Acceptance of Coming Death

I'll be 80 in a couple of months. I recently attended my younger Sister's funeral, and looking at her body in the casket was a bit of a shock, and made me realize that my time probably isn't that far away. I try to keep busy, and not dwell on the inevitable too much, but I'm pretty much ready to face it. In some respects, I look forward to what happens when this old body finally wears out.....and hope that the theories of an "afterlife" are true.
 
Death comes to us all, over 80 or under it ........ as we do not know when it will arrive.

A woman in my family [years back] was told @ 80 that she had cancer and not likely too long to go.

She was a heavy smoker, never stopped .... she drank [I was told] about a pint of Four Roses p/day..... and she was a small woman. She died @ 102 , tripped over her cat, fell down a flight of stairs & broke her neck. ................ We never know.
 

I don't know if this will give you hope or not.

I did encounter a man who had an NDE. Vietnam combat vet. Air Force. Shot down and near death.

It was interesting and odd hearing him.

I mean, he had a very disciplined, very military demeanor. Kind of the last person you would expect to tell you this.

That alone was powerful.

I have to say, that being next to him, when he reported it...while he was saying it, I had zero doubt he was telling the truth.

Only later when my mind was wandering around to where ever it goes, did some doubt come in.

To me it seems like the mind's default position is doubt.

And I think that itself is quite a huge bias.


There are You Tube videos of Eben Alexander. He is a neuroscientist who had an NDE. The scary / interesting thing about him is that he reviewed the medical records and could see that at the time he saw the images of the afterlife, his brain was so filled with inflammation and illness, that it could not have produced the kind of images he saw.

So, that would mean that the images he saw were not produced from the brain.


+++++++++


I had carbon monoxide poisoning in 2003. I was close to death for 4 months. The first few weeks were horrible. And then, somehow, some peace just came upon me and I just accepted that I was going to pass. After that, things were much easier.

I stopped fighting and just somehow saw death as natural? I don't know that I am describing it all that well. But it was much different than I would have thought about it.
 
Many who have aged, withering away into a stooping, hunched over, frail, unbeautiful, little valued ignored, DNA aged elderly person have little in that state to want to live any longer as. But almost all would likely choose to continue to live if they magically would change back to the healthy, fit body they had when younger even middle aged. And would otherwise if so with great distress greatly avoid losing their life. So in effect, it is that aging sadly negates their life worth living values.

This person greatly fears and hates the notion of mortal organic death, so hopes without knowing certainty, that an UIE will store, and transfer my electromagnetic mind into an effective non-organic impedance matching container for eternal life. The greatest possible reward for a life well lived imaginable. And one I'm am expecting Jesus was the UIE tool for. Otherwise this science knowledgeable person, expects any mortal lifeform that is not so saved is lost eternally forever decaying naturally into lifeless dust matter just like that ant you unknowingly stepped on. Although many marginally religious have a hope some magic like "spirit" in some invisible dimension or plane of existence goes floating around after leaving any creature's lifeless body, such is scientific action without forces non-sense without possible enormously amazing god or UIE technology. Any Ultimate Intelligent Entity capable of saving my electromagnetic mind joyfully for eternity, even though they exist in a universe where they are not all powerful without limitations, I would have no problem calling God because that is what matters most.
 
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I've got 5 years to go before I'm 80 but will answer anyhow. I'm not afraid of dying but pray it's not a horrible or painful death. I believe in the afterlife and @JonSR77 I believe people do have near death experiences (NDEs). I read of one such man who was on the operating table. It seems that there was a curtain set up between where the doctors came in and out and the operating table. One of the doctors always did this little dance (it was reported) and was behind the curtain when he did it. They felt they had lost the patient but revived him. After he was revived, one of the things he described was floating above his body and seeing the doctor dancing. He could not have seen that from his vantage point on the table and was given anesthesia anyway before coding.

Might I say, senior citizens are not the only ones dying en masse these days. Over the last couple of years I've seen so many who have died in my son's age range and my grandsons' age ranges. Many were from diseases such as cancer and heart disease. My DIL who would have been 55 at the end of June is now among them. She used to get so distressed because not only did she lose one of her nephews (her twin's son), which devastated her, so many of her and my son's friends had died over the past two and a half years. Little did she know that she and her twin sister would be added to that heartbreaking list! :cry:
 
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When I decided to single hand my way across the Pacific in my boat, I would say to people who feared I might die that it was something I needed to do, and at age 62 there wasn't going to be much worth living for after that anyway. I said it in good humor, but there was a bit of sincerity in it too. Looking back at that quip now at age 78, it was some really dumb ass thing to say. While some of the things I enjoyed are now beyond my reach, there are things I enjoy now that for some reason, I was incapable of when I was younger. I would say the best way to make the most of this life is not to fear death, but to enjoy our short time here. Crippled and infirm may be something else. I'm not there yet, but I could understand welcoming death under some circumstances. I'll worry about that later.
 
When I decided to single hand my way across the Pacific in my boat, I would say to people who feared I might die that it was something I needed to do, and at age 62 there wasn't going to be much worth living for after that anyway. I said it in good humor, but there was a bit of sincerity in it too. Looking back at that quip now at age 78, it was some really dumb ass thing to say. While some of the things I enjoyed are now beyond my reach, there are things I enjoy now that for some reason, I was incapable of when I was younger. I would say the best way to make the most of this life is not to fear death, but to enjoy our short time here. Crippled and infirm may be something else. I'm not there yet, but I could understand welcoming death under some circumstances. I'll worry about that later.

Congrats on that single hand across the Pacific! Impressive! Wonderful!
 
Just turning 70 this year, so a bit short of you, but I know and have long ago accepted that it will end some day. No idea when or how.

Death and birth are two of the least planned events in our lives. Unless we choose to end it early, which most don't we have little or no control over death, no reason to worry about it. Planning for it and what you leave behind however is important.
 
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How do the rest of you over 80 group feel about your coming death?
I'm only 73, but looking rather forward to it

I put verse to a pic from our mountain cabin

80XILkF.png
 
Once I lost both my parents, I realized that death was inevitable. I come from a large family of 10 siblings and sometimes I wonder which of us will be the first to cross over. My health has rapidly deteriorated since 2018, and lots of time I find I am not dreading or fearing it as much as I used to!
 
Many of us in the 80's and 90's face a certainty of death in the near future. I accept death as inevitable and the end of all pain and suffering so look forward to it. I don't fear it at all. How do the rest of you over 80 group feel about your coming death?
Not worried about it at all, we have everything taken care of . Will in place, home paid off, car too.
 
Death happens. We know that what we don't know is when, where & how. So no reason to fear death.

My only reality is if I should go before my wife [which I expect to happen] is the pain of loss she will suffer. As of now 60 years together sharing everything to be suddenly not there will be hard for her.

Were debt free, no mortgage, no credit card debt, no car payments, home & appliances updated to new. I have an outline drawn up for many of the things she will need to know to be able transition smoothly. Little things like when to change the water filters in the refrigerators or the air filters in the HVAC system. Major things like conversion of the accounts to her name. <--- that should be automatic but knowing & being able to make sure is a must. Even something so basic as calling 911 to request EMT's & police should I die in my sleep.

For me too if she should go 1st.
 
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I'm well past 80 and know death is just around the corner. I have lived a full life, some ups, many downs but I have always done my best to cope whatever the situation. I'm ready whenever whoever makes those decisions decides its time. I hope I simply do not wake up one morning but how I go is not really my decision. If the misery of living gets to be too much to bear, I'll make other arrangements.
 

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