Is death an eternal void of nothingness? Why do you think that's better than your life?

[aprincessclara]

I'm an athiest and see no reason to believe there is an after, just a total ceasing of being.

I feel like my housebound life of eating, shitting and sleeping is better than that. I guess I wouldn't know about it and I had been just fine with not existing before being born but that doesn't put my mind at ease at all. No matter how shit life gets or can be, as a human being I'm still mentally programmed to find the idea of not existing extremely unpleasant. Maybe if I was in a lot of physical pain or dying from terminal illness I almost definitely would. But agonising emotional pain just isn't the same thing.

I feel like if I decided I didn't want to live anymore I could just sleep all the time and live in a dream world, take up lucid dreaming, etc. Or just live in some virtual reality world like wearing an oculus rift 24/7 or second life or something. It's not like I'm locked up in Quantamino Bay with nowhere to escape to or something.

If someone could prove to me beyond doubt that an afterlife or some form of human reincarnation existed then it would be a different story.

 

[FaceOfSilence]

Net Value. I'd lose some nice things, mostly the people i love, really, but i'd also lose everything else that i'd like to (inborn health defects as something that can only go away entirely with ceasing)

Also not existing means you don't have an opinion on your situation, so it can't be bad by definition, it's just nothing, but one won't even realize it

 

[DreamsofDeath]

Freedom. A permanent solution to all problems.

 

[aprincessclara]

Net Value. I'd lose some nice things, mostly the people i love, really, but i'd also lose everything else that i'd like to (inborn health defects as something that can only go away entirely with ceasing)

Also not existing means you don't have an opinion on your situation, so it can't be bad by definition, it's just nothing, but one won't even realize it

Depends if you really want raw nothingness or a different life to the one you have.

 

[Mr2005]

I want to do it all again but failing that if there's total nothingness there'll be no me to be aware of it. It won't matter a damn

 

[Kikoo Loool]

When I see people suffering from Alzheimer and al. I understand that soul is an empty concept.

 

[FaceOfSilence]

Depends if you really want raw nothingness or a different life to the one you have.

Well naturally i'd give a shot to not being born poor and sick, but my current options involve years of misery and luck just to start getting on track and i've never dreamt of anything so i don't even know what to strive for in the end. I'm having several job interviews every day recently but these are dead ends and it would take me at least 4 years to get formal education while working for breadcrumbs, on other hands just leaving it all behind - whatever memories i still for some reason have, the sickness that sometimes makes even good days miserable, family that i'm sick of, etc. sounds so nice and desirable.

I don't know if i really can CTB, if i really don't have any hope for the future, i keep trying to do something, but my ideations have no end in sight, neither do half assed attempts and (figuratively) praying that i do not wake up each day before bedtime. I joined this place to see and maybe ask about methods, but i still didn't even get close to desirable results to see what i would really think when i'm close, looks like i'm still doing it wrong.

 

[Dead beat dad]

I'm an athiest and see no reason to believe there is an after, just a total ceasing of being.

I feel like my housebound life of eating, shitting and sleeping is better than that. I guess I wouldn't know about it and I had been just fine with not existing before being born but that doesn't put my mind at ease at all. No matter how shit life gets or can be, as a human being I'm still mentally programmed to find the idea of not existing extremely unpleasant. Maybe if I was in a lot of physical pain or dying from terminal illness I almost definitely would. But agonising emotional pain just isn't the same thing.

I feel like if I decided I didn't want to live anymore I could just sleep all the time and live in a dream world, take up lucid dreaming, etc. Or just live in some virtual reality world like wearing an oculus rift 24/7 or second life or something. It's not like I'm locked up in Quantamino Bay with nowhere to escape to or something.

If someone could prove to me beyond doubt that an afterlife or some form of human reincarnation existed then it would be a different story.

Remember that night you went to sleep. And slept the whole night through, no dreams or nothing. No consciousness. I'm figuring that's death, just minus the waking up bit.

 

[drakewantstogo]

It's an escape. Do you know that situation where a building is burning and people can't hold on anymore inside the building because the fire is getting really big and close to them, so they just jump? It's the same. Some people can't stand being inside the building because it hurts a lot and can't deal with it on their daily life. Jumping is an "easy" way out that can achieve you eternal peace

 

[whatever1111]

broken dreams, shame and regret hurt way more than nothingness. besides, we are all heading there, some people just dont have any reason to delay it. plus, certain types of psyches see dignity in chosen death, and not waiting for it. i'd hate to give up on living but stay alive

 

[Alucard]

Only a living person can suffer (including the fear of death). A dead person no longer suffers. Death thus delivers us from all suffering.

