Does God exist? (16 Viewers)

[*TRUE*]

Fearing the 'uncertainty' of death? Seems like a fear of death. It's possible that you're just afraid of the pain, but there are ways to die that people fear (though I'll conceed less) that have little pain - However I suppose perhaps you could say you fear the uncertain prospect that there could possibly be pain.

I mean , i fear not making wise decisions
I think the experience of avoiding death is something i might fear , trying to think what to do , how to handle it. ( a train is coming , do i jump left or right??) Will this hurt alot or a little? Will i actually die , or will i lose my legs?
Death itself is nothing to fear.

 

[Enteebee]

Things that can lead to death don't always necessarily do so, though. If someone stabbed me multiple times I might die or I might not but I'd fear it happening regardless because it would hurt like a bitch regardless of whether I died as a result.

Question: Would you fear situations which are more likely to kill than situations which are likely to hurt you? I.e. Would you be more afraid upon hearing you have received a lethal injection which will shut you down into a coma and make you die, or upon being faced with someone who is (in your mind) very likely to stab your arms.

I'd be afraid of both, but I know which would make me less scared.

 

[^CoSMic DoRiS^^]

Question: Would you fear situations which are more likely to kill than situations which are likely to hurt you? I.e. Would you be more afraid upon hearing you have received a lethal injection which will shut you down into a coma and make you die, or upon being faced with someone who is (in your mind) very likely to stab your arms.

I'd be afraid of both, but I know which would make me less scared.

Injection: I'd be upset and angered that the life I wanted to hold onto for a while longer is suddenly going to be taken away from me, definitely. I wouldn't want to die and I'd probably fear the physical sensations that might possibly occur (I have a thing about being taken by surprise physically, it doesn't always have to be pain, I just fear things happening to my body without my consent). But I don't think I'd be afraid. I just can't see how you can feel genuine fear over something which is going to happen no matter what. I would hang on as long as I could on the basis that I want to stay alive and some arsehole has pulled one over me and sent me to my death earlier than I wanted to go, but I wouldn't be afraid. There's no reason to be.

Stabbing: I'd fear the iminent pain for sure. Which is exactly the same as my reason for feeling fear over the injection scenario. So as weird as it may seem I suppose from a logical standpoint my feelings of fear would be the same for both. My overall level of distress would be more if I knew I was going to die but my level of fear would probably be the same, because it's not death I'm afraid of.

 

[Enteebee]

You fear being stabbed in the arm equally to being given a lethal injection? I honestly can't believe it *shrug*

 

[*TRUE*]

Enteebee. WHY didnt you answer my question?

 

[^CoSMic DoRiS^^]

You fear being stabbed in the arm equally to being given a lethal injection? I honestly can't believe it *shrug*

If we're only looking at fear, then yes. If we're looking at overall feelings of distress, then I'd "fear" the injection more.

You can't equate all negative emotions with fear, which it seems like you're doing..? If you don't want to die, you must be afraid of it. If the death of a loved one would sadden you, then you must be afraid of them dying. If you would fight for your own survival, then you must be afraid to die. Etc. They aren't the same thing

 

[Enteebee]

If we're only looking at fear, then yes. If we're looking at overall feelings of distress, then I'd "fear" the injection more.

You can't equate all negative emotions with fear, which it seems like you're doing..? If you don't want to die, you must be afraid of it. If the death of a loved one would sadden you, then you must be afraid of them dying. If you would fight for your own survival, then you must be afraid to die. Etc. They aren't the same thing

If you feel extreme sadness from x event then it makes sense to me to fear it happening, to want to try to avoid it if possible and feel an emotional desire for it not to happen. It's not equating, I just feel they usually go hand in hand.

 

[*TRUE*]

Chadd why dont you elucidate your reasons for fearing death?
You have said before that you wish there was a heaven so you would see loved ones again etc... does your wish for that translate into a hope for that , in turn leading to a fear that death might not be the end ( ironically as you hope it is not?) and that what lies beyond death might be unpleasant?
Im fairly sure this is not the case but i just honestly cannot see a reason for an atheist to fear death.

.

 

[Enteebee]

.

I already responded to you.
http://community.boredofstudies.org/showpost.php?p=3604871&postcount=9364

Basically a) I fear death in some situations at least from my perspective for the same reasons I desire food in some situations i.e. an underlying biological urge (desire for food, desire for self-preservation) and also b) I love living and do not desire my current happy life to end, I equate the end of my life with my death. This desire is so great that I'd say I fear the end of my life even if right now I'm not exactly trembling in my feet. There are few things I'd like to happen less than to die, and many of these things are fears of mine.

 

[*TRUE*]

I already responded to you.
http://community.boredofstudies.org/showpost.php?p=3604871&postcount=9364

Basically a) I fear death in some situations at least from my perspective for the same reasons I desire food in some situations i.e. an underlying biological urge (desire for food, desire for self-preservation) and also b) I love living and do not desire my current happy life to end, I equate the end of my life with my death. This desire is so great that I'd say I fear the end of my life even if right now I'm not exactly trembling in my feet. There are few things I'd like to happen less than to die, and many of these things are fears of mine.

oh sorry , you edited it that post later , so i didnt recheck

 

[Slidey]

You can't equate all negative emotions with fear, which it seems like you're doing..?

Yeah. Makes little sense TBH.

 

[Enteebee]

Yeah. Makes little sense TBH.

