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How fear affects us
How fear affects us
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‘Death, the most frightening of bad things, is nothing to us; since when we exist death is not yet present, and when death is present, then we do not exist’ (Epicurus)
Death is a common topic of speculation and frequently anxiety. Death is terrifying to people for many reasons: they do not know what to anticipate from death, they fear the penalty of gods, they dread not achieving certain goals or things in life, etc. Epicurus argues that when we die we no longer exist. When it comes to death many different factors come to play, whether the person himself believes in life after death, if the person believes in a certain religion or whether a person is a nonbeliever. All these leads to different perceptions of death, many beliefs stem from what they are told as kids or what they learn later on in life, therefore depending on what certain people believe there are many people who fear death and there are those who do not. A global 2012 poll reports that 59 per cent of the worlds population is religious meaning that a large majority of the world have a view of what happens after death.
What is Fear? Fear is a reaction in the brain triggered by a stressful stimulus and often triggers physical reactions. This the biological definition of fear, fear however strikes deep within ones psyche; it alters ones life and takes it of controlling all aspects of it. In this case, the fear of death completely takes over ones life and determines what he or she does in their life. For example, many people who fear death are often scared too do adventurous activities or do anything where they can get hurt, they avoid many areas and avoid people because they fear for there lives. This situation is not healthy and many people have dull, boring and unpr...
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...mbrace it and use it to improve my life style.
In a world of change, death is the only constant; the prospect of death inspires fear in the majority of humanity. It is therefore a choice that one must take in order to adhere to the pressure of fear and truly be terrified of death as well having a miserable life. Or one could choose to live to the fullest and not care about death. The notion of death is merely an end point on the timeline of life and it is time that is so critical, that we must take advantage of the little time we have on this earth to motivate and make not only one’s self happy but help everyone around him. Whether a person is truly religious or is not religious at all we will all die eventually no one is immortal and therefore everyone should be happy and live life to its maximum
In your heart you will never be truly free until you stop fearing d
When people ponder death they wonder about the unknown with trepidation. As a young man, William Cullen Bryant wrote the "Thanatopsis." His thoughts progress from the fear of death to the acceptance of the event. People should not fear death because everyone dies and becomes a part of nature.
Thus, Epicurus regards death as the end of our existence because we cannot feel anything after the death. But, it is not a bad thing as we cannot judge whether the end of our existence is good or bad because of the privation of sense experience. And, it is not rational to fear a not-bad thing. Hence, our fear of death is irrational.
Fear of the unknown, and fear of what is to come in our lives, has generations of people wondering what will our lives be like tomorrow or the next day. Death is always there and we cannot escape it. Death is a scary thing. Our own mortality or the mortality of our loved ones scares us to the point that we sometimes cannot control how we are dealing with such a thing as the thought of death. Why do we fear such a thing as death? We don’t know what happens after we don’t how it feels. The fear of death is different for most but it is most certain to come and we cannot hide from it. For death is just around the corner and maybe it’s will come tomorrow or the next day! We fear not death, but the unknown that comes from death, that is the
To understand Epicurus's philosophy on the fear of death, we fist have to understand Epicurus's perception of the universe, and why he believes the soul is mortal. Epicurus believes that the totality of the universe consists only of "bodies and void" (Letter to Herodotus 39). He says that using out senses, we can observe that there are bodies, and using reasoning we must therefore conclude that there must be something (a "void") for the bodies to exist in (Letter to Herodotus 39-40). He claims there can be nothing conceivable outside the totality, since there can be no sense-evidence of anything outside the totality (Letter to Herodotus 40). By this logic, all observable things must be bodies or combinations of bodies, of which the smallest bodies (atoms) are unsplittable (Letter to Herodotus 40).
