Poe is so very death-educational.

I imagine that the Tibetan Book of the Dead would be too if I put a lifetime into studying it.

Poe made me really comfortable with death. I'm listening to The Smiths's 'Reel Around The Fountain', one of the most death- ridden songs ever. The death is cleverer than the listener, if you get what i mean.

I got a book of short stories by Edgar Allen Poe for my birthday, when I was eleven. I had many sleepless nights after reading it.

Death is something we all can be sure of.

And, as the saying goes, taxes too.

in a hail of bullets?

Zygmunt Bauman has some similar things to say about Death as well. Can't remeber which book it was in though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zygmunt_Bauman

http://faculty.washington.edu/nelgee...s/hughes_1.htm

http://www.chosunjournal.com/death.html

http://www.selfknowledge.org/resourc...ialofdeath.htm

Oh really, what happens when a bee flies close to your face?

That's not a voluntary reaction. That's an instinctual involuntary reaction one gets when a bee flies near one's head.

Unless you are capable of deep meditation, you probably, like everyone, have fear of death.
Ask yourself if you can be hooked up to an EEG (like Tibetan Monks were in recent experiments) and show no flinching in your brainwave activity when a shotgun is fired from right beside to your head.

It's true, Kegmama, that you probably have less fear than most, but don't fool yourself. I certainly do not.

I was BORN DEAD.

true story. :)

Porkmarras already tried that one.

yeah, but I'm actually telling the truth.

bilateral pneumothorax for the win!

I think that some people, when they say they don't fear death, probably mean they don't think about it. How is it possible not to fear death?

really though, what's there to be afraid of?

bliss or nothingness, either way I'm cool with it.

I don't want my final expiration to be painful, but I can't say I'm really bothered by it.

Thank you, Pookie, you get it. Everyone should acknowledge their fear of death.
Fear of Death is indeed natural and beneficial for self-preservation. But, as expressed and just to clarify again for all, denying or not dealing with one's fear of death is mentally unhealthy. It can also lead to other problems. Let's say a big rig wrecks badly in front of your car on the interstate. A typical driver (with unacknowledged fears) is going to crash trying to avoid crashing into the semi or their response is going to be frozen-up by fear and they will certainly crash some other way. A driver with less fear of death, with a little more space in-between their thoughts, will most probably cooly avoid wrecking if it's possible. but...Remember, there are other cars on the road and they'll probably wreck into you anyway, no matter how good and wise you are at the wheel.

Humans develop character armor and neuroses (i.e., personality) to guard against seriously contemplating death, so I get what you're saying floatingslowly, but I've just heard it about a thousand times.

So, ironically, the "you" in you, is actually just a reaction based on your fear. And you thought "you" were so unique!

I had a near-death experience by nearly drowing when I was seven. It's my first really complete memory (and wiped out some of the previous ones, I imagine) and you had the bilateral pneumothorax "born dead" thing, so I would also agree that you, like Kegmama, may have a little less fear, but let's not kid ourselves, shall we?

The good news is that you probably have a predispostion to have a knack for meditation.

Aside from philosophical points, as perspective on mortality seems highly personal, can one differentiate between a fear of physical death and a fear of regret of the unrealized? i.e., a fear of the experiences one may miss out on upon dying? There are obviously many facets to the concept of death, but that one, in its childishness, petulance, and selfishness, seems to be the crux of it. I will definitely admit to a reluctance to sacrifice the unknown.

That, and I don't want to be found in any positions/situations that compromise my dignity.

I never proposed that I was unique. I stated my feelings about it and that's about it, but thanks for the e-psychoanalysis.

I have no fear of dying and I have no reason to lie about my feelings on a stupid message board.. again, I don't want it to be BAD, but the actual "death" part doesn't bother me. there are plenty of things I am afraid of (bees, gamma rays, unsecured heights) but death just isn't one of my phobias.

to suggest it's because I simply haven't dwelled upon it deeply enough is a pretty big assumption on the part of others who really know nothing of me. I have chest tube scars that tell a different story and I've spent the larger part of my life pondering it. death truely does not make me afraid.

you're free to assume that I'm in denial, however I owe nobody but myself any real explanations.

just because YOU are afraid of dying, does not mean that everyone else is. maybe the truth here is that you thought "you" were just like everybody else...

*shrug*

Yes. As you know, psychologists have labelled that part of your false, (but necessary) self, the Ego.

I'm just presenting this for clarification purposes.

If one loses the Ego completely, then you better already be in a mental hospital or monastery, because schizophrenia is takin' you home.

Through silent meditation one can achieve "space" in the inner dialogue of the Ego. In this space are eternities of possibilities. And by developing it collectively (which will probably only happen after some mass-catastrophe(s) that do not quite wipe out everyone), our minds will eventually evolve if we do not completely destroy our environment and ourselves first.

But would an evolution be considered a tendency toward the id, or the supergo? Even that's debatable. But that's a tangent.

And to floatingslowly, aren't all of our seemingly unrelated fears extensions of a fear of death, insofar as logical fear is born of the assumption of an undesired consequence (the most extreme and inevitable being death)?

Just askin' for discussion purposes. I'm undecided on that myself, as most common fears are illogically based.

floatingslowly, go back and reread the post please...I'm writiing in a general sense...for all of us...sorry I wasn't clearer...

I think that yeah, a more highly evolved mind would contain more conscious elements of both. The labels are debatable though, as you mention. I'm more of a Jungian than a Freudian, personally.