Death is a rough thing to contemplate. I always zone out for a minute when I hear about someone dying, especially if it was untimely, avoidable, or otherwise tragic.
The history of human thought is full of ways to try to rationalize it or cope with it or even pretend it isn’t final. They all seem to carry hints of at least one stage of grief. Contemplating death is like grieving your own mortality in advance, because you know you won’t be able to do so after.
To me the most helpful thing (not helpful particularly, but more helpful than the rest) is to let it move you to appreciate life that much more while you still can. Maybe even that’s tinged with “Acceptance,” but ultimately that’s the best possible outcome of grief. There’s no better option.
This might not be helpful, but then again nothing is. It’s all I can say on the topic though.
After many years I finally believe reincarnation is the most likely scenario after death, and it has pretty much eliminated my fear of death. Now I just don’t want it to be horribly unpleasant. In the words of Woody Allen (I know, an unmentionable name, oh well), “I’m not afraid of dying, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”
Death is a rough thing to contemplate. I always zone out for a minute when I hear about someone dying, especially if it was untimely, avoidable, or otherwise tragic.
The history of human thought is full of ways to try to rationalize it or cope with it or even pretend it isn’t final. They all seem to carry hints of at least one stage of grief. Contemplating death is like grieving your own mortality in advance, because you know you won’t be able to do so after.
To me the most helpful thing (not helpful particularly, but more helpful than the rest) is to let it move you to appreciate life that much more while you still can. Maybe even that’s tinged with “Acceptance,” but ultimately that’s the best possible outcome of grief. There’s no better option.
This might not be helpful, but then again nothing is. It’s all I can say on the topic though.
After many years I finally believe reincarnation is the most likely scenario after death, and it has pretty much eliminated my fear of death. Now I just don’t want it to be horribly unpleasant. In the words of Woody Allen (I know, an unmentionable name, oh well), “I’m not afraid of dying, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”