It’s an interesting statement. Like some others on the forum. I was certain I would never live past 20. I’m sure it was 20 at first. After that, I recall 25 and 30. Each time I made decisions on how to live the rest of my life. Even if I didn’t die, this was what I was going to do. Why I kept on living was a complete mystery. I have a sense that my outlook had something to do with an 18-year-old kid, who failed out of 2 high schools, deciding to go back to school and get an HS Degree. After all, working for minimum wage sucked. 3 university degrees later and here I am. My life credo has been “Enjoy the Journey.” If you are doing something that you do not enjoy doing, you are doing it wrong. I think it is the readiness for death, the understanding of death, that has made life more purposeful, more meaningful, and more worth living. I find the idea of waiting for something amorphous event in the future abhorrent. When death comes for me, it will have to chase me down. I have things to do and miles to go before I sleep. And miles to go before I sleep.
Here is a perspective for you. Someone who knows how to live moment to moment. Someone who really faced life. It is after all, life we face, and not death. (WARNING!) Nick is a Christian. He did less preaching early in his career.
One of my favorite motivational speakers, happens to be Christian. I think he was less so early in his speaking career. Nick Vujicic "No Arms, No Legs, No Worries!
Fuck mate, I know about Nick for a very long time, but this kid above, fuck I cried watching that.
I know what you mean, I can’t bear to see children in any kind of pain.
Epidermolysis Bullosa Affects more than 500,000 people worldwide apparently. There is a new treatment on the horizon though, but sadly no known cure.
"EB is a rare genetic disease that causes the skin to blister and peel at the slightest touch, leaving open wounds that may never heal and skin infections which can lead to sepsis and death.
Children with EB are sometimes referred to as ‘butterfly children’ because their skin is as fragile as a butterfly’s wings. In severe cases, the blisters can also occur inside the body, such as the lining of the stomach.
While there is no known cure, University of South Australia scientists are developing a monoclonal antibody therapy that can heal both internal and external wounds simultaneously – a groundbreaking therapy that has never been attempted anywhere else in the world.
UniSA Regenerative Medicine Professor Allison Cowin says the treatment could be “life changing” for patients, leading to fewer infections, less pain, improved nutrition, and a far better quality of life.
“The aim is to inject patients with this drug, specifically targeting a protein which is present at high levels in the wounds of patients with EB, impairing healing,” Prof Cowin says. “The drug should neutralise this protein, allowing the wounds to heal better.”"
I don’t want to imagine what the parents go through every day, watching their child suffer, and not be able to stop it.
Indeed, and good reference to a Robert Frost poem, one of my favourites.
All through my thrill-seeking years, whenever I would tell my friends, family, and so forth about a recent “near-miss” adventure, the inevitable question would always be, “Why do you do such crazy things? You could get killed.” And my typical answer would be something along the lines of those fantastic words spoken by Al Pacino in the movie “Heat”. Basically, “You could get killed walking your doggie.” What a horribly tragic way to go out, in my opinion. So sad. And I have known SO MANY people who are so terrified of death that they have lived their entire lives “playing it safe” and never experiencing what it truly feels like to actually LIVE. Then they end up dying from some type of mundane illness or maybe get killed by a car crashing into their living room as they sit in their underwear in front of the television taking notes on the latest health food trend. EGAD! 
But, hey, at least they died healthy, right? 
Anyway, time and time again I have seen reports or heard stories about people getting killed while performing some type of extreme stunt or participating in a risky activity, and they are almost always labeled as being a “tragic death.” Makes me cringe every time, because in my mind they are NOT tragic deaths. More often than not, the individuals involved were doing the thing that made them happy and made them feel alive. They took a chance to actually LIVE. Personally, I always told my family and friends that if I ever got killed while involved in one of the many activities they considered “dangerous”, DO NOT EVER call it a tragedy. It would be insulting to me. I went out either doing something I enjoyed and it brought me pleasure, and/or it was something I felt was necessary to be done and worth the risk of doing. To me, that is not tragic. Basically, my motto has pretty much always been: “The only tragic death is the death of somebody who has never truly lived.”
Sure, in my current life, it very well may be that I kick the bucket in some mediocre mundane manner. Oh, well. So be it should it happen that way. But at least I have the satisfaction of knowing my life was full of fun and adventure that most people will never have the joy of experiencing. 
Well, you saw the thread I created on that dipshit Christian. The one who visited an island full of known hostile natives. And ended up pinned to a beach in the same way a lepidopterist pins butterflies to a wall. Can you even imagine the thread I would have created had you choked to death on one of those stupid spicy hot pepper chips? 
Hell, that would have kept me laughing until my grave… (Just saying… friends after all should be honest with one another.)
Amen brother…
I am completely in agreement. I have for a long time rejected the crybaby bullshit put out when someone dies as a result of voluntarily engaging in extremely risky behavior.
Oh the poor guy was killed in an avalanche while skiing in a remote area known for…AVALANCHES.
