Why Do We Fear Death According to Psychological Theories?

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SUMMARY

The forum discussion centers on the psychological reasons behind the fear of death, emphasizing that this fear stems from a natural instinct to avoid the unknown and potential suffering. Participants argue that fear is conditioned through experiences and societal teachings, suggesting that understanding and confronting this fear can lead to a healthier perspective on death. Key references include the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, which highlights the importance of self-identity in relation to death. The conversation concludes that the fear of death is less about death itself and more about the fear of losing one's identity and the pain associated with it.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of psychological conditioning and fear responses
  • Familiarity with concepts of identity and self-awareness
  • Knowledge of existential philosophy and its implications on life and death
  • Awareness of cultural influences on perceptions of death
NEXT STEPS
  • Explore psychological theories on fear, such as classical conditioning and its effects on behavior
  • Research the impact of cultural narratives on death perception, including works like the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
  • Investigate existential philosophy, focusing on identity and the nature of consciousness
  • Learn about therapeutic approaches to confronting and overcoming fear of death, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)
USEFUL FOR

This discussion is beneficial for psychologists, philosophers, spiritual seekers, and anyone interested in understanding the psychological mechanisms behind the fear of death and how it affects human behavior and identity.

  • #31
Why shouldn't you wake up after death when you wake up from all other unconscious states?
 
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  • #32
Since life is eternal, no matter if I publish this.

That the neverending universe is not expanding, but the ether is getting more and more excitated has a consequence. You can get energy from nothing. You can create a small big bang. I can't solve the problem right now, but perhaps I will be able to do that soon. Can this be used when traveling through space you wounder.
 
  • #33
Sariaht said:
Why shouldn't you wake up after death when you wake up from all other unconscious states?
holy cow! gee wiz, batman!

do you think you found a way of proving that reincarnation really exists?

love & peace,
 
  • #34
whatever the purpose of human life is, it certainly needs the life for it. and as someone said above, fear of death is a survival mechanism. it is psychologically confirmed that humans have sorts of switches that prevent suicide, and also that keep our instinct running. that's all in our sub-consciousness so we have no or almost no control over it, it's like breathing.

also it is fear of unknown and fear of loosing everything familiar.

one who has rich and fullfilling life is more afraid of death than one who has nothing or almost nothing to loose.

but it's not dependent wether you wish to die or not, it is that, even a suicide bomber's mind, eager for glory and paradise girls, is taken over by a rush of instincts, much like when you're in a state of shock or similar.

trust me, when the clock ticktacks it's final ticktack and you cross the border, and when awareness of the inevitable abruptly suffocates the last breaths of your consciousness...if we'd have ANY control of ourselves in the moment of death, we'd **** our pants.
 
  • #35
hey why are the stars there for? i said "sh1t" ...for all those who don't jump to conclusions:-)
 
  • #36
undefinedThe question is why do we fear death? The question might better be, why do you fear death? Not everyone fears death, or even worries about the inevitibility, of it. I don't have any pat answers about what death's transition brings, and yet I don't fear death. I do like being alive in this human form, so I preserve this body, to some extent, and respect the rights of others to live, so I don't run over people as I drive around. I don't kill other people and take their groceries. Though I get more groceries than some people, who die for lack of them.

This is a personal question, why do you fear death? Why do you? The one time I was sure I was going to die, a friend was driving and hit a curve marked 15 miles per hour, and we were doing 75, and excelerating. My response to this influx of information, was to laugh my head off, saying to myself, "I would have never thought that this would be how I met my death!"

It is my opinion that death is just one event, in an infinite string of events. So it is life that you have to worry about, worry about how you live, rather than how you die. Worry about death simply parks you at the abyss.
 
  • #37
I would like to point out that form the conciousness point of view, there is no "before" birth (or conception, or first neuronal burst...) and there is no "after" death. Time, universe, reality only "exist" because we see it, so it is likely that we won't experience death. I think that the behavior of conciusness nearing death is like the behavior of a particle approaching a singularity (black hole) as predicted by physicists, time stretches as they grow nearer, in such a way that for an outside observer, it never actually reaches the singularity. From the point of view of an observer next to the particle, the last instant becomes eternity.
 
  • #38
Then how come, from the point of view of someone observing the dying, they die instead of becoming eternally frozen?
 
  • #39
It is just an analogy. I was trying to stress the fact that we consiousness is determined by the perception of succesive events, that is time, and time is relative. for the external observer an events follows, and person dies. The dying concioussnes remains in the last event, indefinitely, or until another event involving it happens.
But don't take me wrong, I'm just trying to inferre.
 

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