staring at the sun overcoming the terror of death

I am grateful to many who have helped along the way. These pages contain what I have learned about overcoming the terror of death from my own experience, my work with my patients, and the thoughts of those writers who have informed my work.

I share the fear of death with every human being: it is our dark shadow from which we are never severed. Instead, this is a deeply personal book stemming from my confrontation with death. But would you not miss that part of you? We're not all dumb enough to think an eternal afterlife were desirable.This book is not, and cannot be, a compendium of thoughts about death, for throughout the millennia, every serious writer has addressed human mortality. Something that could be removed from you to let you exist forever. They say its a part of you that makes you see it this way. No eternity would ever fail to become a hell. A concept of compete non-existance can be unimaginably comforting if you open your mind. There's a lot of comfort to take away from that. Perhaps it just works out that way for virtue of not being malicious, but maybe not.Īll the struggle, all the torment, all the subjectivity to make you a victim, all the subjectivity to make you guilty, all the lies, all the losses, all the bad memories, all the fleeting good memories all go away in the end. It is tho as if whatever force behind the creation-evolution of life, didnt want the resentment of life. A fear of death is the strongest tool nature ever found to keep life going. It's not necessarily a good thing to encourage. Life will do this to you eventually all on it's own. Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death. “The Makropulos Case: Reflections on the Tedium of Immortality.” Problems of the Self. Annihilation: The Sense and Significance of Death. (Founded by Professor Masahiro Morioka, Osaka Prefecture University.) International Network for Life Studies.'One Way to Handle Grief: Just Get Over It.' The Washington Post. 'Posthumous Interest and Posthumous Respect.' Ethics. 'Death.' Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. “Epicurus and the Harm of Death.” Australasian Journal of Philosophy. “The Termination Thesis.” Midwest Studies in Philosophy. 'Definition of Death.' Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 60-Second Philosopher (seek to 4:55): Ian Shoales leads a whirlwind tour through a range of philosophical thoughts on the rationality of fearing death, from James Boswell and David Hume, to Mormonism, to Lucretius, and – finally – the analogy between pre-existence and pre-school.William talks about peaceful passings, faith, terror, and the meaning of death. Roving Philosophical Report (seek to 6:50): Zoe Corneli interviews William Lure, who has spent years working in end of life care.John and Ken end with concluding remarks: John tells a mediocre joke, Ken quotes Shakespeare. He discusses dealing with those dealing with death, models of a good death, and how he, as a therapist, deals with his own death (namely, by getting more therapy). Ken and John then let an adoring audience flood Irv with questions. He focuses on the importance of dealing with regrets from the past, and preventing them in the future. The last section begins with a question for Irv: how does he, as a therapist, help those who fear death? Irv discusses how he works through his own thoughts on death, and the kinds of discussions he has with patients about philosophy, dreams, and regrets. They then discuss the fear of everything surrounding death: even if we can convince ourselves not to fear death, how can we avoid fearing pain, regret, and loss of cognitive capacities? What about the right to die, when you want to die? If there is nothing after death, does that make life meaningless? They discuss the implications of Lucretius’ old (very old – from ancient Greece) ‘symmetry argument’. When we hit big birthdays or get hit by severe illness, how should we respond? What attitudes are healthy and life affirming, and what attitudes are paralyzing? Ken, John and Irv talk about the rational bases of various responses. John kicks off the show by criticizing its title: who says that death is terror inducing? Why imply that this terror is a bad thing, and overcoming this terror is a good thing? Ken and John start off the discussion with Irv Yalom by asking when fear of death kicks in, and how it kicks in.

Staring at the sun overcoming the terror of death