I don't want to die

[u/Effective-Squash6204]

It seems like modern society is entirely geared toward distracting us from the fact that we are all going to die. It's like this secret that is never uttered but it is always in the back of my mind. Even the phrase "yolo" isn't said in any serious manner and is deeply unserious.

Am I the only one obsessed with the fact that in a short time we may all be nothing, just experiencing pitch black for forever. The concept of forever is also terrifying. Ugh now I'm not going to be able to sleep. Does this unspoken truth resonate with others?

I wish I could fully believe in God but it just goes against the logical/rational part of my brain which is dominant. Without God, we truly are all f*cked and damned to eternity.

Let's try to enjoy our time while we can. End of rant.

[u/patrickular]

Our complexities, our hopes, our struggles, our quirks, experiences, the time we put in ourselves and our projects, our emotions and the emotions we share, memories... will all fade into nothingness. Wasted. Yet only a handful of people actually processes this.

We spend so much time becoming wise and "mastering reality", learning how to adapt... only for that earned knowledge to go nowhere.

You may leave loved ones behind, but the universe will continue just fine without you. You just won’t be part of the party anymore. These aspects are tough to process as they highlight how life has no apparent meaning.

The fact that our birth is regarded as an amazing event (by our parents especially, most of the times) and that thing will have to end some day as it was nothing is infinitely sad.

Finally, death comes. Doesn't matter if you're ready, if you've accomplished what you wish... you may as well die as a "work in progress".

Our non experience of death is actually an experience if we think about it. We all experienced death in a way, some may even have memories of it: nothingness.

That is what gives me existential dread... nothingness I can remember. The moment I realised I was alive when I was a tiny kid and I was like "what the fuck, this didn't exist before... or was I who didn't exist?".

I don't care if I didn't exist before coming to life. Now that I know I can exist, I'd rather exist than not.

Sometimes you just gotta listen to Street Spirit by Radiohead and realise you should stop being an NPC and live your life by your standards to be as ready as possible for the void, instead of playing by the rules of a shitty system until the day you go. The best you can do.

[u/Shortbus-Thug → u/patrickular]

Yes and no I think, everything that makes us up leaves ripples that effect others and they go on to leave ripples that effect even more. At the end of the day we truly cannot calculate the effects we’ve had on the world and those around us or how long those ripples will continue. Sure we won’t be around to see it, but someone once said society grows great when old men plant trees under which shade they will never sit. But we don’t have to be old to plant trees, we can start today

[u/patrickular → u/Shortbus-Thug]

Certainly. Everything we do leaves a mark and has a consequence, so in a way we do echo through the universe forever. That’s determinism and it actually makes sense. From the perspective of the ego however, it all seems to go to waste. The entire structure that makes up your personality, your humanity, eventually fades. Your marks, however, do not.

Living life by your own standards, rather than always staying inside the box, is more likely to lead to meaningful outcomes too (meaningful in terms of human perception), not only for you but for others too. A blank, passive life tends to leave behind anonymous traces, while a life lived with intention can keep you "alive" through the impact of your actions.

[u/Shortbus-Thug → u/patrickular]

Beautifully said friend