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Swami
Eggshell Walker
Registered: 01/18/00
Posts: 15,413
Loc: In the hen house
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Swami's (No) Fear of Death Challenge
#1763554 - 07/30/03 05:07 PM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
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from atomic: ...but even in the situation you described, a fear of death is still silly.
Uh-huh. Our most basic instinct responsible for our survival is silly. Care to elaborate or would you rather take the SFODC? I would wager heavily that I (or my secret henchmen ala "Scare Tactics") could make you wail and cry to God or your mommy for one just one more precious breath of life. The video would be shown on the shroomery for our enlightenment along with you handing a me a hefty check...
-------------------- The proof is in the pudding.
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Anonymous
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Re: Swami's (No) Fear of Death Challenge [Re: Swami]
#1763587 - 07/30/03 05:15 PM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
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True, but not absolutely. Otherwise there would be no suicides.
And as odd as it may seem there are those who are ready for death.
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Twirling
Barred Spiral
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Re: Swami's (No) Fear of Death Challenge [Re: ]
#1763791 - 07/30/03 06:36 PM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
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I think suicide is a good example of people who might not be afraid of death. Some people who are deeply suicidle don't fear death because they don't care. Some people honestly don't care because they feel "nothing could be worse".
I don't fear death as I'm typing this right now, but I know that I instinctivly have a fear of death, and that it can surface if I was put in the right (wrong?) situation. I feel comfortable with the idea of dying someday, and that's good enough for me.
-------------------- The very nature of experience is ineffable; it transcends cognitive thought and intellectualized analysis. To be without experience is to be without an emotional knowledge of what the experience translates into. The desire for the understanding of what life is made of is the motivation that drives us all. Without it, in fear of the experiences what life can hold is among the greatest contradictions; to live in fear of death while not being alive.
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Grav
Registered: 02/06/02
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Re: Swami's (No) Fear of Death Challenge [Re: Twirling]
#1763824 - 07/30/03 06:45 PM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
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Yea, Death is just a thought to us right now.
Think about being in the middle of a field with a Lion chasing you. All you can do is think about it and imagine how scary it might be, but if you were actually THERE...
so in conclusion, I think it's kind of silly to say you don't fear death when you are not being immediately faced with the experience. but that is also just one way of looking at it.
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fireworks_god
Sexy.Butt.McDanger
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Re: Swami's (No) Fear of Death Challenge [Re: Grav]
#1763910 - 07/30/03 07:23 PM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
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Swami, I believe I might take your challenge. See, I truly believe if I was faced with a threat of certain death, and there was nothing I could do about it (for instance, if the plane I'm riding on tomorrow decides to drop into the Atlantic Ocean), I think I could accept the unacceptible... Would I be completely scared? Yeah. But, I have always wanted to see if I would eat the fucking strawberry right before I died (read an example I posted on here somewhere today). I think that I would keep my cool, you can never know for sure until you're there, of course, but I'll fucking try. So, provided the plane does go down, and I don't panic, scream and such, what do I win? Peace.
-------------------- If I should die this very moment I wouldn't fear For I've never known completeness Like being here Wrapped in the warmth of you Loving every breath of you
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Effed
Registered: 05/15/02
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Loc: Daylight Slavings
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Re: Swami's (No) Fear of Death Challenge [Re: Swami]
#1763937 - 07/30/03 07:34 PM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
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Even a suicidal person would be in fear with a lion chasing them.
Fear of death is instinctual. I believe people numb to the fear of death are influenced by thier culture.
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silversoul7
Chill the FuckOut!
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Loc: mndfreeze's puppet army
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Re: Swami's (No) Fear of Death Challenge [Re: Swami]
#1763954 - 07/30/03 07:40 PM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
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There are two types of fear of death: Functional and Neurotic.
We need a functional fear of death in order to survive. Otherwise, why bother getting out of the way of a moving vehicle or staying away from the edge of a tall cliff? I do, however, believe that neurotic fear of death is just silly.
-------------------- "It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."--Voltaire
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atomikfunksoldier
T'was born oftrue in the yearof the cock!
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Re: Swami's (No) Fear of Death Challenge [Re: silversoul7]
#1763994 - 07/30/03 08:02 PM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
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I'll take any silly test you have swami. I stand by my stance that fear of the natural and inevitable is silly. Remember, there is a big difference between fearing death and wanting to prolong ones life.
