Death
Its_me_jen
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Salina, Ks
Posts: 8,547
Originally Posted by digderidoo 
My thoughts on death being imminent means that we have to value each and every moment.
Life is a journey, don't waste it, the final result is death.
I like the Buddhists meditation philosophy on death, if i'm not mistaken they live their life that death may occur today. Lets face it one day they will be right.
So, rather than fearing death, embrace it because it is going to happen, it's what you're going to do in the mean time that counts.
Life is a journey, don't waste it, the final result is death.
I like the Buddhists meditation philosophy on death, if i'm not mistaken they live their life that death may occur today. Lets face it one day they will be right.
So, rather than fearing death, embrace it because it is going to happen, it's what you're going to do in the mean time that counts.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Central, La.
Posts: 422
This topic has been so well covered with true insight by all, it is humbling to read. I feel afterlife, or not, we belong in the "now". To worry about the inevitable, diminishes our presence in the now. Worry of what was, or may be, takes a part of us away. The degree of that "part" being taken away depends upon how emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually fit we are. See "spiritually fit" any way you wish...it does not mean religion.....they are different things.
Seems too often we drift into worry (fear) and dwell there, become obsessed with it, delude ourselves into thinking worry will actually alter or influence the outcome, there is the futility, the waste, drinking (using) only amplifies/exaggerates it. If we cross the line and take life for naught, we express total self-centeredness, wrapped up in our "selves" it becomes nearly impossible to see anything positive in the world around us. How can we find any meaning in the world, or within ourselves, if we are imprisoned by negative (or positive) obsession(s)? Whether we grasp it or not, we are both positive and negative beings, when the positive and negative become out of balance our outlook on life is influenced accordingly. There is as much without as within.....too much either way, again, brings imbalance... Life is a gift, sometimes a curse, the outlook reflects our balance at the time. Transcend the opposites and accept all parts of being as they are, part of a larger whole. We may not be able to see it at the time, yet, if we try, a vision of that whole can be seen and at that moment I can be by myself, but I'm never alone.....:ghug3
Seems too often we drift into worry (fear) and dwell there, become obsessed with it, delude ourselves into thinking worry will actually alter or influence the outcome, there is the futility, the waste, drinking (using) only amplifies/exaggerates it. If we cross the line and take life for naught, we express total self-centeredness, wrapped up in our "selves" it becomes nearly impossible to see anything positive in the world around us. How can we find any meaning in the world, or within ourselves, if we are imprisoned by negative (or positive) obsession(s)? Whether we grasp it or not, we are both positive and negative beings, when the positive and negative become out of balance our outlook on life is influenced accordingly. There is as much without as within.....too much either way, again, brings imbalance... Life is a gift, sometimes a curse, the outlook reflects our balance at the time. Transcend the opposites and accept all parts of being as they are, part of a larger whole. We may not be able to see it at the time, yet, if we try, a vision of that whole can be seen and at that moment I can be by myself, but I'm never alone.....:ghug3
Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: UK
Posts: 1,415
Originally Posted by paulmh
Get over the afterlife BS. It's a jerk-off waste of time. You patronise religious people when you presume that they have it easy because they believe in an afterlife. They live and dream just like you - alone.
Paul -- I assume you didn't mean to be rude here but I'm not sure what you mean by it.
Paperdolls
Get over the afterlife BS. It's a jerk-off waste of time. You patronise religious people when you presume that they have it easy because they believe in an afterlife. They live and dream just like you - alone.
Paul -- I assume you didn't mean to be rude here but I'm not sure what you mean by it.
Paperdolls
I really don’t think there is an afterlife…so I’ve been feeling lately that it doesn’t matter what I do at all...like life is one huge exercise in futility. This is dangerous thinking, but I don’t know how to turn it around into something positive.
This is a huge reason why relapsing has been on my mind.
This is a huge reason why relapsing has been on my mind.
Yeah, probably a bit brusque. Sorry about that. I just wouldn't like to see someone drinking over something that can't be known. Is there an afterlife? I don't know. Will the existence of an afterlife, or its absence cause me to drink? No. Why not? Because It's very much in the category of "things I cannot change". It seems a shame that someone should be on the verge of a relapse because their mind is occupied with something that they can't really do anything with - which I suppose for me means it falls in the category of "********".
Bamboozle, sorry if I came off wrong - once again! I was tempted initially to respond to you about existentialism, since the question you express is at the heart of that particular school. But then I thought, actually that question is at the root of much philsophical enquiry - and existentialism can be pretty bleak. Funnily enough, much existentialist thought and recovery thought overlaps - the idea being that people, if they're lucky, have a moment of clarity (or awful clarity) about their precise state (breaking though denial and inauthenticity), and realise that they are solely responsible for the life they build. That responsibility is awful, immense - and reflects how we actually are in the universe, rather than a comfortable self-delusion. Reflecting the AA process of disengaging from self and with "the other" - or Higher Power.
I found this -
Group Psychotherapy with Addicted ... - Google Book Search
when looking for links between AA and existentialism - you'll have to excuse me, I use the terms "AA" and "recovery" as synonyms
- I hope it provides a bit of useful insight.
Last edited by paulmh; 03-03-2009 at 04:40 AM.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 26,425
it's strange that this thread is the one for this morning that got me centered and ready for the day!
Special thx to nocoincidence....just sorta poped me awake
Some one once told me during a particularly rough patch when i said that every morning the first thought i had was "why am i even alive today".....
She said that every person should ask that question in a very deep way every morning....
Actually when i started obsessing on these "deep philisophical question of life" (LOL).....I stopped obsessing on the boos......When i ran from these questions....i found my self obsessed with drinking or not drinking..both of which are not good places for me to be.
Special thx to nocoincidence....just sorta poped me awake
Some one once told me during a particularly rough patch when i said that every morning the first thought i had was "why am i even alive today".....
She said that every person should ask that question in a very deep way every morning....
Actually when i started obsessing on these "deep philisophical question of life" (LOL).....I stopped obsessing on the boos......When i ran from these questions....i found my self obsessed with drinking or not drinking..both of which are not good places for me to be.
Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Oxnard (The Nard), CA, USA.
Posts: 13,966
Originally Posted by Pagekeeper
The greatest selfishness is wanting to live forever, to believe that I am so important that I must not experience the most humbling moment of human existence--my own death. Because there will be no afterlife, I believe the life I have is precious, and that all life is precious.
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