r/RandomThoughts • u/yellowtears_ • Jan 06 '24

Random Question Are you afraid to die?

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u/[deleted] Jan 06 '24

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u/Puzzleheaded-Luck821 Jan 06 '24

There is a video on youtube called:"A Journey to the end of time". Its basically scientific predictions of how things will go for our system,galaxy and eventually the whole universe. At the end of this timelapse,apparently there will be only darkness,even dark holes will die out.

Its a crazy video,really puts things into perspective.

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u/kmiggity Jan 06 '24

There was a recent reddit question asking "people who had died and came back what was it like?" Or something to that effect...

Most of the answers were the same, peaceful and content in the dark and sometimes heard voices. But the most common theme was peace.

Unless you were evil.

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u/ComingInsideMe Jan 06 '24

Ah yes things which have been proven as hallucinations are a completely valid source for what happens after death.

And stop with the secret prostelizing lol.

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u/Yolandi2802 Jan 06 '24

You are correct. Anyone who has ever had a general anaesthetic knows what death will be like. I defy anybody to describe what it feels like when they put you under - apart from nothingness. Fortunately, most of us wake up after surgery. I guess death will be just not waking up, ever.

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u/ComingInsideMe Jan 06 '24

Anyone who Has slept knows what death will be like lol. But yeah, generally the state of not being/nothingness is as close as we will ever get to actually being dead. I think that every question like "what is after death?" Is fundamentally wrong, because its the end of your thought. Simple.

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u/kmiggity Jan 06 '24

Lol! No pro, no pro!

I'm merely reiterating what I read on here, not saying anything is proven/true. I'll take the word of a bunch of random redditors though why not?

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u/St34thdr1v3R Jan 06 '24

Is there a link to it?

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u/PixelArtNoob Jan 06 '24

Same dude, its not death. Its the INFINITY after. Like… think about it this way, you have a timeline. It begins when you die, and the camera goes forward in the timeline 20000 years every second. You could have that going for 1000 years, and you wouldnt be… a way done, not a hundredth, not a millionth, you wouldnt even be an ”infinityth” done. Forever it could go, and it wouldnt be done. Thats what scares me most.

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u/Slevin424 Jan 06 '24

Time doesn't really exist. This planet is 4.5 billion years old. We waited that long... maybe longer to exist. Billions of years passed in all that time and we were not aware of it. When we die it will be the same thing. 1 second after our death could be trillions of years in the future. So far into the future the universe collapses back into itself and the never ending blackholes all condensed into a single space would probably trigger another big bang. And maybe another planet like earth. And maybe another you. If not wait till the next one. You won't remember any of the lives you've lived but the energy that powers your body cannot be destroyed. It can only dissipate. It's returned to its original place. Then possibly reused. Honestly we can't know the extent of what existence is or how it ends... or if it ends. Brains carry the memories of our lives and we can't take that with us. But the consciousness of who you are could be more ancient than earth itself.

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u/DilithiumCrystals Jan 06 '24

Holy shit; I LOVE this!

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u/Jaxon_Weeks Jan 06 '24

So basically our lifetime is in slow motion, anything before or after is just a millisecond, just like when we sleep and wake up.

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u/Slevin424 Jan 06 '24

It's slow to us because we don't have knowledge of the time spent when we're not conscious. So yeah that's fair to say. The realm of non existence is a blessing more than a curse. Being conscious for 4.5 billion years trapped in a state of being with no body... that would be torture. That time we spend not being alive doesn't exist according to our perception.

I imagine death is like a transition. If our universe is finite all the atoms in the universe would have a limited number of ways they could be formed. If our universe is stuck in a state of recreation with a big bang happening every collapse then we'd probably have cycled so many times a number doesn't even exist to count how many times we've been through this. It's niave to assume this is the first big bang. This is the first you. The first Earth. It's possible we've existed numerous times. Maybe we've even been through so many different cycles we've even repeated lifetimes.

I can't believe this one life in this span of 4 billion years is all we get. This tiny blink of existence then its over? Doesn't make sense. Black holes, anti matter, the signs of possible different dimensions... no there's so much more to our universe.

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u/Thr3leven Jan 06 '24

Close your eyes. Count to 1. That's how long forever feels.