-------------------- enjoy the entertaining indentity i have constructed for you while you can.
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Earth_Droid
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There is probably proof of people not being afraid of death. I am sure by now some advanced yogi in satori enlightenment has gotten EEG hooked up to them while dying. And there would be no brain activity shown.
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Sclorch
Clyster
Registered: 07/12/99
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Re: Swami's (No) Fear of Death Challenge [Re: silversoul7]
#1764373 - 07/30/03 09:57 PM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
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siliversoul7: There are two types of fear of death: Functional and Neurotic.
Exactly.
-------------------- Note: In desperate need of a cure...
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Faaip_De_Oiad
as above, so below
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Re: Swami's (No) Fear of Death Challenge [Re: Sclorch]
#1764396 - 07/30/03 10:06 PM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
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fireworks_god...
but think of an example where there's ALOT of pain involved, like being torn apart by that lion
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fireworks_god
Sexy.Butt.McDanger
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Re: Swami's (No) Fear of Death Challenge [Re: Faaip_De_Oiad]
#1764413 - 07/30/03 10:15 PM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
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Yeah, it would definitely suck, and I wouldn't enjoy it.. hopefully, shock would set in, and I wouldn't experience the actual pain... And, if I build up my mental discipline before it happens, I'd totally block out the experience, or rather, maybe fully enjoy it..
Would I be afraid of death itself, or the method of death? See, that is the difference between the lion and the airplane, I think. Either way, if there was absoultely nothing I could do to even try to survive, I would at least try and not let the remaining time be full of panic, fear, etc. That isn't how I would want to remember this life.
But, like I said, I've never been faced with that situation before, so I have no comparable situation to be able to determine how I would act... until you are actually there, you never know.
Of course, what I could do, is I could never go to Africa or the zoo, and never ride an airplane, or never go swimming, or never ride in a fast car, and never put myself in a situation where there is a chance I could die... it's a lot SAFER that way. hehe (Would I be able to pull some sarcasm while faced with death? hehe) Peace.
-------------------- If I should die this very moment I wouldn't fear For I've never known completeness Like being here Wrapped in the warmth of you Loving every breath of you
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Earth_Droid
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Re: Swami's (No) Fear of Death Challenge [Re: fireworks_god]
#1764439 - 07/30/03 10:28 PM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
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Our basic instints of survival are necessary for our survival!!!! So they are not silly. Things like the fright and fight response keep us alive. This part of our brain does not care about our personal feelings, it reacts to ensure are health and safety.
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fireworks_god
Sexy.Butt.McDanger
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Re: Swami's (No) Fear of Death Challenge [Re: Earth_Droid]
#1764450 - 07/30/03 10:34 PM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
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Yeah, but flight or fight have done more harm to us, now, than good.. I mean, we are not faced with death very often, and yet fight or flight was basically designed to keep us away from death. So, why do most people use it in their day to day affairs? A lot of people take every situation in their lives through this jungle programming, and it clouds their vision. Take a step to higher consciousness! It is more effective in leading your life.. Peace.
-------------------- If I should die this very moment I wouldn't fear For I've never known completeness Like being here Wrapped in the warmth of you Loving every breath of you
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DoctorJ
Registered: 06/30/03
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Re: Swami's (No) Fear of Death Challenge [Re: fireworks_god]
#1764553 - 07/30/03 11:16 PM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
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SWAMI:
I have already taken your challenge. I can think of several times when I faced death, once in particular when my house was robbed (I used to do a lot of business). A big angry black dude had a gun to my head and was using it to pistolwhip my skull. He wanted my stash, but we had just sold out and given all our money to a contact who was out reupping for us.
Dude was so pissed that he caught us at the wrong time, he told me I was going to get a bullet in the head and I believed him. But all of the sudden, an incredible calm came over me. It was as if a deep, calm voice inside me said, "If this is the way its gonna be, so be it." I didn't cry, I didn't piss my pants, and I had absolutely no fear in that moment.
I blinked my eyes and the robbers were gone. They got us for about a hundred bucks and some shitty pot that wasn't even ours. And that dickhead also crushed my glass bong.
I'm not going to go in to any of my other near death experiences, but let me tell you that I have no fear of death, theoretical or actual.
