Death

Would you want to know when your going to die?

Say you went to the doctors and they were going to tell you how much longer you had to live.

My aunt new she had three months to live and she sorted all family problems out before she died

I personally would not want to know.

What are your thoughts?

Since I live alone, I think I would like to know (in advance). It may sound silly, but I worry about my cat and who'd take care of him if I can't get home. I'd like to make plans in advance.

I don't want to know. I'd spend each second scared that it could be my last. How can you really enjoy your life if you know it's going to be short lived? I want to go quick and painless.

If you knew in advance, you wouldn't have to worry about "when".

Seee thats what i mean,Everyone is different

I am a big wimp so i wouldnt want to know at all as i think i'd go to pieces

I beleieve that if you know you are going to die and have a certain amount of time left then you must be suffering and in pain for the time you have left

I would rather just pass peacefully in my sleep!

My old boss who hired me for my job passed away on Sunday!
He was 69 and had cancer!

He was a nice man
Going to his funeral on Saturday!

As you get older you become more at ease with facing your own mortality. I'm at the point in my life when I really should be planning to take care of some things. Hell, I hope I still have 30 good years left, but there are things I still want to do before I die. If I knew in advance of my death time, I'd be sure to take advantage of that time.

Good point SC.

I reckon you might have a good 40 years left in ya yet

Thanks. I like your math better than mine.

I'm thinking the doctors will give you a time frame, like you have 4 months to live. That doesn't mean 4 months to that day you'll die. You could drop dead 4 minutes from then. Knowing I won't see another birthday or Christmas...it's just not information I want.

One good thing about knowing in advance I think would be telling off people you can't stand. Or better yet walk up to them and slap them. WTF! What are they gonna do..kill you?

I'd be more afraid of leaving something undone. I wanna go with a clear conscience (having said "goodbye" to all my loved ones) and having someone close to me when I go.

I'd say, "Tag, you're 'it'" and then die.

I agree with Beth,i just couldnt handle knowing

If I have to clear my conscience before I go than I hope I have about 10 years. That could take a long time.

I can see what you mean about saying goodbye to loved ones. But I think the people I love already know that, so not much more can be "said".

Remind me not to play tag with you.

I think I would like to have a three month warning of when I was going to die.

I would relax and wind down and be extra nice to people.

In a morbid way I always thought it would be fitting to make a 90 minute video of me mourning myself, to be played on a tv beside my casket facing those attending the wake. I could look into the casket and then face the viewers and tell them how good I look and that the funeral parlor did a good job. I could plan it ahead with a family member or two so that my tv image could carry on conversations with him or her. But I digress.

I think you're wrong. Just saying the words is extremely comforting. I am thrilled beyond belief that I got to say that to Paul before he passed, and that he replied in kind.

Years ago, my dad was very sick and was facing heart bypass surgery. Having gone through this with Annie (and not saying "goodbye") I was determined to speak my peace to my dad before the surgery (which was "iffy" at that point). I flew down to North Carolina (where he was at that time) and asked my mom and sister to leave us alone for five minutes. I poured my heart out to my father, telling him what a great man and father he was, and he watched me intently form his hospital bed. He didn't say anything as I spoke but we both had tears in our eyes. I finished what I meant to say and kissed him and walked out.

He had the surgery (successfully) and a few days later I asked him about what I had said to him the week prior. He didn't remember any of it (he was so doped up with medications that he simply forgot it). I didn't know if I should laugh or cry about that.

Either way, when it happens it happens. Not much I can do about it.

There may be a weird comfort in knowing though.

The doctors say otherwise, but what do they know?


For me, I would definitely want to know when I am going to die.
While I would love to make it into my nineties, or even to 100, I would not wish to spend those years suffering from dementia, or so incapacitated as to be unable to get some joy out of life.

That said, if I knew I had a week, a month, a year, five years, ten years, etc., I could plan accordingly.
For sure if I had little time I wouldn't be sitting here dealing with hese pain in the ass clients!

Absolutely. I don't have to tell you, but once you go through it and its REALLY close to you, your whole outlook changes.

That brings up a good question - what would you do if you knew you only had a short time left?

There are many people who I would tell I loved them, I would want to spend time with a few close friends, then I would go with my family to Europe to have one great meal in Paris, one great meal in Florence, and a final great meal in Rome. Then I would fly home and wait for the grim reaper.

