"There are some things worse than death..."

[Anthony]

Well, I'm definitely going to have to disagree with everyone who's posted so far; I don't think there is anything worse than Death.

Yes, I know Death is inevitable and that its going to happen, but to quote Woody Allen, I don't want to be there when it happens.

I hate the idea of dying; I hate the finality of it, and its easily my greatest fear. I have a total, pathological fear of death, and I'm not saying its healthy in the slightest, but I don't understand how people can be so dismissive about something as final as Death - all I can be sure of, it won't be pretty.

I would rather feel pain, emotional or physical. I would rather suffer through it all, I'd still be around to know that I'm suffering.

'wow.. after i jumped, it occurred to me. life is perfect. life is the best. full of magic, beauty, opportunity, and television.. and surprises, lots of surprises, yeah.. and then there is best of, of course, better than anything anyone ever made up, cause its real...'

That pretty much encapsulated what was so wrong with the Million Dollar Hotel (a flatulent, meandering and utterly incoherent mess trying to pass itself off as an 'art film'); it took this dude to jump in order to appreciate how wonderful life is.

Ant.

 

[A_Wanderer]

Yes it is true, I would rather die than be vivisected.

 

[A_Wanderer]

i think that being kept alive via life support while in a persistive vegetative state would be worse than death.

Nope same as death, being brain dead and having no conciousness is nothing to fear, you are dead.

I do not worry about death anymore than I do about the world before I was born, it is the same basic thing ~ a world without me in it. The only thing is what death and how I would meet it.

Things worse than death for me would be things like being cut to pieces while still alive, tortured for days on end, living in a forced labour camp, having chemical weapons tested on me, being buried alive, being stoned to death, being an unreedemable in a North Korean concentration camp etc. There are many situations from which death is a mercy.

 

[verte76]

I don't fear death. I think emotional abuse and such is worse.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

there is no such thing as a painless death, think of all those who love you, there is pain there

Of course that's true, I just meant painless for the person who's dying. Sorry about your friend.

 

[pax]

I think that watching someone you love die would be worse than death. My grandmother is 82, and my grandfather died almost six years ago (cancer)...she still gets choked up when she talks about the time he was sick. And she often talks about going to be with him when she dies.

This reminds me of a Ben Folds song, "The Luckiest":

next door was a man
who lived to his nineties
then one day
passed away
in his sleep

and his wife
she stayed
for a couple of days
then passed away

I don't mean to get all sentimental about this, as I know there are prisoners who are tortured for years on end and people who starve to death and die of Ebola or AIDS-related causes, and I'm sure that's much, much worse. But of all the things that seem a bit more realistic to happen to me or someone I know...I fear my other half, so to speak, dying first. Then again, I don't know if I'd want to go first, either.

 

[lmjhitman]

Emotional pain is much worse than physical pain,

i agree with this.

 

[sue4u2]

I think that watching someone you love die would be worse than death.

Believe me it is. Especially when it is a child. Then again I wouldn't have wanted anyone else to have gone through what I did or give up the time I had with him.

That lends itself to emotional pain, which is also extraordinarily difficult.
Physical pain can also make one want to cash it in.

There really isn't a gage if you will, on which is more difficult.
You just live with what you have too, untill you die.

And I can safely say I don't fear death but do fear as some have expressed here, the way(s) people have died.

 

[BonosSaint]

What do you think we fear about death? I doubt that most of us spend a lot of time worrying about heaven or hell. I think most who fear death think about the ultimate nullification of self.

 

[MadelynIris]

yes, losing a child is worse than death

 

[sallycinnamon78]

I don't know, I think one thing worse than death is abuse-physical, emotional, sexual. If there's no other way out I think death would be better.

Thoroughly agreed , obviously depending on circumstances.

yes, losing a child is worse than death

 

[Saracene]

Well, I'm very much afraid of physical pain so continuous torture and suffering with no hope of escape would definitely be worse than death for me. And also a situation where the price for continued life is much too horrible; I'm thinking about all those terrible things people were forced to do when captured or under occupation during the war.

 

[Angela Harlem]

What do you think we fear about death? I doubt that most of us spend a lot of time worrying about heaven or hell. I think most who fear death think about the ultimate nullification of self.

The absolute and total finality of it. Then in the grander scheme, for me, it is such a small life in a world which has existed for so long and will continue to live on for so much longer after me. My life put in this timeline is so insignificant. I wonder how my (approximate) 80 years will fit. What will it have been for? Are there answers? And if so, what exactly is the question? Leaving this life is the ultimate permanancy, there is no more of this life, I am not going to exist anymore as I know myself now. I will be over. Yet, life here will be continuing on. I dont necessarily mean what happens to us after either, but more what does this life ending, do? To us it is so final. That is my fear.

I'm not making sense. I think...to sum up, I dont know how I will not exist. I cannot fathom that. That scares me.

 

[BonosSaint]

Angela, you made perfect sense and I think that is the ultimate fear of people bothered by death.

 

[intedomine]

Death cannot be felt, so it kinda needs to be separated from attempts to categorise whether it is a better or worse than something.

Life is futile and pointless, but so is death in a sense.

At least you can feel pleasure when you are alive, but then again you can also feel pain.

I don't know, being dead, it's not really a bad thing, but it's certainly not a good thing.

Death...

...is nothing.


But everyone should pursue pleasure when they are alive, because, for no specific or known reason, pleasurable things are enjoyable, and we love to enjoy stuff, so why not try and enjoy stuff.

Some bloke named Bono sung that : "the only pain is to feel nothing at all."

It's worth thinking about that when thinking about death.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I'd have to agree, I think losing a child must be/feel worse than death. I've never experienced that, but it's just my feeling .

Other things that can feel worse than death but aren't necessarily

-betrayal
-self doubt
-getting your feelings hurt, sometimes that goes to the very core of your being and it can really drag you down (I guess it depends upon how sensitive you are)
-taking a risk and putting yourself out there and another person doesn't reciprocate those feelings
- trying to get someone else to open up to you

 

[sue4u2]

But everyone should pursue pleasure when they are alive, because, for no specific or known reason, pleasurable things are enjoyable, and we love to enjoy stuff, so why not try and enjoy stuff.

Some bloke named Bono sung that : "the only pain is to feel nothing at all."

It's worth thinking about that when thinking about death.

intedomine, Well said!!

 

[intedomine]

intedomine, Well said!!

Why thank you....

 

[wizard2c]

reply

I do not fear death, as wizards know there are many lands beyond this one and many journeys to be travelled. Some call it "faith".

Evilness is worse than death. There are two forces upon this world....that of goodness and that of evilness....and it is a constant battle between the two.
Wars, poverty, greed, hunger, disease, fear.......these are worse than death in my opinion.