Why do people fear non existence?

[badatparties]

Non existence sounds like the best shit i ever goddamn heard in my life. What's the deal?

 

[ecolofienjoyer]

Well... The correct answer is
Evolution wired us to be scared of death. If you die you are less likely to procreate so the not scared of dying gene never gets passed on. The spiritual answer is, ppl are scared of what they dont know. You cant immagine nothingness. You dont know. The closest we have to it is sleep but we arent used to going to sleep not expecting to wake up. You get used to your surroundings.

 

[whosready4tmrw]

Well... The correct answer is
Evolution wired us to be scared of death. If you die you are less likely to procreate so the not scared of dying gene never gets passed on. The spiritual answer is, ppl are scared of what they dont know. You cant immagine nothingness. You dont know. The closest we have to it is sleep but we arent used to going to sleep not expecting to wake up. You get used to your surroundings.

This guy pretty much had it down, no rational reason beyond biological hard wiring. It's in our nature to want to exist.

 

[badatparties]

This guy pretty much had it down, no rational reason beyond biological hard wiring. It's in our nature to want to exist.

It doesn't exist in my wiring. I'm afraid of death, but not of non existence. To me it's the most preferred state of all.

 

[whosready4tmrw]

It doesn't exist in my wiring. I'm afraid of death, but not of non existence. To me it's the most preferred state of all.

We're trained to think of them as one and the same, I understand the appeal of simply not existing, but there doesn't seem to be a way to get there without dying

 

[ecolofienjoyer]

It doesn't exist in my wiring. I'm afraid of death, but not of non existence. To me it's the most preferred state of all.

Well you didnt exist for 4 trillion years and you didnt think of it as the most prefered state then huh?/jk

 

[betternever2havbeen]

I fear it and I don't at the same time. I'm also really scared of fainting (only happened to me about once) not sure why. I'm also pretty scared of having a general anaesthetic-not that I've had to have one or need one in the near future but me being me I think about this stuff! Maybe it's a loss of control? It's not really rational. I crave non-existence I'm just scared of "letting go" to get there, maybe it is like ego death when you take drugs IDK just a really scary concept but you can't explain why.

 

[Abort!]

Well for me personally, it comes down to the fact that experiencing the state of nonexistence is still unknowable. We can speculate that we retain no awareness in this state, much like being put under anesthesia. Though it is just that: speculation.

My biggest fear about nonexistence, whether rational or not, is the prospect of entrapment in some form of pseudo-awareness despite not functionally existing. Like being forced into conscious awareness of the passage of time for an infinite duration. That's probably not the case if nonexistence is what happens, but that's what my mind jumps to when I think about the absolute worst-case scenario.

Secondly: you arose from nonexistence once, who's to say you can't do it again? Your parents conceived, you were born, but why you? We only know the jump, A - C. Nothing explains anything about B. What exactly was the prerequisite for you to go from not existing forever, to then pop into existence out of nowhere? It's absolutely maddening to me - I feel like I shouldn't even logically exist. Presumably, there was possibly an infinite number of different observers that could have taken my place, so why me? Why this body? Why now?

It truly is a mindfuck if you ask me. Permanent cessation just feels too... clean? Too good to be true? It really depends on the day. Of course, this is all just wild speculation on my part and probably not a very realistic one at that. It's just where my mind goes to when my existential dread spikes.

 

[badatparties]

Well for me personally, it comes down to the fact that experiencing the state of nonexistence is still unknowable. We can speculate that we retain no awareness in this state, much like being put under anesthesia. Though it is just that: speculation.

My biggest fear about nonexistence, whether rational or not, is the prospect of entrapment in some form of pseudo-awareness despite not functionally existing. Like being forced into conscious awareness of the passage of time for an infinite duration. That's probably not the case if nonexistence is what happens, but that's what my mind jumps to when I think about the absolute worst-case scenario.

Secondly: you arose from nonexistence once, who's to say you can't do it again? Your parents conceived, you were born, but why you? We only know the jump, A - C. Nothing explains anything about B. What exactly was the prerequisite for you to go from not existing forever, to then pop into existence out of nowhere? It's absolutely maddening to me - I feel like I shouldn't even logically exist. Presumably, there was possibly an infinite number of different observers that could have taken my place, so why me? Why this body? Why now?

It truly is a mindfuck if you ask me. Permanent cessation just feels too... clean? Too good to be true? It really depends on the day. Of course, this is all just wild speculation on my part and probably not a very realistic one at that. It's just where my mind goes to when my existential dread spikes.

Beautifully said. I get what you mean about worst case scenarios, like being stuck in a black hole till the end of time while being conscious, and it's all pitch black. Shit like that is what truly scares me, not non existence.

As far as consciousness, we don't really know what it is. Does it cease to exist when our neurons stop firing, i.e., purely a material thing, or is it something more, something that existed before this physical body. These questions we haven't figured out.

 

[merlinscries]

It is scary because it is inconceivable to the human mind. It is the Ultimate Unknown. I am 99,9% convinced death means indefinite non-existence. A pure blank, just like you were before you were born. All that "open minded" spiritual talk about consciousness somehow persisting beyond physical death is just a poetic misinterpretation. What persists is Consciousness through other bodies and minds that are not your own. There is no "after death". Once you're dead, it's all over and it is like you were never born from the POV of "you". Like a star glimmering a few thousand years only to explode into nothingness.

Of course it's still hard to end it because beyond all spiritual and philosophical doubt we still have a biology that is resisting direct, obvious harm.

 

[badatparties]

It is scary because it is inconceivable to the human mind. It is the Ultimate Unknown. I am 99,9% convinced death means indefinite non-existence. A pure blank, just like you were before you were born. All that "open minded" spiritual talk about consciousness somehow persisting beyond physical death is just a poetic misinterpretation. What persists is Consciousness through other bodies and minds that are not your own. There is no "after death". Once you're dead, it's all over and it is like you were never born from the POV of "you". Like a star glimmering a few thousand years only to explode into nothingness.

Of course it's still hard to end it because beyond all spiritual and philosophical doubt we still have a biology that is resisting direct, obvious harm.

I definitely lean towards non existence too, but you can never know for sure. If it's immaterial, then we can't really conceive of such a place anyway. Even when people try to, they use words like energy, spirit, light, etc, all of which are material terms. When people say his soul went to a better place, they don't realize they're still thinking in terms of space, time, and matter. A space wouldn't exist in a non material, or "spiritual" universe. What comes next may be entirely beyond what we can possibly imagine,

Our only frame of reference is a material world, hence we can never ever conceive of something immaterial.

 

[FuneralCry]

I really understand as for me non-existence is just all I see as positive, in this existence so evil and torturous where there is all this endless cruelty, torture and suffering non-existence is just all I could ever see as desirable.

I'll always see existence as the most terrible mistake that just causes harm and suffering, existence is the problem to me and for me non-existence would be the peace from the evil of existence and it's just so horrific how humans cause all this terrible, dreadful suffering with no limit as to how much one can be tortured by so tragically imposing this existence that there was never a need for. All I want is to not exist, every second is torture to be conscious, to be conscious in this existence at all is as dreadful abomination to me, the peace of non-existence solves everything for me as after all if I don't exist I cannot suffer, there's no suffering in this evil, dreadful existence being all forgotten about and erased yet the suffering and torture of existing is endless with existing beings in agony every second.