I don't know why but I feel like humans fear death far more now than we once did. Think about primitive humans, even ancient tribes of humans such as Native Americans or natives of the Amazon. They probably feared death much less than we do now because they were exposed to it far more. They knew that anyday in their lives could be their last. Paradoxically, being exposed to death less made us fear it far more. It's interesting to think that while in so many ways we evolved, we have also de-evolved (if that's how you spell it, I'm high) I feel like that is probably why we have also become so superficial compared to earlier humans. I feel like earlier humans are more spiritual and more at peace. Mayans, Incas, Cherokee, etc, all were just more in touch with nature and life peroid. Now we live in a sick, materialistic, greedy, selfish, money hungry society that promotes hypocrisy, lies, and ignorance. yup, we definitely de-evolved in that way.
mayans cutting out humans hearts, severing the heads and kicking them down the pyramid the fact that they would play a ball game and the WINNER gets sacrificed makes it pretty evident that they didnt fear death. quite the opposite actually
And not to mention that after the Great War-Cheif (or whatever they were called) cut out the winner's heart, he and his family would fucking eat the heart for dinner. That's fucking boss.
You sure? If they didn't fear death then why would they care about winning? Why would a sacrifice be a sacrifice? We send people to their deaths all the time in war. . . We don't fear death?
We fear public speaking more than death. We're pretty irrational, misled, desensitized and domesticated at this point.
I dont think fearing death is the right thing to say, fearing death has always been natural to us. I would say we were more used to it and acceptant that it was a part of life, but that doesn't mean we didn't fear it any less.
I guess no one understands. More primitive humans desire was survival and procreation. very simple drives. In modern days, we have far more desires than just that, which makes dying all that much scarier to people. Have you heard people say, "I have too much to accomplish in my life still, I don't wanna die"? We worry about jobs, careers, fame, relationships, money, more money, gossip, drama, war, poverty, superficial crap like that, leaving far less room for spirituality and wisdom. You wouldn't hear a primitve human tribesman say, "oh no, I still want to build that house I've always wanted to build, I still wanna be famous, I still want to make something of myself, I still have to accomplish something," or whatever shit like that. Therefore, they do not fear death as much. That prospect of death scares so many people in modern times, which drives them to do so many crazy things. And it is made worse in the media.
1.You wouldn't hear a primitive human tribesman say, "oh no, I still want to build that house I've always wanted to build, I still wanna be famous, I still want to make something of myself, I still have to accomplish something," or whatever shit like that. 2.Therefore, they do not fear death as much. Not sure that follows. You ever talked to a primitive human? How would you know how he feels?
I don't feel the direction of the discussion of this thread is aimed in the direction the original poster wished. It isn't about war, murder, or any criminal activity involving death, no matter how extreme or minute the issue may be. It is about the fact that people do fear death because of many reasons. The twist in religion has diminished almost all the truths and in the back of the most faithful person's head, they know this. That is one way the fear of death comes in. Another is how materialistically bound humans have become and how they revolve around gossip, fashion, drama, and more. Instead of living life the way humans were intended to, by providing for ourselves and living off the land as primitive humans did, we have grown technologically at an exponential rate. This destroyed that whole concept. Other things such as corporations, the justice system, and most of all, the government, have contributed to the lose of this value. It is called making your own living based on your own reasonable morals and ethics. There a little to no places where one can experience life like this though. Life the way it was intended to be lived. Regardless of reason, the majority of people on Earth do fear death as they know of the listed problems above and the unknown after life, if there is any at all. It takes an experience. A true, raw emotion experience before you can accept death. One for me was an ooze in my throat and the other was a near death experienced based trip. Once this has happen, one can accept death and realize his or her time could be any given second.
death is like climbing inside a treasure, dieing inside of pleasure basically the other side is peace and love to me
dude...i figured the solution.just go to war...cuz we humans are basically animals right??so killing and shit has to be more prevalent or some shit. might elaborate my thoughts later...too tired
I understand what your saying, as in like I don't worry about when I'm going to die, but have you ever been faced with death? It certainly can be frightening, your survival instinct kicks in and you certainly get quite anxious at the least. Most people don't have any kind of real conviction about death. The atheist gets terrified that he's about to be completely annihalated from life or that he was wrong and that he might be going to hell, he usually will try to "accept Christ" real quick lol. The Christian fears leaving the familiarity even though "supposedly" he believes in an eternal heaven. etc. I don't fear death, because I've seen where I'll be going, I'm not looking forward for the first little bit after death, but after that it's all shabby lol. The "ancient" people weren't much different than we are though, unless you go way back before we took on our upright form before we were conscious of the outside world and weren't even conscious of passing between life and death as we had our existence solely in the Inner Worlds. Before "Adam knew he was naked"
No yeah I completely understand that. I just mean the concept of not existing. Or existing elsewhere.
As an atheist who has come very close to paying for rock climbing in foolish situations, I think I am in a pretty good position to refute that.
There isnt anything to fear in reality. We emerged from the death it seems just yesterday and were going home.Are you afraid to go to your home!? Deaths in the past and this life is now. This death is now and lifes in the future. Whats the big deal?
There's a difference between say, getting in a car accident where you don't have time to think, or in your case falling to your death, and laying on your death bed dying of say cancer where you have time to face your mortality. Also age plays a factor as well in the fear of death and doubting of beliefs.
You (i think) are saying that there are no atheists in foxholes. That is just silly. It is a myth perpetuated by the church. There are many of us that have faced death without loosing our minds to any imaginary friends. (Actually, once I said, "God, this is gonna hurt." but it was just a turn of phrase. Not a prayer.)