Interesting article on giving up the ghost

scabaskiblio · Nov 8, 2007

I think that it is a good article. Death is something we must all acknowledge as inevitable. I think as people with CF it is something we have probably thought about more than others, and in this sense I think we probably have a more rational attitude about it. I certainly don't want to die, but I don't think I am afraid to die. And like the CFer in the article, I think when the time comes I will somehow "know" and have resigned myself to it.
I think the problem with the way death is conceived of in the common imagination is a problem of language, words being the associative devices we use to locate our feelings, beliefs and ideas. We refer to it in terms like (in the article) " a prison" or "the end", we shroud it in dark and morose imagery, we lend it power to scare us, because we don't understand it. Well, there are lots of things we don't understand. We shouldn't allow our ignorance to become our fear. It is ignorance that assigns the terms we do to death. If we learned how to work through our ignorance and not let it paralyze us, I think we'd find that the unknown isn't that bad, and in fact is kind of intriguing. The only reason I prefer life to death is because I know life and I don't know death, but it doesn't automatically render life as good and death as bad.
I think the point of the article is this: we should think about death. We should look at it directly even if it makes us uncomfortable as it did the author when it was written on the seminar's whiteboard. If we don't, it has power over us, controlling our every thought and action, directly or indirectly.
I guess I think about death a lot. Not in a morose way, but as an idea, a possibility. What do other people think? I don't mean to be depressing here. Sorry.
v.

scabaskiblio · Nov 8, 2007

I think that it is a good article. Death is something we must all acknowledge as inevitable. I think as people with CF it is something we have probably thought about more than others, and in this sense I think we probably have a more rational attitude about it. I certainly don't want to die, but I don't think I am afraid to die. And like the CFer in the article, I think when the time comes I will somehow "know" and have resigned myself to it.
I think the problem with the way death is conceived of in the common imagination is a problem of language, words being the associative devices we use to locate our feelings, beliefs and ideas. We refer to it in terms like (in the article) " a prison" or "the end", we shroud it in dark and morose imagery, we lend it power to scare us, because we don't understand it. Well, there are lots of things we don't understand. We shouldn't allow our ignorance to become our fear. It is ignorance that assigns the terms we do to death. If we learned how to work through our ignorance and not let it paralyze us, I think we'd find that the unknown isn't that bad, and in fact is kind of intriguing. The only reason I prefer life to death is because I know life and I don't know death, but it doesn't automatically render life as good and death as bad.
I think the point of the article is this: we should think about death. We should look at it directly even if it makes us uncomfortable as it did the author when it was written on the seminar's whiteboard. If we don't, it has power over us, controlling our every thought and action, directly or indirectly.
I guess I think about death a lot. Not in a morose way, but as an idea, a possibility. What do other people think? I don't mean to be depressing here. Sorry.
v.

scabaskiblio · Nov 8, 2007

I think that it is a good article. Death is something we must all acknowledge as inevitable. I think as people with CF it is something we have probably thought about more than others, and in this sense I think we probably have a more rational attitude about it. I certainly don't want to die, but I don't think I am afraid to die. And like the CFer in the article, I think when the time comes I will somehow "know" and have resigned myself to it.
I think the problem with the way death is conceived of in the common imagination is a problem of language, words being the associative devices we use to locate our feelings, beliefs and ideas. We refer to it in terms like (in the article) " a prison" or "the end", we shroud it in dark and morose imagery, we lend it power to scare us, because we don't understand it. Well, there are lots of things we don't understand. We shouldn't allow our ignorance to become our fear. It is ignorance that assigns the terms we do to death. If we learned how to work through our ignorance and not let it paralyze us, I think we'd find that the unknown isn't that bad, and in fact is kind of intriguing. The only reason I prefer life to death is because I know life and I don't know death, but it doesn't automatically render life as good and death as bad.
I think the point of the article is this: we should think about death. We should look at it directly even if it makes us uncomfortable as it did the author when it was written on the seminar's whiteboard. If we don't, it has power over us, controlling our every thought and action, directly or indirectly.
I guess I think about death a lot. Not in a morose way, but as an idea, a possibility. What do other people think? I don't mean to be depressing here. Sorry.
v.