 

[Jean Améry]

Death is not a 'void': it's not anything. As far as we know it's permanent cessation of consciousness. I believe that it is better than any life no matter how good it is as even the best life has some pain in it and everyone will die eventually.

Having no consciousness, not being seems to me the highest form of bliss. One doesn't even need pleasurable sensations: one isn't and consequently one isn't in need of anything and can't possibly be hurt ever.

 

[aprincessclara]

Remember that night you went to sleep. And slept the whole night through, no dreams or nothing. No consciousness. I'm figuring that's death, just minus the waking up bit.

I don't know if we can go to sleep without dreaming. Usually when we don't remember the dreams it's because the dream was too deep to be recovered.

Death is not a 'void': it's not anything. As far as we know it's permanent cessation of consciousness. I believe that is better than any life no matter how good it is as even the best life has some pain in it and everyone will die eventually.

Having no consciousness, not being seems to me the highest form of bliss. One doesn't even need pleasurable sensations: one isn't and consequently one isn't in need of anything and can't possibly be hurt ever.

But by ceasing we can't feel bliss either, it's neither good nor bad, it's a neutral state, but how we frame it won't cancel the other out. We can say death is the end of suffering but it doesn't stop death being the end of joy and happiness.

 

[Alan James]

I have never been afraid of the very fact of death and I am sure that after death there will be nothing, but I am fearlessly afraid of pain. After death, we all just disappear, it will be the same as before birth. Pain is my phobia, and I hate myself for weakness and cowardice to such an extent that I feel sick and dizzy. I could not do anything because of this fear and tried to starve myself once, I did not eat anything for more than two weeks, but I lost consciousness and was found by my mother. I feel trapped.

 

[Jean Améry]

I don't know if we can go to sleep without dreaming. Usually when we don't remember the dreams it's because the dream was too deep to be recovered.


But by ceasing we can't feel bliss either, it's neither good nor bad, it's a neutral state, but how we frame it won't cancel the other out. We can say death is the end of suffering but it doesn't stop death being the end of joy and happiness.

I'm quite aware of the ambiguity. In a way it's impossible to use language to describe something we can't possibly know. All we are left with is metaphors and illogical expressions of preference.

As to the second part of your reply: what does it matter if death is indeed the end of joy and happiness if one is unable to miss it? One can't miss anything if one no longer is there or at least conscious of it.

 

[seekingoblivion]

I don't know if we can go to sleep without dreaming. Usually when we don't remember the dreams it's because the dream was too deep to be recovered.

Whether that's true or not we can pretty much extrapolate what non existence would be like. When we wake up after a dreamless sleep (whether it's dreams we don't have or dreams we can't recall) we generally feel like we went from one moment to the next with nothing in between despite those two moments being separated by hours. I would say for people who fear not existing there's something in them that tells them it's something they'll experience, and when the lack of joy is considered it's as if you'll experience the lack of things which, in many people's minds I imagine, denotes a certain suffering. Basically because all we know is existing we can only use existence as a frame of reference and it's only through existing that we experience anything. But when you don't exist there's nothing to be experienced by you because, well, you don't exist. You don't "experience" non existence. And the idea appeals to me simply because I suffer nothing if I don't exist. Neither the pains of existence nor the absence of joy. I'll miss nothing and no one, will wish for nothing and no one, will be hurt by nothing and no one.

 

[Deathisbeautiful]

I think that death would atleast be an end to the current consciousness. You die and then there is no coming back of you who is trying to end this life rn. And maybe it's the most real thing, it's fate of everyone and end of suffering. Being skeptical really makes making a straight decision difficult. So even if there's something even worse than now waiting for you after you die, or some place like hell to punish you for the sins you committed or anything really for that matter, death is still the only way I see to end at least all of the things that we dealing with right now. There's a LEAP OF FAITH we take when we ASSUME that death is going to END it ALL. While living we take many leaps of faith when we take certain actions or make certain decisions. It totally depends on what you want to believe what happens after death since there's no way of knowing that for sure. And when I say I don't want to live at all, it doesnt matter how much of "good" life i have, I don't think that at this point I desire for some another kind of life or whatever.

And lastly I'd like to say that I'm still trying to get on the stage to kill myself and begone. We were all naturally programmed to live. Maybe if it was something really extreme like a serious physical illness causing me pain constantly then I guess I would be able to suppress the survival instincts and end it all. But most of the things that I deal with are IN MY HEAD, or to put it in other words, emotional pain or deep resentment for the entire idea of living. Maybe this leads to lack of constitution for ultimately killing myself.

 

[chlorine]

I'm an athiest and see no reason to believe there is an after, just a total ceasing of being.

