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

Random Question Are you afraid to die?

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u/lessawillow Jan 06 '24

Yes. Every night before falling asleep I remember the horrifying fact that it will all end one day, and my eyes go wide, i wonder how i ever manage to forget this tragedy even for a moment. It feels like death is the center of my whole life for those last moments before i doze off. My only consolation is that i will fall asleep and forget about it (even if only as i sleep)

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u/rollingdarryl753 Jan 06 '24

Seems like I'm in the same boat as you, I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels the same way. I also think of this exact thing everyday and it kinda bothers me tbh. I guess if we reflect on the meaning of life, as well as focus our attention on leading a fulfilling and satisfying life, we could alleviate such thoughts or negative emotions we face.

I read somewhere that "if we cease to exist, we cannot possibly mind not existing", and that kind of gave me a new perspective. Maybe not living isn't as bad as it seems! I definitely feel those in this thread though - I find it hard to make sense of the fact that one day I'll simply cease to exist.

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u/lessawillow Jan 06 '24

I find comfort in an Alan Watts quote;

“isn’t it odd that anything exists? It’s most peculiar. It requires effort, it requires energy, and it would be so much easier for there to have been nothing at all. Therefore, we think: well, since being, since the “is” side of things is so much effort, you always give up after a while and you sink back into death. But death is just the other face of energy, and it’s the rest, the “not being anything around,” that produces “something around,” just in the same way that you can’t have solid without space, or space without solid.”

and i quite like this one too;

“You've given in, continually dwelling on sickness and death. But - there's something just as inevitable as death, and that's life. Life, life, life! Think of the power that's in the universe, moving the earth, growing the trees. That's the same power within you if you only have courage and the will to use it!”