Tell all my family friends i loved them and then throw a huge going away party


Id take a loan out to pay for the party as im never going to pay it back and pay for food,alcohol everything to celebrate my life


It would be a shame if only two people turned up

Death is another part of life.So i would want to know.

You think? i hope so,but i have a feeling we are just worm food

Physically worm food.

But i believe in the soul.

Im not so sure,id really would like to belive in something else



I just dont

Im ganna live forever.

Ive heard people say they would get bored living forever


Id love it

i bet you would in the pub everyday.

Oh yes

I would definitely eat, drink and smoke whatever I wanted. What could they say? "That stuff is going to kill you?"

Funny you should mention that. I was reading a true crime book last night, and the murderer was being executed. Although nobody really wants to die, he was afforded the luxury of knowing the precise time of his death. There would be something oddly comforting in that, in being able to make your peace, to say goodbye. Although he couldn't travel or have parties, he was still able to face his mortality head-on.

When my father was dying, his parish priest came to visit and talk to him. My dad said, "Father, I die a very rich man." This sort of piqued the priest's interest (possible donation to the church??) and he asked what my father meant. And Pop told him that he had lived a good life with a woman he adored, with three children who had happy marriages, and lots of good, true friends. He said that there was nothing else on earth that he would have wanted. I think that's a wonderful way to look at your life.

The day we are born is the day we start to die. If God forbid I ever get terminal illness I do not want to know how much time I have left. Just knowing I have a terminal illness will get me to do the things I have to do and all.

Our time on earth is short so don't let a day go by and not tell your friends and family how you feel about them.

Fuck, what a morbid thread. Just reading it makes me depressed.

I was in a bit of a mood when i made it


but it's good to see peoples different points of view,as normal

It turned out to be an interesting thread.

Im glad it did,it was interesting how different some peoples thoughts were on death

It's part of life. As for living forever, my mother, who is 81, said that she would NOT want to live much longer. She's seen her parents, sister, brothers-in-law and husband (not to mention numerous friends), all die before her. She said that she feels like there's nobody from her past still left.

I think that's one of the main reasons why I don't want to live that long. Grant it, you'll have your kids, and possibly grandkids. But to be the only one around who remembers things from your era, it could get quite lonely.

I hardly dream of what death's like, but I have quirky dreams, (or nightmares) about my funeral. Who'll show up, what'll be said, etc. I'd like to be a fly on the wall and haunt whoever says anything bad about me.

"She was always a colorful crustacean!"

I want to haunt the people who I hate and make their lives miserable.

I said earlier, if I knew I was gonna die I'd confront people I hate, or punch them in the face.

Then I'd be a ghost in their house and make chairs move and pictures fall of the wall to make them miserable forever.

I dont think i hate anybody,people really really piss me off but i dont hate them.


However i would like to come back to haunt people just to get on there nerves,in a nice way of course

it would be cool if you could be like him off ghost


GET OFF MY TRAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Death is inevitable. The sooner you accept that, the better off you are. That's why I think people should just do what makes them happy, and ignore the consequences every once in a while. I don't mean you should go off and do something totally crazy that means imminent death, but if you get your kicks by smoking cigarettes and drinking a few glasses of wine, then by all means, smoke your cigarettes and drink your wine. That's your prerogative.

I could die tomorrow, and I'm pretty sure I'd be fine with it. Granted I wouldn't want to die an excessively painful death, we just can't control it. Humans are really just here to keep society moving (which is sort of a useless cause to begin with, but I won't get into it now), and it intrigues me the psychological conditioning that very society has had on us. Now people have become obsessed with emotions and happiness, which is great in some ways, but blinds us in other ways. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for humanization, I'm proud to be an intellectual life form. If that were taken away from me now, I'd probably just want to die, but if I had never had it to begin with, I'd probably be unable to tell the difference.

In short, we're all going to die sooner or later. Why should we fear it? If you're of an alternative viewpoint to religion, then after life comes nothingness, and what's so bad about that? It'd be impossible to comprehend, because it's total nothingness... You wouldn't feel any good, but at the same time, you wouldn't feel any bad. And if you do believe in God, then great, even better, you have Heaven, or whatever your religion believes comes next, and that sounds pretty damn good.

We're all going to die sooner or later, so why should it matter when that time comes? Do what makes you happy now.

