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Losing (Some of) My Fear of Death (without Religion)
invite response
2013 Jul 19, 7:12am 23,246 views 47 comments
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Heraclitusstudent
2013 Jul 23, 11:51am
You can't scientifically prove or disprove someone's personal experience. You can only believe or cast doubt.
Sure you can. If I take 5,000 people and poke 1/2 of them with a pointy stick vs. poking the other half with a blunt stick I'm pretty sure I'll be able to determine to a high degree of confidence which stick hurts more.
Personal experience is all we have. But it's a subjective thing.
You can't know for certain what other people experience except by assuming it is the same as you would experience in the same situation, or trying to infer how they feel based on how they behave.
freak80
2013 Jul 23, 10:12pm
Personal experience is all we have. But it's a subjective thing.
Which can be scary. Ultimately, how do I know that I'm not alone in the universe? Or, how do I know that reality isn't just a computer simulation (like in those Matrix movies)?
Y
2013 Jul 23, 11:07pm
Touch the back of your neck and see if there is a usb socket there....
Personal experience is all we have. But it's a subjective thing.
Which can be scary. Ultimately, how do I know that I'm not alone in the universe? Or, how do I know that reality isn't just a computer simulation (like in those Matrix movies)?
freak80
2013 Jul 23, 11:22pm
Touch the back of your neck and see if there is a usb socket there....
Love it!
But couldn't the computer simulation make it impossible for me to notice it? ;-)
Y
2013 Jul 23, 11:26pm
Now that i've had half a cup, I forgot the simulation people did not have the sockets....no way to tell....we are fucked.
Touch the back of your neck and see if there is a usb socket there....
Love it!
But couldn't the computer simulation make it impossible for me to notice it? ;-)
freak80
2013 Jul 29, 3:35am
I'm wondering if the following statement is accurate scientifically:
"It is impossible to experience one's own death."
That statement seems to make sense. After all, I never "experienced" not being born. But I'm still making an argument from personal experience and not actual science.
Are there any neurologists out there who want to weigh in?
Y
2014 Oct 10, 1:41pm
So logic dictates you buy into a mutual fund of religions. spread the risk around so you don't get hurt. believe in anything and everything!
The sad thing is that people who believe in afterlife will never know they were wrong.
It seems unfair.And on the flip side, if they are correct ... you'll end up in a heap of trouble.
Yes, but that's potentially true for everyone.
Suppose you're a good christian and muslims have it right.
Then you're in a heap of trouble...
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About three weeks ago I was having blood drawn and I passed out. The nurses said I was "out" for 20 or 30 seconds. Amazingly, I didn't even notice.
At one moment there was just the one nurse drawing blood. Immediately afterward (from my perspective) there were three nurses propping me up, asking me if I could hear them. From my perspective, the transition was totally seamless. I experienced *nothing at all* during that 30 seconds...no darkness...not even time.
Has anyone else out there had a similar experience? Or should I say: "non-experience"?
Since that episode, I have been much less afraid of death. It turns out that "nothingness" wasn't as terrifying as I had imagined. In fact, I didn't even notice it at all.
For some reason I had always imagined "nothingness" as darkness. It's almost impossible to imagine "nothing" so I imagined it as darkness. There's also a lot of cultural stuff out there equating death with blackness/darkness. But darkness is "something", not "nothing!" Oh how our imagination(s) can be our worst enemy!
Religion is one way people cope with the fear of death.
Maybe if we gave everyone the opportunity to be (safely) "knocked out" once in their lifetime, there would be less need for religion. (I'm joking...but only a little bit);-)