better place now, 15 years later with two masters degrees and the whole world at my feet i’m trying to live my best life. [in a supportive voice] if you have regular thoughts about death or dying it may be a good sign you need to speak to someone.
To remove the fear of death is to remove the fear of losing life. To live is to die. If you’re too attached to the concept of life or life itself, you’ll fear death. From experience, won’t say I’ve fully removed the fear of death, I’m just indifferent to it. It’s a part of life that will eventually run its course. I think it’s the fear of the unknown attached to death that most people fear.
What exactly are you afraid of?
I have to ask those who are mothers - do you find your fear of death increased after motherhood? The anxiety I feel about leaving my children behind is the biggest fear
For me we are all afraid to die but we gotta accept we are going to die since dying is inevitable.
You cannot remove the fear of death but you can overpower it with a strong purpose. Initially deep thinking tends to make you feel depressed. But when you find your purpose, that's when you will want to keep living. Find your purpose. Do you want to contribute to a particular field? Do you want to explore a particular field? Do you maybe want to do something big in life like build a startup which revolutionizes a particular field? Or maybe you want to live a chill life? You have just one life. Extract all you can out of it. Explore the various aspects of life. Science, technology, art, philosophy, maybe try out various martial arts etc etc.
In the right circumstances you'd welcome it. It only looks scary when you're young, healthy and happy. Imagine being old, barely walking, having daily pain, chronic diseases. You'd be waiting for it.
No point fearing something natural and inevitable - I’m more scared of living a life misaligned with my principles.
Before this life, do you remember having any complaints? Do you remember having any misery or suffering? If not, why would you be afraid to go back to that place? The last time you were there everything was fine wasn't it?
I feel like you have to define death. The words that come to mind for me in overcoming the fear of death are: surrender, and faith. Surrender allows you to accept what is coming without resistance to it, ultimately making the process as easy as possible. Faith allows us to surrender So what do you have faith in? God? Afterlife? Reincarnation? Something? Nothing? If you believe death is the end of you forever then that could be really scary, or really easy- depending on how you relate to it. If you believe that you will be reincarnated then death can be easy or dreadful depending on how you relate to it. So I would say it is define possible to remove your fear of death. But it requires faith (in something), practicing surrender, and a relationship with your definition of death
Yes it is possible.
Actually some people have zero fear. And you can see it in their life. They put themselves out there where they are in the spotlight. This creates haters and those plotting against them at all times. Sure they don’t want to die, but they are willing to take the risk where it doesn’t paralyze them
The curiosity of what actually happens when we cross that line is what brings the peace for me. I enjoy life, but I’m excited to see what’s next, if anything, when I die.
What was it like before you were born? Technically, before you were born you were not alive . If you are not alive then you are dead.
Stoicism is a school of philosophy that teaches the development of self-control and fortitude as a means of overcoming destructive emotions. When it comes to the fear of death, Stoic philosophers provide several strategies and perspectives to manage and reduce this fear: 1. Understanding Nature; Stoics believe that death is a natural part of life and an inevitable process. By understanding and accepting this natural order, one can reduce the fear associated with death. 2. Focus on the Present;Stoicism emphasizes living in the present moment and not worrying about the future, which includes the fear of death. This practice helps individuals focus on what they can control and find peace in the present. 3. Rational Reflection;Stoic philosophers encourage rational examination of death. They argue that fearing death is irrational because it is a part of the natural cycle of life. Seneca, for instance, noted that we don't fear the time before we were born, so we shouldn't fear the time after we die. 4. Living a Virtuous Life;By living a life of virtue and fulfilling one's duties, Stoics believe that one can achieve a state of inner peace and not be troubled by the prospect of death. A virtuous life leads to a good life, regardless of its length. 5. Contemplation of Mortality;Stoics often practice the contemplation of mortality, which means regularly reminding oneself of the inevitability of death. This practice, known as "memento mori," helps individuals appreciate life more fully and reduces the fear of death by making it a familiar concept. 6. Role of Fate;Stoics believe in accepting fate and understanding that death is beyond one's control. By recognizing that some things are not within our power, individuals can focus on what they can influence and let go of the anxiety related to death. Overall, Stoicism teaches that by accepting the natural order, living virtuously, and focusing on the present, one can significantly diminish the fear of death and live a more fulfilled and tranquil life. Living well means to die with a peace of mind.
Fear is good, every animals fear... being crippled to the point where you are afraid to live your life is irrational.
Yes is very simple to remove the fear of death. I actually create a video on why we should not fear death. If you are interested in watching you can click the link below https://youtu.be/ny5ZkI6PIJo
Yes. I believe this is possible through the various contemplative Stoic practices which situate your sense of self within the *logos*. Here's one of my favorite quotes which expresses this sentiment: > Don’t let yourself forget how many doctors have died, after furrowing their brows over how many deathbeds. How many astrologers, after pompous forecasts about others’ ends. How many philosophers, after endless disquisitions on death and immortality. How many warriors, after inflicting thousands of casualties themselves. How many tyrants, after abusing the power of life and death atrociously, as if they were themselves immortal. > How many whole cities have met their end: Helike, Pompeii, Herculaneum, and countless others. > And all the ones you know yourself, one after another. One who laid out another for burial, and was buried himself, and then the man who buried him—all in the same short space of time. > In short, know this: Human lives are brief and trivial. Yesterday a blob of semen; tomorrow embalming fluid, ash. > To pass through this brief life as nature demands. To give it up without complaint. > Like an olive that ripens and falls. > Praising its mother, thanking the tree it grew on. In other words, our individual lives are insignificant moments in the unfolding of this strange and beautiful world, and the emphasis on being aware of this fact and being able to feel gratitude for it before that mortal nature completes its course. Far from being a perspective rooted in depression, I find it to be grateful, magnanimous, and made buoyant by the deepest kind of love.
A quote was found to be attributed to Marcus Aurelius in his Meditations 4.48 (Hays) ^(Book IV. ()[^(Hays)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources?isbn=9780812968255)^) ^(Book IV. ()[^(Farquharson)](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Meditations_of_the_Emperor_Marcus_Antoninus/Book_4)^) ^(Book IV. ()[^(Long)](https://lexundria.com/m_aur_med/4.48/lg)^)
Good bot.
Find God
The fuck?
Yes, but I was only able to to do thru faith in god, after becoming a Christian disciple.