I feel like my housebound life of eating, shitting and sleeping is better than that. I guess I wouldn't know about it and I had been just fine with not existing before being born but that doesn't put my mind at ease at all. No matter how shit life gets or can be, as a human being I'm still mentally programmed to find the idea of not existing extremely unpleasant. Maybe if I was in a lot of physical pain or dying from terminal illness I almost definitely would. But agonising emotional pain just isn't the same thing.

I feel like if I decided I didn't want to live anymore I could just sleep all the time and live in a dream world, take up lucid dreaming, etc. Or just live in some virtual reality world like wearing an oculus rift 24/7 or second life or something. It's not like I'm locked up in Quantamino Bay with nowhere to escape to or something.

If someone could prove to me beyond doubt that an afterlife or some form of human reincarnation existed then it would be a different story.

I'll start by saying that I am agnostic, so I don't really know what comes after death. But assuming there will be just nothingness, then I don't see your point. I mean, I understand what you mean but if you're an atheist, once you're dead you're just dead. Nothing more. A piece of meat. You won't be able to feel sorry for not being alive anymore. You will end the possible joys of being alive, yes, but you will also end your suffering. It's like with people, I personally would rather someone to be indifferent towards me than angry at me, if you see what I mean by saying this. Once you end your life there will be void, yes, but you wouldn't know it. What you don't know can't hurt you. I'm saying this from the perspective of an atheist, which I once was. Now I just realize that we just can't know anything for sure so I will not assume anything about something that we, as human beings limited to living, have not a say in, at least from how I see it. Of course I respect your opinion, but I just find your way of putting it a bit contradictory.

 

[headinghome]

It's an escape. Do you know that situation where a building is burning and people can't hold on anymore inside the building because the fire is getting really big and close to them, so they just jump? It's the same. Some people can't stand being inside the building because it hurts a lot and can't deal with it on their daily life. Jumping is an "easy" way out that can achieve you eternal peace

I wouldn't say that jumping is easy… Otherwise we all would've jumped

 

[drakewantstogo]

I wouldn't say that jumping is easy… Otherwise we all would've jumped

Yeah, hence the quotation marks

 

[souljah222]

Depends if you really want raw nothingness or a different life to the one you have.

Id take a different life but if theres only raw nothingness i'll take that too

 

[JadedGray]

Nothingness is better than a life of pain and misery. I would take non-existence (how I was before I was born) over what I'm experiencing now.

 

[Mart]

Because nothing is better than my life, literally. I don't want anything. I just want to be done.

 

[tor100]

nothingness=0 pain, so I think nothingness is very good.

 

[brbr]

When you struggle, don't have any perspective and suffer a lot nothing is better, trust me.

 

[Gorgon]

This isnt to convince you just educate you. who says there is such a thing as better. Your miss understanding the context of your form. Look at a star even a star explodes but from that explosion comes fusion of heavy atoms. You like that sun are made of atoms which are energy. The second law of thermodynamics says energy cannot be created nor destroyed. So where do you go? No where the same place you have always been. You are to the universe what a computer game is to a computer. You are an emergent property of atoms just as a game is an emergent property of switches and electricity. You are not your body. If you cut off your legs would you be you? How about your arms? Or body? If we kept your head alive would you be you still? Yes in essence. Because what you are is an observation recored in your brain of "your" energy over time. That energy cannot leave energy is a ripple in the fabric of spacetime. That ripple just changes as it always has and always will. The biggest problem with intelligence is the illusion of intelligence. You don't have to be aware to exist just as you don't have to be smart to reproduce or know how the universe works to make a building.

 

[TAW122]

Many great answers here. Yes, I do believe that death is an eternal void of nothingness, and unconsciousness. It would be similar to what one was before they were conceived, or born for the matter. It can be better than 'life' is life's suffering is greater than pleasure or exceeds the amount of copes one has. @FaceOfSilence makes a great point about net value, if life's value is a net negative than death is better because death is seen as zero, or neutral rather than a positive or negative. We as society often avoid death like the plague, which is something that is a natural part of the universe, where there exists life, there exists death.

 

[Vegrau]

Many great answers here. Yes, I do believe that death is an eternal void of nothingness, and unconsciousness. It would be similar to what one was before they were conceived, or born for the matter. It can be better than 'life' is life's suffering is greater than pleasure or exceeds the amount of copes one has. @FaceOfSilence makes a great point about net value, if life's value is a net negative than death is better because death is seen as zero, or neutral rather than a positive or negative. We as society often avoid death like the plague, which is something that is a natural part of the universe, where there exists life, there exists death.

The very act of denying and avoiding it is unnatural.

 

[tomz323]

I just want to not exist, simple as that. It is very unlikely that there is some sort of afterlife.

 

[iix.em]

id like to think theres something better in the after life, even if its really nothing and just darkness. beats having to deal with the mind im given and the world we live in.