Venting thanatophobia

[Darkover]

Fear of Death did Ruin My Life for many years

I had severe thanatophobia, or a fear of death staring when i was 18, The dying part doesn't bother me - but the idea of going to sleep and never waking up is terrifying beyond belief.

I'm an atheist who believes that death will be exactly like before we were born - an absence of experience or feeling. I won't be lying there annoyed that I'm dead, or have any concept of time passing after me. I'll be gone.

the nothingness before I was born had an end. I woke up. I was born. Every time I sleep, I wake up. When I die, I believe I won't ever wake up again. Sleeping passes instantly, as did the time before I was born, but how can the time after death be as 'instant' if there's no waking up at the end of it? It's just eternal. I can't imagine what a 'lack of existence/experience' is like if it has no end.

i've learned to accept death and no longer fear death in fact i in brace it wishing to be nothing for all time

just wondering if anyone else here suffered with this before

 

[CantDoIt]

Fear of Death did Ruin My Life for many years

I had severe thanatophobia, or a fear of death staring when i was 18, The dying part doesn't bother me - but the idea of going to sleep and never waking up is terrifying beyond belief.

I'm an atheist who believes that death will be exactly like before we were born - an absence of experience or feeling. I won't be lying there annoyed that I'm dead, or have any concept of time passing after me. I'll be gone.

the nothingness before I was born had an end. I woke up. I was born. Every time I sleep, I wake up. When I die, I believe I won't ever wake up again. Sleeping passes instantly, as did the time before I was born, but how can the time after death be as 'instant' if there's no waking up at the end of it? It's just eternal. I can't imagine what a 'lack of existence/experience' is like if it has no end.

i've learned to accept death and no longer fear death in fact i in brace it wishing to be nothing for all time

just wondering if anyone else here suffered with this before

Oh definitely. Its incomprehensible to me and that's sort of why I don't fully believe that it's like before we were born exactly.
I feel almost like there will be something and that we wake up randomly, even if as a different person. I think I feel somewhat like each person has their own quantum identification or something where personal perception but maybe not identity is preserved. I know it sounds absolutely insane but it's simply because eternal oblivion doesn't "exist" for the person. It's super weird i guess it's just impossible like you, for me to understand, and because of that it's hard to believe in fully.
If it is like that the unfortunately we would be waking up immediately again. If not, it's hard for me to grasp as it is not a state of being.

 

[willitpass]

I'm the opposite. I fear the dying process. I can make some peace with death, though I do still have some fear around it. But the active process of dying terrifies. The conscious part, but also the unconscious part, if there is any. My near death experiences to date have been oblivion, but I always wonder if that's because I hadn't made it far enough in the process yet. I'm worried about if there is any light reaching out to you or anything of the sort. That concept scares me. I guess I'll have to just see.

 

[Darkover]

I think I feel somewhat like each person has their own quantum identification or something where personal perception but maybe not identity is preserved

i think everything we are is a result of these atoms that make up the machine we are i don't think anything of ourselves is preserved after death i think anything breaks down into fragments and dissolve into the environment

I feel almost like there will be something and that we wake up randomly, even if as a different person.

in that case coming back as anything even a rat is a possibility since it's all down to random chance i just hope to never exist ever again

 

[shame]

That's unimaginable for me.. and that's why I think it's must be sth "after"
Of course it's no proofs, just some my thoughts upon this..