h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

No worries SLW old pal.

This is an interesting topic -- particularly as I had a heart attack 9 weeks ago, and a triple coronary artery bypass 7 weeks ago.

I found myself not all that scared, but it could have been the drugs...

In the past week, I've had a couple of things going on which worry me, particularly as they don't seem to worry me *enough*! I have a tendancy to think maybe I'm just been hypochondr-maniacal.

SWL, I know what you mean about Dementia -- my father has it, and it's been over 6 months since he's known who I am. I really *don't* want to go there.



sc

Yesterday, I met one of our neighbours at her gate, I hadn't seen her for a while... She's 84+ and had just got out of hospital. Poor woman! 80+, living alone, sick and tired of being sick and tired... There are things as bad as dementia - such as being widowed for 50 years, having children on the Old Age pension, and being alone in an echoing house.

Much worse than death, IMO...

I wish you good health, SpaceCadette and all the best and kindest for your father..

Della: << There are things as bad as dementia - such as being widowed for 50 years, having children on the Old Age pension, and being alone in an echoing house.

Much worse than death, IMO...

I wish you good health, SpaceCadette and all the best and kindest for your father.. >>

Thanks, Della, much appreciated. My Dad's in a good nursing home, and can't get around too independently, but since he's somewhat delusional, it's probably a good thing. He's able to go to the common room, and visit with his neighbors, but I really don't know what they think about his...worldview?

SC

if you believe it's the end, there doesn't seem to be any reason to fear anything.

if you believe in afterlife, you might fear your own self in case it's deserving of an uncomfortable time in hell.

if you believe in your sense of selfe surviving your body, but not God or hell or heaven or any 'answer' of any kind whatsoever, what's the basis of the fear? i daresay you'd at the least meet with other forsaken ghosts and have as lively a time of it as can be.

<> (AnarchistDuck)

Yet that seems to be the very thing that both Fanny and I fear. The end. No more consciousness. Off into the void . . . (eek!)


az

Rather than fear, is it not something like.. longing, perhaps? Fear as i understand is more like wanting to avoid something unpleasant. Clinging to something seems to me to be disconnected with fear. But i fail to understand how you feel, i think

Yeah well, I posted earlier that I'm afraid of the dark. To me DEATH seems like the ultimate DARK - you now? No, it isn't logical, then again, most fears aren't.

az

Anarchistduck for me the fear of death is not about wanting to avoid something unpleasant. But a visceral, gut wrenching, throat constricting terror. And I think it makes a lot of sense to me in a biological sense, because otherwise 'life' wouldn't have lasted very long on earth if organisms didn't do their damndest to avoid it.

az I'm really relieved that you also feel the fear, otherwise I'd start to think I was some kind of weirdo........

Death seeming like ultimate dark is quite understandable.
Why i fail to understand might be because i'm delighted by utter darkness, when i really can't see anything. I also am content to hang in limbo between lucid dreams. Perhaps you've experienced it too? There's absolutely nothing, no sensation to percieve; but your mind is clear. Of course, this lasting forever might not be so fun.

<> (Fanny)

Sorry to burst yer bubble, honey, but agreeing with me in no way means that you're not a total weirdo.

<> (AD)

Well quite . . .

az

I'm not scared of death per se. I'm scared of dying painfully. I want to live, forever !!

I'm a firm adherent of the Douglas Adams principle related to flying, (get distracted when falling, you can fly). I intend to apply the same principle to living. When the grim reaper knocks at my door, I'll be somewhere else

<>

I have a friend Annie, whose mother has galloping dementia, whichis very upsetting to Annie, especially as Annie's ADHD son also lives in the house with them, and she is caught between two generations of people she has to watch like a hawk! But Clare seems reasonably happy, because she's past the fear of losing herself... I think in the last stages, when the person thinks they're back in their childhood, they probably aren't too upset, but it's very hard for their family!

It's good that you've been able to find a place where your father can be cared for well, and his neighbours probably take him at face value...

"As you read the following statements, do you find yourself agreeing, disagreeing, or reacting neutrally?

'Never feeling anything again after I die upsets me.'
'I don't like the idea that I will be helpless after I die.'
'The total isolation of death frightens me.'
'The feeling that I will be missing out on so much after I die disturbs me.'

"Items like these appear on questionaires used to measure death anxiety. Other common fears among Westerners include fear of the decaying body and the unknown. Having a well developed personal philosophy of death reduces fear. In on study, devout Christians and devout athiests viewed death as less threatening than did people with ambivalent religious views."

- Excerpted from "Development Through the Lifespan, second edition" by Laura E. Berk

One of my biggest fears is being one of those people who die alone, and aren't discovered until the smell makes it obvious...



SC

Half-eaten by your cats.

az

Now that's going too far, az...



They're fussier than that!

SC

How much does the concept of my own death frighten me?

Not a bit
Not in the slightest
In fact, it may be a damned sight more interesting than what passes for living.

I'll let you know.

<>

There've been a few cases like that here, or in Wellington, in blocks of pensioner flats. Shudder...

Benny Hill, found dead in front of the TV, after no one knows how many days. Awful!

I am starting to think my favourite (and quite likely given the massive amount of running red lights that goes on here!) is a bus crash. Twice in the last year, the bus I am on has had near misses, with idiots coming out of side streets in a hurry! A bus crash that took me out before I had time to think about it, okay! It would be terrible for my family to get that phone call though...

Vicky

Answering original post:

Normally, not at all. When I think about it I'm quite scared, especially in light of recent news about a mate's Dad. It's a bit of a wake up call.