Damn, poor bastard was killed in a racing accident and he was only going 127 MPH
(204 kmh)…what a tragedy!
I had a friend who died outrunning the police in a non street-legal souped up Camero many years ago. He would take the thundering beast out of a garage in the wee hours of the morning, so as to avoid any traffic. He had done this many times before, and the thrill of attempting 150mph on a public road was just to much to resist.
While saddened by the absence of our friend, those who knew him had an inner “smile” for the fact of him dying in such an appropriate manner, given his near obsession with racing and challenging authority.
Wrapping his car around a bridge abutment at 130+ mph was a fitting conclusion and definitely preferable to him, over dying 30 years later in a nursing home shitting himself…
I would have laughed harder if he had shat himself to death after eating them…Can you imagine the memes? He would have had a Topic all to himself for months.
Glad it didn’t happen tho’, Cleaning up after Cog is enough.
I would expect nothing less, and I would have been extremely honored. 
If my death can bring laughter and happiness to somebody, then so much the better. 
Believe me, there were a couple of moments during the aftermath I had been WISHING I would die.
Like I’ve always said, if you’ve gotta go out, might as well be while doing something you enjoy. Can’t ask for much better than that.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand. I’m intrigued by the different perspectives here. Is the fear of death a universal human condition, or just a theological hangover from our religious days? And can atheism offer a comforting perspective on mortality, or are we left to navigate these existential waters alone?
No. There are cultures that celebrate or just accept death.
The fear of DYING is more likely to be more popular.
I do not fear death, there is nothing there for me to fear, the process of dying in a hospital or nursing home, helpless, incontinent yet able to experience every indignity the medical world deems to inflict? That terrifies me.
If you are talking about christianity? The fear of death was introduced in that theology to coerce the population into obedience. It has no effect on a nonbeliever.
Atheism has no view on morality. Atheism is a single issue, the belief or not, in the claims for a deity.
All humans are alone. Even with crowds all chanting the same words…one is alone. Your thoughts are yours.
In the end, we all die alone.
Indeed we do. When we die, it’s lights out and I’m totally fine with that. It’s better than what the Christians have dreamed up.
We all die alone? What does that even mean?
I’ve held the hand of someone as they died. She wasn’t alone, I was with her. People in a fatal plane crash are not alone, they all die together. If, while sitting here typing this I should die, I would not feel alone.
I don’t understand why people think anyone dies alone…unless they were alone in life.
Your death is your own. The only person dying in your skin is you. No one goes with you.
Holding a person’s hand is holding their hand. No different from hugging them before they get on the train. You are left standing on the platform waving goodbye.
I’m sorry, but the journey is ‘Alone.’ That does not negate the comfort you gave to the person upon their departure. The fact is, you die alone. Your death is yours and yours alone.
Each person in a fatal plane crash dies their death. No one is in your body, sharing your death with you. You are, in fact, alone in this world. Everyone is alone in life. Your thoughts are unique, and yours. Your life is unique and yours. All your perceptions are unique and yours. No person can ever crawl into your skin and be with you or understand you 100% You are, and have always been, alone. Your brain, thoughts, and choices are uniquely yours. Your skin is a boundary that no other human may ever cross.
This may be the very reason we seek to be connected to others. It may be the very reason we pretend we are somehow connected to others. We are not.
Let’s look at love. When someone loves you, it is not ‘THEIR LOVE’ you feel. You feel your own sense of love. Your feeling of being loved comes from you. Not from them. Imagine how horrible life would be if this were not the case. Every crazy person who ever loved you would have a horrible emotional impact on your psyche if you were to actually feel the insanity of their love. And what of those people who hate you? Can you imagine feeling their hate? You are isolated from all other people. You are protected from their emotions and their thoughts. You are protected even if they share them with you. You cannot feel another person’s emotions. You empathize by imagining yourself in the same situation and then feeling your own emotions.
You die alone. (Sorry if this is terse, I scribbled it between classes.)
Well, I suppose you could look at it that way. I, however, don’t think I’ll die alone. To me, alone in this situation is a feeling. I don’t feel alone now. I doubt I’ll feel alone at the moment of my death. So, although biologically I am an individual, a one, who I am has connections to others. I am not alone.
Feeling alone and being alone are different things. I am alone. I never feel alone. I have a sense of belonging to the universe. I am not alone because everyone is in the exact same place I am. We are all living our lives and doing the same things. People try to get along in this existence as best they can. Pretending not to be alone is just one more way of doing it.
You’ll never know what another person is truly feeling. Even if they look the part, act the part. Even expressively tell you what they’re feeling: You can never be absolutely sure what you’re feeling is the same.
I have thought this way since I was in my 20s. I did a quick search, and it appears Alex Huxly has much to say about it. I think it is tied into Buddhism somehow. You are not your hands, legs, body, or mind.
I didn’t read all of this, but it seems to be on target after a quick scan.