Its not always that simple. I understand your rationale but sometimes there are circumstances that prevent that. Parents, for example, have responsibilities to their kids that may preclude them from thinking about their own happiness first.

I know... But I am a cynic, as you're aware. In my current position as a 17 year old average high school student, I'm in the role of having few attachments to life.

But all the more, I don't think death is something to fear. I can't get my head around fearing death. Everyone dies, and there's no way to change that. It's like fearing your own asshole.

I used to fear my asshole. Its all behind me now.

You bring up a good point.... why fear something thats going to happen anyway? In fact, its the ONLY thing we can be certain of in life.

Death and taxes, that's it. That's all that's certain.

Unless, of course, you're Leona Helmsley or other rich folk who think taxes are only for the little people.

The Queen of Mean notwithstanding, taxes are NOT certain... not everyone in this world pays them. EVERYBODY does die, though.

Not Elvis Presley.

I think, on a forum about big-time criminals, we can agree that not all pay taxes, but most definitely die.

Not as long as you have him hanging on the 5 foot black velvet canvas in your living room.

I want to know so that I have enough time to take revenge on all the people on my list.

The people participating in "the dead pool" can go around and kill all the people on their list that they can. At least they'll die a winner.

what do you think happens to you after you die?

If you was cremanted them your stuck in a jar until somebody scatters your ashes or if your really lucky you get to rot in a box..

I hope not

There's actually a really interesting theory on death that I want to say was founded at the University of New Mexico(I'd have to check my sources) that has to do with dimethyltryptamine (or, DMT). Basically, DMT is a naturally occurring tryptamine and neurotransmitter. Just about every living thing produces it, and at the same time, it is the most powerful hallucinogenic substance known to man. It's more illegal than heroin, yet we can extract it from grass, tree-frogs, and even the human brain. DMT is only released during two processes... sleep, and death. When you dream, you're actually experiencing a similar experience to the psychedelic/hallucinogenic effects of DMT.

So, the theory hypothesizes that when you die, your brain releases every last drop of DMT. Now, it takes a very, very miniscule ammount to create dreams or to achieve a psychedelic experience in recreational use. We're talking micrograms. Imagine a dose millions of times larger. It's commonly theorized that you have approximately 12 seconds of brain activity after death, and it is also a well known fact among the drug culture that any psychedelic substance is going to alter your perception of time.

Here's where it gets interesting: basically, what this hypothesis states is that those 12 seconds of brain activity, due to the unbelievable strength of the large amounts of DMT being released, seem like an eternity. So, in summary, imagine a psychedelic trip that lasts an eternity, and you've got it. And if that's so, why fear death at all? Why fear it if, in retrospect, it is a euphoric experience. I'm not saying this is what happens when you die... I don't think anyone can rightfully say they know what comes after life, but this is certainly an interesting theory.

Some scientists use this possibility to explain the "near death experience"... You know... Seeing the light and all that.

But my question is, what if you die in your sleep? Are you stuck in that dream for that 12 second eternity? What if you die in the middle of a nightmare? Is that hell?

Again, I'm not saying this is what happens when you die, and I have a feeling I'll get some skeptical responses from some of the more religious posters here if I don't say so, but it certainly is interesting.

I actually wrote a short story based around the theory.

Why do you think people will be skeptical?? None of us truly know what happens, so any interesting theory is worth exploring. I have heard this before, and I don't know what I think.

Because I want to believe that there is more to this life, when we do die, not only is there an existence, but that we are often welcomed to it by loved ones that have passed before us. There are reports of people being turned back from death by a loved one. Is that a hallucination, or is it what truly happens? I guess none of us really know, do we??

People can get pretty uptight when it comes to questions and themes related to religion. Why not? They're investing their lives into it.

But you're definitely right; no one does know what comes next, and it's foolish in saying you do. In my opinion, atheism is just as naive as religious-extremism. No one knows, and anyone who says they do is full of shit.

That's an awesome theory LLC.

DMT is some crazy shit....

Wow thats a very interesting theory LLC

I enjoyed reading that

What if the time and date of your death was fifty years from now? Would you be able to end your life sooner than that? If I found out I had fifty years to live so I decided go skydiving, without a parachute, would I be guaranteed to live because I know I still have fifty years?

