Is death something to fear or just to factor in?

[Nik]

This world seems impossible without us. Yet, it might still keep going even if we aren't around anymore. There is death anxiety as a psychological disorder, but on top of that most people are afraid of the moment they'd need to bid this world goodbye. What, if anything, awaits thereafter? There are a few versions: from worms and disintegration to hell/paradise and additional variations.
What makes it even more annoying that the date is uncertain that renders postponing of anything sort of a speculative bet, which likelihood the insurance companies will gladly insure against.
So, is it frightening or just an eventuality to take into account when making future projections?

[Ian]

Nik, it will keep going - it is just that he who dies may not know anything about it.

Personally I am happy that the date of the demise is not known - it allows you to stop thinking about it, except when someone like Nik starts up this sort of conversation :-) Unless you are exceptionally tidy, I don't think there is much to take into account, except maybe to make sure you don't run out of money before the event. Frightening? Not if you don't think about it. It is going to happen, you can't stop it, so stop worrying.

The question of whether anything happens after (other than the obvious chemical decay of your body) is more interesting, but I don't think we know, and what little evidence is available is ambiguous. However, there are a very few records of "out of body experiences" by "nearly dead" people, including one I have heard about from a neurosurgeon who almost died on an operating table, and he could recount conversations about him in another room. Take from that what you will.

[Scout]

Ian said, "except when someone like Nik starts up this sort of conversation :-) " That gave me a smile. Regardless of spiritual beliefs, going from the known to the unknown is scary. Very.

I have heard stories about people who are close to death and feel at peace with it. I've read that the body releases endorphins that ease the transition.

There is surely a spirit apart from the body, a life force that may continue.

[Ian]

Scout, in many cases it might also be that they don't feel like continuing living. I am thinking of my wife and my father, both of whom had cancer killing them, and they were so weak at the end there was nothing much for them. It may not be so bad when you are not really losing anything.

[Holly]

I don't fear death.

I imagine it as being very much like birth. Before we are born, we only know life inside the womb; then forces beyond our control push us into the next stage.

In my pagan faith, there are no legends of an afterlife, or heaven or hell or even reincarnation. Death is simply seen as the final mystery in life.

[Nik]

Is it frightening?

[Ian]

My view, and at my age I am probably closer to it than most of you, is that "how?" is an issue, but because I can't do anything about it other than try to stay healthy (avoid SARS-CoV-2, get flu vaccinations, try to eat tolerably healthy, get some exercise) I try not to think about it. Enjoy the day I have in front of me. The inevitable will happen, but no point in spoiling today worrying about something in the hopefully distant future.

[Jim]

I personally believe that, when we die, we merely cease to exist. The molecules that make up our physical body are scattered to bcome the building blocks of new life and/or inanimate objects.

I taught my children to compare life to an amusement park ride.

At first the ride moves very slowly and we eagerly, and a bit impatiently, look forward to whatever lies ahead. As the ride progesses, we experience exciting, pleasant times and some frightening, nerve-wracking times. Just when it seems like it may last forever, the ride begins to slow down and eventually comes to an abrupt end. We have had our turn. It is time to leave so others may have theirs.

The 1st. Seargeant of our Marine rifle company in Vietnam would call a formation just prior to our moving out to try to make contact with the enemy. He always gave the same brief speech.
"Remember this! Everybody dies. So don't make a big deal of it when it comes your turn."

[Scout]

Everyone is different. I'm okay with your belief, but I'd say that the law of conservation of energy states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed - only converted from one form of energy to another. Our bodies convert food into energy - and here's where we differ: I think we have a soul that's sustained by that energy. So when we die, our energy - including our soul - is converted into another form. No one knows what form, but I don't think we just die, the end.

[Ian]

If Scout is right, one day we all find out. However, I for one am in no great hurry.

[Jim]

The only thing that bothers me is the fact that, if my personal belief that there is no such thing as an afterlife is correct, no one, including me, will ever know that I was right. However, if I am wrong, everyone, including me, will know that I was wrong. Life, and apparently death, is just not fair!

[J.]

So long as it isn't the Mormons who got it right.

[Ian]

What do the Mormons think?

[J.]

Ian wrote: "What do the Mormons think?"

To start, they believe that an angel guided a teenager named Joseph Smith to some magical golden plates that were buried in a hill.

Wth the help of his magic rock, Smith was able to translate the plates while they were kept in the darkness of his hat. Others couldn't see the plates because they disappeared as he translated them. These translated plates are The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. In this "Holy" text we learn things like Native Americans are actually Israelites who got ridiculously lost, the Promised Land is in Missouri, God wants his cut so you better tithe, and Jesus and Satan are brothers. I'm not kidding.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=spwMe4f1m...

[Ian]

A good thing you wrote "I'm not kidding" because otherwise I would have been sure you were. That's weird. However, I like the "ridiculously lost". Israelites may have wandered around, but did they swim the Atlantic??

[J.]

Apparently, they were some fishermen who got caught in a storm; a storm which blew them across the Mediterranean and over halfway across the Atlantic... I wonder if anyone has told the Israelis.

The weird part is that if you want to understand the American Southwest, then you need to learn about the Mormons. Utah became a state when the LDS (Church of Latter Day Saints, AKA Mormons) came to an agreement with the US Government to abandon polygamy in exchange for statehood and ending the Mormon Wars. Yes, Uncle Sam was actively fighting the Mormons.

But it didn't end there. A bunch of "fundamentalists" split off and formed "FLDS" communities. These remote communities often make the news when they get raided for wedding under-age (barely double digit aged) girls to ranking men in the community.

A few of these FLDS groups emigrated to Mexico where they are now caught in the middle of the drug war because they're in the way of the cartels. Former Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's father was born in one of those Mexican Mormon communities.

[Ian]

This is getting weirder by the moment. Did Romney Sr cease to be a Mormon when he "escaped"? Mitt?

[J.]

George W. Romney was a member in good standing until his death and Mitt still is. For Mormons that means that they have a "Temple Recommend" which is a letter from their local elder which says that the bearer's tithe is paid up and they can therefore enter the Tabernacle.