scabaskiblio · Nov 8, 2007

I think that it is a good article. Death is something we must all acknowledge as inevitable. I think as people with CF it is something we have probably thought about more than others, and in this sense I think we probably have a more rational attitude about it. I certainly don't want to die, but I don't think I am afraid to die. And like the CFer in the article, I think when the time comes I will somehow "know" and have resigned myself to it.
I think the problem with the way death is conceived of in the common imagination is a problem of language, words being the associative devices we use to locate our feelings, beliefs and ideas. We refer to it in terms like (in the article) " a prison" or "the end", we shroud it in dark and morose imagery, we lend it power to scare us, because we don't understand it. Well, there are lots of things we don't understand. We shouldn't allow our ignorance to become our fear. It is ignorance that assigns the terms we do to death. If we learned how to work through our ignorance and not let it paralyze us, I think we'd find that the unknown isn't that bad, and in fact is kind of intriguing. The only reason I prefer life to death is because I know life and I don't know death, but it doesn't automatically render life as good and death as bad.
I think the point of the article is this: we should think about death. We should look at it directly even if it makes us uncomfortable as it did the author when it was written on the seminar's whiteboard. If we don't, it has power over us, controlling our every thought and action, directly or indirectly.
I guess I think about death a lot. Not in a morose way, but as an idea, a possibility. What do other people think? I don't mean to be depressing here. Sorry.
v.

scabaskiblio · Nov 8, 2007

I think that it is a good article. Death is something we must all acknowledge as inevitable. I think as people with CF it is something we have probably thought about more than others, and in this sense I think we probably have a more rational attitude about it. I certainly don't want to die, but I don't think I am afraid to die. And like the CFer in the article, I think when the time comes I will somehow "know" and have resigned myself to it.
I think the problem with the way death is conceived of in the common imagination is a problem of language, words being the associative devices we use to locate our feelings, beliefs and ideas. We refer to it in terms like (in the article) " a prison" or "the end", we shroud it in dark and morose imagery, we lend it power to scare us, because we don't understand it. Well, there are lots of things we don't understand. We shouldn't allow our ignorance to become our fear. It is ignorance that assigns the terms we do to death. If we learned how to work through our ignorance and not let it paralyze us, I think we'd find that the unknown isn't that bad, and in fact is kind of intriguing. The only reason I prefer life to death is because I know life and I don't know death, but it doesn't automatically render life as good and death as bad.
I think the point of the article is this: we should think about death. We should look at it directly even if it makes us uncomfortable as it did the author when it was written on the seminar's whiteboard. If we don't, it has power over us, controlling our every thought and action, directly or indirectly.
I guess I think about death a lot. Not in a morose way, but as an idea, a possibility. What do other people think? I don't mean to be depressing here. Sorry.
v.

LisaV · Nov 8, 2007

Interesting article.

Sat with both my parents and my second husband as they died. All 3 of them had refused extra equipment to keep them alive (no vents, tubes, etc). Their deaths were faster than the ones described in this paper - and quite peaceful.

I remember reading a book "The Tibetan Book of the Dead" that suggested that our life was a continual practice of letting go so we would be "masters" for our final act of letting go, dying.

LisaV · Nov 8, 2007

Interesting article.

Sat with both my parents and my second husband as they died. All 3 of them had refused extra equipment to keep them alive (no vents, tubes, etc). Their deaths were faster than the ones described in this paper - and quite peaceful.

I remember reading a book "The Tibetan Book of the Dead" that suggested that our life was a continual practice of letting go so we would be "masters" for our final act of letting go, dying.

LisaV · Nov 8, 2007

Interesting article.

Sat with both my parents and my second husband as they died. All 3 of them had refused extra equipment to keep them alive (no vents, tubes, etc). Their deaths were faster than the ones described in this paper - and quite peaceful.

I remember reading a book "The Tibetan Book of the Dead" that suggested that our life was a continual practice of letting go so we would be "masters" for our final act of letting go, dying.

LisaV · Nov 8, 2007

Interesting article.

Sat with both my parents and my second husband as they died. All 3 of them had refused extra equipment to keep them alive (no vents, tubes, etc). Their deaths were faster than the ones described in this paper - and quite peaceful.

I remember reading a book "The Tibetan Book of the Dead" that suggested that our life was a continual practice of letting go so we would be "masters" for our final act of letting go, dying.

LisaV · Nov 8, 2007

Interesting article.

Sat with both my parents and my second husband as they died. All 3 of them had refused extra equipment to keep them alive (no vents, tubes, etc). Their deaths were faster than the ones described in this paper - and quite peaceful.

I remember reading a book "The Tibetan Book of the Dead" that suggested that our life was a continual practice of letting go so we would be "masters" for our final act of letting go, dying.

JazzysMom · Nov 8, 2007