My Grandma died this morning. How do you feel about death?

JohnnyC · Post by **JohnnyC** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 11:00 pm

First... let me say that I'm happy for my Grandma. She lived a long life and experienced a great many things I probably will never get the chance to. She had been to Japan, Australia, Brazil, Egypt, Turkey, France, Germany, England, and loads of other countries. She drove the hell out of cars (loved to squeel the tires in her old Fairlane). Overall... She lived a good life and she had a comfortable death.

A lot of people I know are uncomfortable with death. Mostly I've considered this to be a fear of their own death. I have never really been afraid of dieing. There are only two things that all creatures have in common with each other. We are born, and someday we die. Sometimes it is a bit tragic when someone dies too young and doesn't get to experience more of life, but that simply wasn't the case with my Grandmother.

I've never been a religious person, but I do have some spiritual beliefs. I believe that our consciousness is a form of energy. While we are alive we feed this energy by eating, drinking, and breathing. Over time, if our spirits grow strong enough, I believe it's possible that our consciousness or spirit can survive outside of our bodies, but I am in no way certain of that.

When I think of the concepts of Heaven and Hell (or their various names)... I think of two things... Go... or Stop. I equate Heaven as "Go" and Hell as "Stop". Honestly I really hope that my spirit is strong enough to live on when my body dies out, but I won't know until I personally die.

My grandmother was a strong woman. Very full of life and spirit. It is my belief that she had a very good chance of continuing on even though her body has died. Though, I don't think there is any way to tell.

What are your thoughts on living and dying?

cpd · Post by **cpd** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 6:30 am

Unfortunately (not for me though), I'm more of a "science" kinda person.

You live, you die. When you die, you die, you become part of the earth. I know that's not compassionate, however, I do feel for your loss, only having 1 grandparent left, and she's on her last legs too.

I don't believe in a heaven or hell, as I don't have any faith in anything substantially spiritual/ephemeral; I can't make the leap from intuition to faith in believing in something that I can't use any of my 5 senses to... sense, I guess.

I demand proof, and because proof denies faith, all faith is lost without proof.

The only way to go is to live your life to the fullest, and if you go out, go out knowing that damnit, you had a good time.

Just to reinforce it, I really feel for you dude.

Joso · Post by **Joso** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 7:48 am

cpd wrote:Unfortunately (not for me though), I'm more of a "science" kinda person.

You live, you die. When you die, you die, you become part of the earth. I know that's not compassionate, however, I do feel for your loss, only having 1 grandparent left, and she's on her last legs too.

I don't believe in a heaven or hell, as I don't have any faith in anything substantially spiritual/ephemeral; I can't make the leap from intuition to faith in believing in something that I can't use any of my 5 senses to... sense, I guess.

I demand proof, and because proof denies faith, all faith is lost without proof.

The only way to go is to live your life to the fullest, and if you go out, go out knowing that damnit, you had a good time.

Just to reinforce it, I really feel for you dude.

+1 Pretty much.

daewoomofo · Post by **daewoomofo** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 11:17 am

Joso wrote:
cpd wrote:Unfortunately (not for me though), I'm more of a "science" kinda person.

You live, you die. When you die, you die, you become part of the earth. I know that's not compassionate, however, I do feel for your loss, only having 1 grandparent left, and she's on her last legs too.

I don't believe in a heaven or hell, as I don't have any faith in anything substantially spiritual/ephemeral; I can't make the leap from intuition to faith in believing in something that I can't use any of my 5 senses to... sense, I guess.

I demand proof, and because proof denies faith, all faith is lost without proof.

The only way to go is to live your life to the fullest, and if you go out, go out knowing that damnit, you had a good time.

Just to reinforce it, I really feel for you dude.
+1 Pretty much.

+2 i couldnt have put it better my self, put yeah i do feal for you and i am sorry for your loss

MMamdouh · Post by **MMamdouh** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 12:17 pm

My deepest condolences for your loss man? I am really sorry to hear that

for me i believe in God, Heaven and Hell as well as destiny... we are all in a big test that is set by God to see if we are going to succeed and obey him or will we fail and follow the steps of the devil.

i don't know why people put science and religion head to head... i see them both going the same direction, science never succeeded in defining "life" or explain where it came from yet we all admit that it does exist and once it is stripped out of the body, the body is dead, religion did explain that and said that life came of God himself and he is the only source of any living form you will come across.

you are right Johnny; you live with only your sprit after death 'cause death by definition is the separation between your soul and your body... at least that is what i believe in, if you were a good person then you head to Heaven where you stay their for eternity... that will be a "Go" in your terms but if you were a bad person you go to Hell and you stay their depending on how bad you were in your past life... that will be a "Stop".

regardless of what we all believe in... death causes sadness to those who are close to the decides, i have lost all my grand fathers/mothers so I?ve been their and it is a very sad experience.

Again so sorry for your loss man.

MMamdouh

cpd · Post by **cpd** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 12:35 pm

MMamdouh wrote:i don't know why people put science and religion head to head... i see them both going the same direction

Good point, and I never meant to go head to head. I understand that science can't answer everything, and religion doesn't have all the answers, so for me it's sort of an impasse. Take your side, whatever it may be.

If you believe, then that's fine by me, because you've found something to believe in. Just because I'm a cynical bastard doesn't mean other people have to be. :P

Both go towards a common goal: greater understanding of why human life exists. While science gives the hypothesis that we didn't have a choice, we just evolved, religion seems (to me, and I may be wrong) to show that there's a master plan for it all.

Whichever direction you're going, have fun doing so. Sure, snicker behind other people's backs about what they believe in, but if you wanna start fighting about it, that's when everything goes bad, and, to be clich?d, it becomes "hell on earth", eg. wars, fighting, etc. There's no need. Live and let live.

TheGreatAndPowerfulOz · Thu Mar 30, 2006 12:58 pm

Your loss is felt and shared by us, as most of us have had a loved one leave our lives at some point and we know how it feels. You have my condolences.
It's great that she had a very full life and was happy while she was here. That's what life is all about; making the most of everything around you.

But on a bright side, she no longer has to pay taxes.

JohnnyC · Post by **JohnnyC** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 5:32 pm

Thanks guys. I appreciate all your sentiments.

Yeah... Science tells us that if you mix the right amino acids with some salt and a little electricity, you can get life started, but it doesn't really explain it very well.

Religion tells us that some kind of sentient God thing created life, but it has never really explained that very well either.

But... I think that soon we might be coming closer to a greater understanding of life and life force. Like CPD, DaewooMofo, and Joso agreed, they require proof through at least some sort of sense of things. We humans have a tendency to build machines that are capable of sensing things beyond our own physical limitations. Telescopes to see into the depths of space... Electron microscopes to look into the depths of the small. And it doesn't stop there. I firmly believe that as we continue along our path, we will develop even greater technology, giving us the ability to sense things that we never imagined existed. And in the process, perhaps even begin to explain some things we thought might be there.

In fact... I think there may even be a good link between what we have been calling Quantum Physics and Spirits. Both of which are just names for things we contemplate and explore, but I think there is a connection there. Growth... Entropy. All part of this mass equasion of life that we have no choice but to face each day we live and of course, the day we die.

Personally, I look forward to the day when I die (not trying to make it happen any sooner or anything). It will be satisfying to know what happens when my body finally calls it quits. Until then, it's really all just speculation for me... Until I can 'sense' some kind of proof of what happens next, it's just another interesting game of cat and mouse that my mind plays with the mysteries of our world.

Thanks again guys! You're a good bunch of guys and I'm glad to have bought my woo (by happenstance) and met you all because of that.