Many people seem to fear death, but philosophers such as Socrates and Epicurus would argue that one has no reason to fear it. Socrates sees death as a blessing to be wished for if death is either nothingness or a relocation of the soul, whereas Epicurus argues that one shouldn't worry themselves about death since, once we are gone, death is annihilation which is neither good nor bad. Epicurus believes that death itself is a total lack of perception, wherein there is no pleasure or pain. I agree with Epicurus because Socrates doesn't give a sound argument for death as a blessing, whereas Epicurus' argument is cogent. I would also argue personally that death is not something to be feared because, like Epicurus, I see no sufficient evidence showing we even exist after death.
nsciousness after death, or maybe a combination of both, which creates this fear. The fear felt is undoubtedly universal. However, the ways in which it is dealt with are varied and diverse. The concept of human mortality and how it is dealt with is dependent upon one’s society or culture. It is the society, which has the greatest impact on an individual’s beliefs.
The question of whether death is bad for the individual passing away, was first introduced by the Greek philosopher, Epicurus. He concluded that death should not be feared as ‘where death is, I am not; where I am, death is not’. Epicurus believed that the study of philosophy can aid us in living happier and more pleasant life. Epicurus was a hedonist, who determined that the
Due to specific religions, anxiety of death can either increase or lessen depends on the understanding and specificity of religion. For instance, in Buddhism death is not the end of life, it is the end of the physical presence, but the spirit will still remain and seek out through the need of attachment to a new body and new life (Herman, 1990 ). Death anxiety in the Buddhism is different because they don 't see death as the end but as a new
Death is part of the circle of life and it's the end of your time on earth; the end of your time with your family and loved ones. Nobody wants to die, leaving their family and missing the good times your loved ones will have once you pass on. In the Mercury Reader, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross “On the Fear of Death” and Joan Didion “Afterlife” from The Year of Magical Thinking” both share common theses on death and grieving. Didion and Kübler-Ross both explain grieving and dealing with death. Steve Jobs commencement speech for Stanford’s graduation ceremony and through personal experience jumps further into death and how I feel about it. Your time is on earth is limited one day you will die and there are many ways of grieving at the death of a loved one. I believe that the fear of death and the death of a loved one will hold you back from living your own life and the fear of your own death is selfish.
The average youth of today isn’t afraid of death because it seems to happen to other people. Death is distant. Every day, we read about people being killed in this or drowned in that but it never happens to someone we know. If someone we know does die, we are shocked and forced to reconsider our lives because, for an instant, we realize that we could die as well.
Death is the one great certainty in life. Some of us will die in ways out of our control, and most of us will be unaware of the moment of death itself. Still, death and dying well can be approached in a healthy way. Understanding that people differ in how they think about death and dying, and respecting those differences, can promote a peaceful death and a healthy manner of dying.
It is strange that humanity fears death, when the act of living is far more painful. Survival is a talent. It is a victory only accomplished by the fittest. As the world’s renowned English geologist Charles Darwin stated, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change” (Purington). This idea of adaptability towards change has been challenge for humans ever since the beginning of the time. Change is inevitable. Nothing stays still. Life is in constant motion from the molecular to the planetary level and humans are changing right along with it. An example of someone who failed to understand that was Holden Caulfield. In The Catcher
What is going to happen to us when we will die? Some people never considered what it could happen to them after life. For many people, death is a redoubtable event because they do not know what to expect after their death. However, other persons, such as religious people are conscious of what to expect after their death because of their beliefs. Each religion has different ideas and different ways of looking life. Death, therefore, is viewed by different religions in many ways. Although, different religions have a distinct conception of death, they all have something in common: they all give hope to people. Among all different religions in the world, four of the most common ones - Catholic, Jewish, Islamic, and Hindu- view death in different ways.
Death will always be universal and is continuously seen or heard of everyday. The fear and death its self affects everyone, but it’s important to feel accustomed and comfortable about it. Sure it will be sorrow or and painful when the day comes for you or a loved one, but that’s the world. We must feel comfortable and learn to accept this topic. Finding motivation or something to distract you from this is a good way to motivate your life and build up a positive lifestyle. Death will always induce fear, but it’s just another chapter in life. Even though death has been studied for many years, it will forever be one of the most debated topics, including the fear of
Death is something that causes fear in many peoples lives. People will typically try to avoid the conversation of death at all cost. The word itself tends to freak people out. The thought of death is far beyond any living person’s grasp. When people that are living think about the concept of death, their minds go to many different places. Death is a thing that causes pain in peoples lives, but can also be a blessing.