#psychology #metaphysical #wisdom # Related - [[Heroism]] # Death >The real question is not whether life exists after death. The real question is whether you are alive before death. >~ [[Osho]] Death is what makes life so delightful? >Life is divided into three periods, past, present and future. Of these, the present is short, the future is doubtful, the past is certain. >~ [[Seneca]] Life is like a river, which flows on and on, And the present is like a flash of lightning in the sky. Rushing through life, man often forget its true purpose Yesterday is history, Tomorrow is a mystery, Today is a gift, That is why it is called the present Riches do not last forever, and life is but a fleeting shadow. So enjoy the present moment, for it is all you have. ![[DALL·E 2022-06-30 08.03.14 - Grim reaper holding a huge scythe, awaiting man, digital art.png]] >Is it not for us to confess that in our civilized attitude towards **death** we are once more living psychologically beyond our means, and must reform and give truth its due? Would it not be better to give **death** the place in actuality and in our thoughts which properly belongs to it, and to yield a little more prominence to that unconscious attitude towards **death** which we have hitherto so carefully suppressed? This hardly seems indeed a greater achievement, but rather a backward step… but it has the merit of taking somewhat more into account the true state of affairs.… >~ [[Sigmund Freud]] ![[DALL·E 2022-06-30 07.58.14 - A man expiring from life, rooted in the ground, digital art.png]] >We admire most the courage to face **death**; we give such valor our highest and most constant adoration; it moves us deeply in our hearts because we have doubts about how brave we ourselves would be. When we see a man bravely facing his own extinction we rehearse the greatest victory we can imagine. And so the [[Heroism|hero]] has been the center of human honor and acclaim since probably the beginning of specifically human evolution. >~ [[Ernest Becker]] ![[DALL·E 2022-06-30 07.58.48.png]] >It is easy to see that, from this point of view, those who have bad early experiences will be most morbidly fixated on the anxiety of **death**; and if by chance they grow up to be [[Philosopher|philosopher]]s they will probably make the idea a central dictum of their thought—as did [[Schopenhauer]], who both hated his mother and went on to pronounce **death** the “muse of [[Philosophy|philosophy]].” If you have a “sour” character structure or especially tragic experiences, then you are bound to be pessimistic. >~ [[Ernest Becker]] ![[DALL·E 2022-06-30 08.05.25 - Grim reaper holding a huge scythe, awaiting man, painting by Van Gogh.png]] >“- A qui la nuit fait-elle peur ? >- A ceux qui attendent le jour pour voir.” >~ [[Pierre Bottero]] ## The Fantasy of eternal spring ![[The fantasy of eternal spring]] --- >Men do not care how nobly they live, but only how long, although it is within the reach of every man to live nobly, but within no man's power to live long. >~ [[Seneca]] ## Eternal spring is no longer a fantasy >The round of summer and winter becomes a blessing the moment we give up the fantasy of eternal spring >~ [[Bruce Lee]] But eternal spring is no longer a fantasy, in 2022 we can already probably extends lifespan to hundred years, and who knows, maybe we already have [[Immortality|immortals]], if a 20 years old reach 100, the technology will be there anyway. >Is fear of death the enemy? Then the cure is obvious: abolish death. Is this fanciful? No, he answers, science is working on the problem; admittedly, we may not be able to abolish death entirely, but we can prolong life to a great extent—who knows how much eventually. We can envisage a utopia wherein people will have such long lives that the fear of death will drop away, and with it the fiendish drivenness that has haunted man so humiliatingly and destructively all through his history and now promises to bring him total self-defeat. Men will then be able to live in an “eternal now” of pure pleasure and peace, become truly the godlike creatures that they have the potential to be. >~ [[Ernest Becker]] ![[DALL·E 2022-07-11 22.39.29 - A man running away from his tombstone, painting by Picasso.png]] Removing death from age might actually increase the fear of death. >In other words, death would be “hyperfetishized” as a source of danger, and men in the utopia of longevity would be even less expansive and peaceful than they are today! >~ [[Ernest Becker]] ![[DALL·E 2022-08-06 20.55.58 - A man running away from a deceased dragon lying on the ground, he is heading towards a sparkling shiny sky ahead of him, painting by Van Gogh.png]] ![[DALL·E 2022-07-11 22.38.20 - A man running on a treadmill, behind him his tombstone awaiting him, painting by Picasso.png]] ## Death is continuous not discrete i.e. if you are about to die and get cryoginized, woken up 100 years later somehow and lost 5% of [[Information|information]] in your [[Brain|brain]], you are actually slightly dead, a 5% different persona. Just as the you of 5 years ago is dead. # External https://www.nickbostrom.com/fable/dragon.html <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qfKyNxfyWbo" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> ## Random >Fear not death for the sooner we die, the longer we shall be immortal. > ~ [[Benjamin Franklin]] >Everyone hustles his life along, and is troubled by a longing for the future and weariness of the present. But the man who spends all his time on his own needs, who organizes every day as though it were his last, neither longs for nor fears the next day. >~ [[Seneca]] >Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything—all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure—these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. >~ [[Steve Jobs]] >He who fears death will never do anything worthy of a living man. But he who knows that this was the condition laid down for him at the moment of his conception will live on those terms, and at the same time he will guarantee with a similar strength of mind that no events take him by surprise. >~ [[Seneca]] >One To-day is worth two To-morrows. ~ [[Benjamin Franklin]] >There is nothing over which a free man ponders less than death; his wisdom is, to meditate not on death but on life. ~ [[Schrodinger]] >You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think. > ~ [[Marcus Aurelius]] >But learning how to live takes a whole life, and, which may surprise you more, it takes a whole life to learn how to die. > ~ [[Seneca]] >They lose the day in waiting for the night, and the night in fearing the dawn. > ~ [[Seneca]] >The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today. > ~ [[Seneca]] >Life is divided into three periods, past, present and future. Of these, the present is short, the future is doubtful, the past is certain. > ~ [[Seneca]] >But life is very short and anxious for those who forget the past, neglect the present, and fear the future. > ~ [[Seneca]] >The fool, with all his other faults, has this also, he is always getting ready to live. > ~ [[Seneca]]