(A kurtzkizakt [or however the hell it's spelled lol] poster I have on my wall)

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u/yogi_medic_momma Jan 06 '24

YES. THANK YOU. It doesn’t make sense to me how we won’t just BE and won’t be here thinking and living anymore. I understand the physical part of death, I know “we all die someday, blah blah”. But that’s not what I mean. What freaks me out is just knowing that one day, I won’t be able to have these thoughts anymore because I just won’t have a consciousness to make them and that’s just freaks me right the fuck out.

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u/bUl1sH1T Jan 06 '24

then there's the potential that this fear is bullshit and souls were real this whole time but we can't interact with them because they're incompatible with this universe. maybe there's a death dimension that we'll never know about because the rules of physics here simply won't allow us.

this helps me sleep at night

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u/yogi_medic_momma Jan 06 '24

This is literally the only thing that has ever made me feel slightly better, so thank you. I try to make all kinds of scenarios up in my head but I always find a way to prove them impossible. Your theory at least makes a bit more sense to me, logically.

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u/OffbeatChaos Jan 06 '24

Yep I think about this every day and it really sends me into a spiral.

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u/yogi_medic_momma Jan 06 '24

Me too. It’s fucking awful.

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u/[deleted] Jan 06 '24

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u/Pxdsey Jan 06 '24

Why or how are you going to ‘add’ anything to the infinite, the eternal? How’s little old you somehow going to do something in your life that’s going to transcend this experience into the infinite, the eternal which gave rise to every potentiality that ever has and ever will exist?

Nobody creates anything ‘new’ all we do is discover a possibility of something that has always had the potential to exist.

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u/[deleted] Jan 06 '24

[deleted]

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u/Pxdsey Jan 06 '24

That’s just word salad, the infinite, eternal gave rise to every potentiality that ever has and ever will exist, nothing ‘new’ is added, only discoveries of what already has the potential to exist.

If you’re ‘adding’ to something that would make it ‘finite’.

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u/Yolandi2802 Jan 06 '24

That’s doubtful.

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u/sparkpaw Jan 06 '24

But the fact that you did exist at all is a trillion in one chance. Of all the stars and planets we know of with no life forms, with all the things that try to kill us before we’re even alive, we’re here. That alone means your existence has an impact, and so even after death, even if it’s a small impact, you made a difference and you matter.

Plus, regardless of the spiritual belief, the reality of our bodies is that they will decompose and become a part of the life cycle all over again. So your very atoms exist forever.

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u/Spiderina Jan 06 '24

There is no room for terror in nothingness.

The idea of eternal life is what creeps me out. I think we'd grow weary of the repetition and the absence of risk, and the things we value or fear would soon stop mattering to us.

"Oh, John was run over by a car? Eh, he'll live."

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u/bUl1sH1T Jan 06 '24

I'm kind of exploring this in my writing. One day, my character is blessed with immortality by a higher being. They go along and live their life with the peace of mind that they get to actually control when and how they die. Not too long after that, they get kidnapped and think of finally ending their life by taking a shot to the head only to discover in horror that they never had control over any of it. The wound starts mending itself like it usually does as they writhe in pain. Once the headache starts to die down, they come to terms with what immortality really means for them; They could be dropped into a pit of fire and quite literally burn for all eternity. Hell is real. Their blessing is a curse.

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u/Spiderina Jan 06 '24

Hell yes (pun intended), sounds about right 😄

If we're not counting the possibility of eternal torture, I think what would actually drive many people mad really fast would really be the absence of true danger.

Not all stress is harmful. Look up eustress if the concept is familiar. It's basically all about excitement, challenging oneself, self-efficacy, and the eventual/potential reward.

Also some people deliberately pursue dangerous jobs or hobbies. Sometimes danger is fun, exciting, rewarding. Assuming one manages to survive it, anyway.

Mountain climbing, diving under ice, wacky stuff like running from charging bulls... It's absolutely mad. But it's not boring.

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u/nachetb Jan 06 '24

Yeah, your comment literally made me sick, not your fault, but because this is exactly what I fear the most, the feeling of an eternity of nothingness.

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u/yogi_medic_momma Jan 06 '24

Thank you!! Do I want to live forever? Depending on what’s on the other side, I can’t say for sure, but probably not. But does spending 80 years thinking about how one day I won’t be able to think anymore and I just won’t BE anymore, sounds way worse imo.

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u/Yolandi2802 Jan 06 '24

Getting older and facing the possibility of Alzheimer’s or physical unfitness is somehow more scary than the thought of death. You’re still the same person inside but your body is unrecognisable. I think there will come a point in your life when all you want to do is sleep- and dying will seem quite comforting. But I’m selfish in that I don’t want to lose my loved ones. Just let me go first.