Life could be quite exciting knowing that no matter what you did you would live through it, unless of course it was possible to change that date by dying sooner than you were supposed to.

Well, we can console ourselves in the notion that the afterlife, at its worst, is no different than the beforelife.

Unless you foolishly believe in Hell.

The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make heaven of Hell, and a hell of Heaven
-John Milton

Yes, but don't do it. You'll end up spending the next 50 years a quadriplegic without brain function.

I don't know, Capo. What about people like Hitler or Idi Amin?? What about Charles Manson or Ted Bundy? Do you truly believe that they won't have to pay for what they did for all eternity?

I'm an agnostic, and I believe anyone who says they know what's truly out there is incredibly arrogant, be they a religious fanatic or an atheist. At this moment, I assume that the human race, like any species, exists primarily to procreate and prolong its existence, and that nothingness follows life. When it can be proven otherwise to me, I'll accept it.

I don't feel the need to scare myself into being a good person with notions of Heaven or Hell; I think the entire spectrum of human emotion is enough reason to treat others as equals. The idea of wrecking someones ego or spirits or whatever is terrifying enough in itself.

And, if I assume nothingness follows life, we may as well enjoy the time we have alive, so why would I spoil that for another human being?

One question though; if Hitler believed that what he was doing was for the betterment of mankind, the world... If he truly believed he was doing a good thing, does this make him worthy of an eternity in Hell in the eye's of God?

Definitely. There are two tragedies with Hitler.

1) Not that one person had the assertiveness to do evil, but that millions of others hadn't the courage to do good.

2) He won't be punished for it.

'1' comes from The Magus; '2' from common sense. His suicide was cowardly and frustrating. If '2' were false, and we could guarantee he's now spending his 'days' in eternal condemnation, then we might not look on the Holocaust as black a mark as it is (because the flip side, of course, is that all the victims are now jumping joyous and free, which is just as ridiculous a notion).

It's not my call. While I do not believe that human minds are capable of knowing the nature of the Divine, I believe that Hitler would be worthy of immortal salvation if he were truly sorry and remorseful for the atrocities he inflicted on millions, even if that realization came a sacond before his death.

Of course, even if he were remorseful, he obviously would not and should not escape the harshest punishment from humankind.

Well, why not? For me, the only redeeming factor of the entire religion is the notion of forgiveness. If that's done away with, then what's the point? How do we differentiate between a good, loving mind and someone who is naturally bad, but simply scared into a functioning member of mainstream society?

Why do I believe that there is some afterlife?? Because I have felt the presence of my father many times since his death. He came to see me when my daughter was born, I have spoken to him when I was in despair help, and I felt his calming presence in reply. I believe that even though his body has passed, his spirit is still here, watching and loving us.

That's about as personal a belief as you can get.

And I don't know if I believe in Heaven and Hell as the Church teaches it, but I do believe that evil, true evil, is segregated from others. I don't believe that if you lie to your mother about what time you got home that you will be punished for it. But I do believe that a Hitler or Idi Amin or John Wayne Gacy is going to have a different afterlife.

Maybe I believe that to comfort myself, but I believe it nevertheless.

SB, you bring up another great question; is there such a thing as a soul?

I don't even know how to begin to answer that. I'd like to think so, but who knows. I'm not entirely sure of how to define a soul, though.

The question I've been asking myself for a while is, if new energy is neither created nor destroyed, where does our energy go after we die? If I'm feeling truly argumentative, I'll go on a tangent about the carbon cycle, and I'm sure some of our energy is distributed down the food chain that way, but I'm not sure if that's the case with the whole of it.

It's an interesting prospect. While I don't believe in any of the answers mainstream religion has brought us, if I had to choose to buy into one, reincarnation is probably the most pleasant.

On the other hand, I don't want to live an excessively long life. I think an afterlife could be sort of depressing if I were to reach the point in which I just want to die (and I don't think it's that far fetched that I should reach that point).

I wish I knew. I guess the closest I can come to defining a soul is that it is your essence, your spirit, your thoughts and feelings and motivations, if you will. The things that make you YOU, for want of a better way to explain it.

If running programs, files on the hard disk etc can all disappear when the computer fails, I am having no trouble in thinking that all my thoughts, feelings and knowledge CAN* disappear when my body decays. I don't see a compulsive need to believe in after life, though it may very well exist.

*not necessarily saying it does.