Share your thoughts on death

[crab12]

I want to get comfortable with death or the end of life or whatever is when there is no life. I've been putting off thinking about it, probably because I'm afraid of it. Share your insights, book / video recommendations, thoughts, experiences regarding physical death (not ego death, as direct experience doesn't stop after ego death, that's how I'm distinguishing the two). I'm interested in whatever you have to say, especially the line of thinking that physical death is a self-deception (how? why?).

I'll share my own thoughts so far.

- What is death? The usual explanations include "I stop existing" or "the body stops working". But that's not totally honest. A more accurate way to put it is "experience stops".

- Thankfully I have the memory of going under full anesthesia. They put on the mask, the eyes close, and the next thing I notice is waking up in the recovery room a day later. There is no recollection of time passing. No experience or awareness. That's what death is like, only there is no waking up, there is no "next thing I notice".

- Death isn't "bad" or "good" either. Those are just judgements the ego came up. It just is what it is.

- The popular thing to do is to try to not feel the fear of death. But that's silly. Of course the body is going to produce the emotion of fear as it wants to stay alive. A person who succumbs to fear of death tries to postpone the ending of experience as much as possible by whatever cost.

- If you bungee jump for the first time, you will feel an intense fear of heights. But you don't have to succumb to the fear, you can still move your legs and stumble off the ledge. The same with fear of death, it's pointless to try to make the emotion go away, as you can't make the fear of heights go away while standing on the ledge, but you can move your legs.

- Say you get diagnosed with cancer and you have 6-12 months to live without treatment. Your body is still relatively intact with only mild fatigue for now. What are you going to do? You can accept the treatment from the doctors and they'll postpone death for at least another year and the doctor tells you there's even a small chance that you'll be cured. You'll spend all of your remaining time confined to hospital beds, you'll spend all your savings on treatments. They'll do chemo and operate on you. You'll be in excruciating pain confined to your hospital bed hooked on various tubes, but at the same time too medicated to do consciousness work or anything else. If you let fear guide you, you'll take this option. And the small chance of being cured is what you are clinging to, like a desperate gambler playing the lottery.

- The question of death is the question of life. Really the thing to be afraid of is never having lived. Are you going to let the fear of death prevent you from doing what you want in life?

- I cannot think of death as only the ending of experience, as I have artificially attached additional meanings to it.

[Leeeon]

Do you know what happens after death?

No.

So why are you afraid?

The afterlife could be horrible or it could be the best thing ever, you don't know!

 

[Nahm]

“Not ego death”

Consider that maybe the inquiry of death, and utilization of ‘direct experience’ to differentiate, is built on the assumption you were born. Scrutinize that enough, and the realization there’s no death occurs. 

 

[crab12]

@Keyhole Quite eye opening that those NDE's align with what Leo, and all others are teaching. Also 10/10 music selection.

8 hours ago, Leeeon said:

Do you know what happens after death?

No.

So why are you afraid?

The afterlife could be horrible or it could be the best thing ever, you don't know!

You're right, I don't know. I assume it's like going under full anesthesia and never waking up, but even that's an assumption.

edit: That's a good thing to point out actually. I though I knew what death is like, but really I'm just assuming.

6 hours ago, Nahm said:

“Not ego death”

Consider that maybe the inquiry of death, and utilization of ‘direct experience’ to differentiate, is built on the assumption you were born. Scrutinize that enough, and the realization there’s no death occurs.

Now that I think about it, the thing that's scary about death is that I can't do the things I do anymore, and well, be me. The loss of identity or the loss of "me" or ego death is the scary part about my physical death. I guess that explains why so few people are able to permanently let go of their ego because it literally feels like death.

edit: yes, that does assume I was born. Oh man, I didn't even realize I was making so many assumption. Haha.

Edited November 6, 2019 by crab12

[Nahm]

@crab12 With the assumptions of birth, time, identity, death, physical death, and ‘feels like death’, you’re not really doing the things you think you’re doing already, as you. Consider the perspective...of condensing those into one word: Veil. That makes the total experience, Veil. The other, assumption-less experience, is life, You. 

[zeroISinfinity]

Yup, Me is quite awesome. 

It's so great returning power and authority back that you lose giving it away. 

Most of the toughts/veil are that. 

Edited November 6, 2019 by zeroISinfinity