death

[SCMKenzie]

due to resent events and just due to my always questioning personality I've been thinking of death allot not of what happens to me once i die but what happens to everyone i guess. like is death just a stage of life as birth, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and then death, are there still more stages after death, could death just be another passage way to being born in a different plane with its own stages. in some part of the bible (don't know were) they describe hell as a robbery of all senses this place you cant see you cant feel, cant hear cant speak all u can do is think as it appears your all alone. i guess hell is like a time out taken to the next level, if there is a heaven does everyone get there own personal heaven or is it like an actual place that just stands as an idealistic place of perfection, but perfection can be twisted, for instance or world is perfect not perfectly good or bad just perfectly balanced you could say, what if were in a second plane of life and our world is a haven to our previous reality and there is this cycle of life with death as a dividing line, like u want what you cant have, in the bible (again I've just heard this passage read don't know were it is) it says that the streets are paved with gold, in our world gold is of great value, but in our heaven gold is so easy to come by its used to walk on, what if once you die in this world you are re born in "heaven" and u live in that world with opposite material possessions like asphalt is priceless along with glass or plastic, common materials in our world, and yeah im taking this idea too far but yeah death is so feared because what lies behind it is unknown, death strikes me at a strange angle for me it kinda hard to grasp that im not going to see the person ever again, or hear their voice, or talk about that person with a purely happy smile on my face.

[iKatieMacK!]

To add a semi-secular viewpoint I'd like to say, we are not original beings, our atoms and molecules were once the atoms and molecules of something else, a flower, a dinosaur, another person, dirt even. And once we die, our atoms and molecules become part of something else again. In a way, this is reincarnation, but our concious mind is not aware of our "past lives". If you haven't read Siddartha by Herman Hesse, take a look at that book, it really helped me put things into a clearer perspective and I hope it does the same for you.

[Walker P. Boyle]

I must make a correction I believe the streets in the Kingdom were paved in gold when New Jerusalem holds its place on earth, but again it's not an up out and beyond thing. This was when people believed after the fall of man and the return of the Messiah heaven would be on earth.

[Walker P. Boyle]

I had a good friend of mine refer to death as the only truely physical feature of Life. And as hard as it may be to realize that's it our body moves through stages that inevitably lead there. We are in a sense constantly in the process of dieing. That being said a few of your facts about the biblical portrayal of death are a bit skewed. That experienceless place you were referring to is called Sheol and it's an old testament thing. When they still believed in the physical resurrection of the body. That's where you were in the meantime between life and resurrection. As far as the streets being paved with gold. I must say I've not read the entire Bible, but it is mentioned no where. This was conveyed to me through the single greatest class I've ever taken in my life Meaning of Death. The imagery we have of as a place with gold streets and this and that come from a Victorian era novel by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps entitled The Gates Ajar. Regardless, Death is some shit. Once it's realized we are in fact going to die I personally feel is the point when we actually begin to Live. Because, yes faith is there, but if you're a perpetually skeptical person like myself all Death implies is UNKNOWN. We have no effing clue, so given that we should live our life to the fullest. Another text you might be interested in if you're a reader, even if you're not for that matter is Evans-Wentz translation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and if you have the option try to get the one with the introduction by Karl Jung. Seriously the footnotes and introductions and what not are almost more valuable than the text itself. One thing I like to think regarding Death is it hasn't gotten me yet, however I know I hold no place of privilege so therefore I must live for all those who did not make it as far as I have into this splendid journey that is Life. be Easy my friend.

[DJ Schro]

Don't fear death, just make the best of your time and interactions while you and your loved ones are here. Use those thoughts to push you harder everyday, knowing that one day, that chance won't be there anymore. After all, the only thing guaranteed in our life, is death.
I may be wrong but I feel that one aspect of faith is that it allows believers to not be so fearful of their last moments. That is if your lucky enough to know when that time IS.