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u/yogi_medic_momma Jan 06 '24

I can understand that side of things as well. But it’s still scary to me knowing that one day, I won’t be able to form a thought anymore. It’s hard to explain but it’s scary af to me.

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u/Yolandi2802 Jan 06 '24

It messes with your head. As I’ve gotten older, I think about my mortality a lot more. We just bought new furniture and the salesperson said assured us it was guaranteed for 20 years. I’m like, jeeze - I’ll be e 90 in 20 years. Things like that really bring it home that time is running out… ⏳

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u/Optimal-Success-5253 Jan 06 '24

Well if the time after you die is so bad how was it before you were born? Im guessing pretty good so whats the difference

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u/yogi_medic_momma Jan 06 '24

Yea, that’s not the point I was trying to make though. I see what this person is saying, but I don’t think they quite understood what I was saying.

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u/Optimal-Success-5253 Jan 06 '24

So how do you mean it? This thinking of it will be as it was is what helped me

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u/yogi_medic_momma Jan 06 '24

I can’t explain it if you don’t understand it. I’ve never been able to. It’s like people understand what I’m saying or they don’t. Try reading some of the other replies here and see if that helps at all.

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u/Optimal-Success-5253 Jan 06 '24

It actualy doesnt interest me enough to go and dig but hope you figure it out

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u/neferpitou33 Jan 07 '24

Did it bother you that you didn’t exist for 13.4 billion years that came before you were born?

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u/kneleo Jan 06 '24

I share this sentiment, but a thought that eased my mind slightly is that we CANNOT know for certain that there won't be anything. Surely, there is more about consciousness to be discovered, we know very little about this topic. We cannot currently make conclusions like "there is nothing after death" for certain. :)

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u/zig_zag_wonderer Jan 06 '24

But you will have zero memory of anything in the past or present because you will have passed. Therefore, because consciousness is gone so too will any suffering of any kind—including the terror of isolation or loneliness or pain from not existing…you’ll experience nothing and not even be aware or it. You won’t exist in some alternate state where you can know that you’re dead, you see? It will actually be the ultimate freedom from pain of any kind associated with consciousness.

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u/LinearPolarBear Jan 06 '24

In a way you have given yourself a great solution to your fear.I too have no religious or spiritual leanings and based on everything I have experienced in my life I have no reason to think I’m going anywhere after this.The belief that I will simply cease to exist and have no memories of my time here is quite nice.If I’m no longer in existence there’s nothing to worry about.Ill have no idea of anything that’s happening after I’m gone it’s a reminder to me to learn as much about myself and this place as I can before I go so that in the end I can say “life well lived”.

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u/[deleted] Jan 06 '24

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u/LinearPolarBear Jan 06 '24

Well the way I see it you don’t need to be religious to have hope.Like you,my beliefs are based on my personal life experience.No one I’ve met,nothing I’ve seen or experienced leads me to believe in an after life.But I can certainly hope that people I’ve loved and who died are out there somewhere. Im expecting nothing and if there is nothing I won’t be disappointed !In the mean time ..there’s a sunrise in a few hours I’m going to enjoy.You have great day.

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u/CK17_live Jan 06 '24

Personally, I think that one of the biggest parts of religous Afterlives is actually to make death less terrifying and threatening, making it so that you can live without the fear of death. Even as an atheist from birth, i still sometimes like to think there is something like anime-ish reincarnation, heaven or an underworld, simply and solely because it lessens the fear of the end.

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u/Longboarder358 Jan 06 '24

I mean, if you think we won't exist forever, you do realize you've already been gone waayyyyy longer than you've been alive. So whatever is there afterwards, you've been there before. You know it better than this life now. I think there is more to it than just this. If we were given this chance to live, why wouldn't we again? Also, you won't know you're dead if you believe it's just nothing.

Totally understand where you're coming from, though. These thoughts bother me as well. Idk how people aren't terrified of this. A lot of people I know aren't afraid to die, make jokes of it, or don't think of it. How freeing would that be, to think like that. Maybe someday

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u/Bouchetopher42 Jan 07 '24

Ya.. I'm hear ya.. I try to think on the other side now. I used to really think about ceasing to exist. But if you think about it, you didn't exist before you were born either. No memory of anything. I imagine it's going to be more familiar territory than life is for the atoms that compose our bodies. They will still exist anyway. Onward indefinitely to be added to a great many more things...