Already explained it's not equating. I believe events which are likely to have extremely distressing negative emotional consequences i.e. devastating, sad, painful etc are likely to lead to anxiety and fear.

 

[Iron]

Jarhead

Suggestive techniques for the marine to use in the avoidance of boredom and loneliness. Masturbation. Re-reading of letters from unfaithful wives and girlfriends. Cleaning your rifle. Further masturbation. Re-wiring Walkman. Arguing about religion and meaning of life. Discussing in detail, every women the marine has ever fucked. Debating differences, such as Cuban vs. Mexican, Harleys vs. Hondas, left- vs. right-handed masturbation. Further cleaning of rifle. Studying the mail-order bride catalogue. Further masturbation...

At ease, soldiers.

 

[^CoSMic DoRiS^^]

Already explained it's not equating. I believe events which are likely to have extremely distressing negative emotional consequences i.e. devastating, sad, painful etc are likely to lead to anxiety and fear.

While it's true that fear is often accompanied by other negative emotions, it's not true that one leads to the other. There are plenty of things I fear which do not make me sad or angry or cause me pain, and there are things which are saddening, infuriating or physically painful that I do not fear. For example, as I have said before I am afraid of heights, even though being up high does not cause me to be sad or angry or depressed or frustrated or anything and does not cause me pain. On the other hand, even though, say, having period pain is painful, I do not fear it. Arguing with my parents is a frustrating exercise but I'm not afraid of it, and so on.

 

[Slidey]

Jarhead


At ease, soldiers.

I see what you did there.

 

[Enteebee]

I am an atheist. There is no god. There is no afterlife. One day soon, really in just the blink of an eye, I will be gone. Fairly soon after that all memory of me will be gone. The universe will carry on but even something as large as our solar system eventually will be swallowed in the death of our sun. And I'm not happy about this. What I would really like is to live forever, or at least until I get bored of it, preferably as fit and healthy 20-something-year-old. Failing that I would settle for some type of heaven. But I can't. And I don't like the thought that I can't. No-one does, even those of you whom claim to not fear death must accept that you wish you could continue living (until you get bored etc). No matter who you are and what you believe, everyone has the same thought - they want to live.

I know I will one day cease and, deep down, I have to admit I am scared about it in some way. But I know there is nothing I can do about. And if there is nothing I can do about it, why should I worry about it? OK, so one day I will be dead. But I'm not now, and since I'm alive now I might as well live. The fear is there but I accept it and don't let it rule me.

The religious way is the coward's way. No matter how much people believe in gods and souls and afterlives, behind it all is the fear that one day they will cease to be. Instead of facing the fear head on and accepting it for what it is, instead they come up with endless stories about how the thing they are scared of is not really there. Eventually, in many cases, the fear takes over their whole life and they must accept every new thing, no matter how small, no matter how silly, that provides temporary relief from the realisation that death is always ahead of them.

I prefer my way. There is no point dwelling in the past or the future. Forget the troubles of the past because they are behind you. Ignore the troubles of the future because they might never come. Take life as it comes and enjoy what you have simply because you have it.

While it's true that fear is often accompanied by other negative emotions, it's not true that one leads to the other.

Well... one can lead to the other, perhaps it's just not necessarily true. I think the more extreme the negative emotions are though the more likely you are to fear things which bring them on. I.e. I don't fear falling over and grazing my knee, but if someone looks like they're about to stab me I fear the pain of a knife going into me. I can't think of many extreme examples of negative emotions that wouldn't also be accompanied by fear... i.e. there is a threshold which needs to be met in terms of the strength of these emotions before they start to manifest what I'd call fear.

 

[^CoSMic DoRiS^^]

Well... one can lead to the other, perhaps it's just not necessarily true. I think the more extreme the negative emotions are though the more likely you are to fear things which bring them on. I.e. I don't fear falling over and grazing my knee, but if someone looks like they're about to stab me I fear the pain of a knife going into me. I can't think of many extreme examples of negative emotions that wouldn't also be accompanied by fear... i.e. there is a threshold which needs to be met in terms of the strength of these emotions before they start to manifest what I'd call fear.

This is definitely true, I fear extreme pain more than little things. I just don't think that dying falls into the category of things which evoke such strong negative emotions that fear has to be an accompaniment to it, is all.

 

[Enteebee]

This is definitely true, I fear extreme pain more than little things. I just don't think that dying falls into the category of things which evoke such strong negative emotions that fear has to be an accompaniment to it, is all.

But... dying does evoke such strong emotions? I'm fairly sure people become extremely upset upon hearing of their imminent death.

 

[Slidey]

But... dying does evoke such strong emotions? I'm fairly sure people become extremely upset upon hearing of their imminent death.

http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/25/1511252

 

[^CoSMic DoRiS^^]

But... dying does evoke such strong emotions? I'm fairly sure people become extremely upset upon hearing of their imminent death.

It does but like I've said, fear is not necessarily something that has to accompany negative emotion. Not for everyone, anyway. I'd certainly be upset upon hearing I was going to die tomorrow, but fearing it? No. Obviously this is a personal thing that's different for everyone, but I don't fear the actual idea of being dead, just the potential for pain and suffering that might come before. Nothing about the prospect of dying peacefully in my sleep invokes fear in me in any way. The idea of being brutally murdered, on the other hand... but both involve death, so if I'm not afraid of both then it's not death I fear, it's suffering.