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Faaip_De_Oiad
as above, so below
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Re: Swami's (No) Fear of Death Challenge [Re: DoctorJ]
#1764626 - 07/30/03 11:47 PM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
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O_O........... crazy.
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DoctorJ
Registered: 06/30/03
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Re: Swami's (No) Fear of Death Challenge [Re: Faaip_De_Oiad]
#1764655 - 07/30/03 11:58 PM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
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SWAMI:
one more thing. I might suggest to you that creating a thread about a "NO FEAR OF DEATH CHALLENGE" isn't the wisest and most sensitive thing to do in a forum that is likely to be read by people who may or may not be under the influence of powerful psychedelic drugs.
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silversoul7
Chill the FuckOut!
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Posts: 27,301
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Re: Swami's (No) Fear of Death Challenge [Re: DoctorJ]
#1764715 - 07/31/03 12:22 AM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
DoctorJ said: SWAMI:
one more thing. I might suggest to you that creating a thread about a "NO FEAR OF DEATH CHALLENGE" isn't the wisest and most sensitive thing to do in a forum that is likely to be read by people who may or may not be under the influence of powerful psychedelic drugs.
I think about death all the time when I'm tripping. It doesn't freak me out. Hell, I've even "experienced" death of 5 grams.
-------------------- "It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."--Voltaire
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AislingGheal
A wave on the ocean
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Re: Swami's (No) Fear of Death Challenge [Re: Swami]
#1764719 - 07/31/03 12:23 AM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
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I side with the Stoic view of the fear of death, and judging by some of the above posts so do others. Survival is a biological imperative but death is an inevitability, fear in the face of death would naturally arise but it can be controlled. Depending on the individual there is no guarantee that the person would do absolutely anything to live longer, even under torture.
Stoic Attitudes Toward Death
In this way, the Stoic attitude to death is not that different from the agnostic ?I was not, I was, I am not, I care not.? Like the Epicurean and the Sceptic the Stoic sees no punishment or harm in or after death (Ep 36.10). The difference is that the Stoic lives as a part of a divine Nature. Death is both inevitable and natural.
These decrees are unalterable and fixed; they are governed by a mighty and everlasting compulsion. Your goal will be the goal of all things. (Ep. 77.12)
As death is natural and Nature is good, death is not to be feared.
"We should apprehend, too, the nature of death; and that if only it be steadily contemplated, and the fancies we associate with it be mentally dissected, it will soon come to be thought of as no more than a process of nature (and only children are scared by a natural process) - or rather, something more than a mere process, a positive contribution to nature?s well-being." (Med 2.12)
It follows that there is no such thing as a premature death: it is natural at whatever age it comes.[5]
Death is also an ?indifferent? in the technical Stoic sense of the word. Only that which pertains to virtue can be described as good, only that which pertains to vice is evil. All those things which are not morally significant - including death - are thus indifferent or ?intermediate?. Thus Epictetus follows Diogenes the Cynic in saying, ?Death is not an evil, since it is not dishonourable? (Dis 1.24.6). It is better to die than to live badly.[6]
"What is the difference between Plato and the tyrant Dionysius if even Plato is not a sage?" Zeno is asked. "There is a great difference indeed between the two. For Dionysius it would be best to die, for he cannot possibly hope even to acquire wisdom. For Plato it is best to live, for he can still hope to become a sage." (Cicero de fin 4.20.56)
One should not prolong life to prolong its pleasurable experiences, for Stoicism, of course, completely rejects pleasure as a goal.[7] The manner of death is also of no importance to the wise man. Seneca states, ?It is of no moment to him whether his soul departs through his mouth or through a wound in his throat? (Ep 76.33), although he also expresses a personal preference for ?a gradual withdrawal? (Ep 26.4), an end that was denied him by Nero. - by Peter Roots
-------------------- "I hate having to pick between the lesser of two evils. But I'm glad Obama was elected. McCain was another war monger. I'd rather deal with our country going into debt than trying to take on afghanistan...oh wait FUCK!" - Fungus_tao
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GazzBut
Refraction
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Re: Swami's (No) Fear of Death Challenge [Re: Swami]
#1765055 - 07/31/03 04:08 AM (20 years, 7 months ago) |
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Will you be employing physical pain Swami, in the course of the challenge?
-------------------- Always Smi2le
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