Friends, many of us shudder at the mention of death, and indeed in some cultures I know it is taboo to even mention it. They argue mentioning death spells bad omen. Since, I don’t agree with them, I think death is a good thing and that we can’t live fully if we don’t appreciate the fact that we are here for a brief moment after which we will return to the deep abyss of nothingness from whence we had come. I don’t know about you, but my feeling is that dying is a good thing though I can’t say this authoritatively since I have not experienced death to be able to decisively describe how it feels to die.
In our times, I find Eric at Choice in dying to be one person, there could be many others, who argues for a good death, the philosopher’s death. A death that one chooses the way to die, to put differently, one takes matters into their own hands and become what, for lack of a better word, I will call god. It is this death as Socrates many years before us chose to die rather than to continue living after being sentenced by a jury of his peers for what was called by some of his accusers, corrupting the minds of the young men of Athens. It is the same death Cicero preferred to living as a slave and writes in his letters to his friend Atticus and his brother Quintus while in exile that he’d rather he kills himself if there is no hope of returning to the republic than to live in disgrace.
I find this words of Nietzsche to be agreeable to me in support of a good death, death on our terms.
To die proudly when it is no longer possible to live proudly. Death freely chosen, a death at the right time, brightly and cheerfully accomplished amid children and witnesses; then a real farewell is still possible, as the one who is taking leave is still there; also a real estimate of what one has achieved and what one has wished, drawing the sum of one’s life- all in opposition to the wretched and revolting comedy that Christianity has made of the hour of death. One should never forget that Christianity has exploited the weakness of the dying for a rape of the conscience and the manner of death itself, for value judgments about man and the past.
Here it is important to defy all the cowardice of prejudice and to establish, above all, the real, that is the physiological, appreciation of so-called natural death- which is in the end also “unnatural”, a kind of suicide. One never perishes through anybody but oneself But usually it is death under the most contemptible conditions, an unfree death, death not at the right time, a coward’s death. From love of live, one should desire a different death; free, conscious, without accident, without ambush.
I have always felt that the if and when of the hour of death should be left to the individual and not the arbitrary manipulation of authority, whether secular or sacred. Great post, friend!
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The problem must have started with the Hebrews and all god believers when they claimed man got his life from the gods. This in essence meant that choosing to end your life was seen as a defiance to the gods and this we must change.
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Nothing would shake the foundations of our societies more than people loosing their fear of death.
Great post, Noel!
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Thanks John and you are right. Once we overcome the fear of death, the gods will be shown goodbye for eternity and I hope to live to see this happen!
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Have you ever heard of a TV program called Logan’s Run?
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Nope! Let me see if I can see anything on youtube about it.
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Long story short: in the future people, when they reach a certain age, are ceremonially killed in a great arena. they love it. The crowds cheers. death is celebrated.
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30
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Arch, while you’re here… i got an email alert for your new post but there’s no link to it… I read it, but i read it as the email
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That’s strange, John – others got the same email and went right to it. Would you mind forwarding it to me at the email address I gave you? If there’s a problem with the program, I need to get with the company that hosts my site and get it fixed. Ask Mak if his had a link —
The new post is at http://in-his-own-image.com/2013/04/15/20130415.aspx
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Just sent the email
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Back at you —
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Sadly, I subscribed to get emails and I don’t usually get any but then I visit the site regularly to see new postings.
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I have just the Wikipedia description. I think I should look for the movie, must be an interesting one.
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There’s a sinister side to it, but the concept really struck me as a kid.
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I believe it was a movie first – you may have better luck finding that.
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Starring Michael York —
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Thanks, I will look for the movie.
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Peter Ustinov also had a cameo near the end – everyone was amazed to see what someone over 30 looked like —
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Yes it is a great post.One should be free to choose when it is time to leave. While I am certain that we feel this way when death is not imminent, I am not sure that is the case for those who stare death in the face. I am currently witnessing the struggle to stay alive even though it can scarcely be called living.
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Thanks for the kind words!
I think there are few people who have chosen to take matters into their own hands so to speak. Last week on choiceindying.com, an interview was attached of a lady who had decided to quit when she still could control her motor actions than to wait to be wasted by disease. So I think it is possible, we must just change how we view death.
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I agree. To assume one has control over death before hand, will go a long way in establishing the course of action later.
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We all should be sure that when the time comes to close the curtains, we can end it on our terms. I don’t what this feeling will bring to life but I hope it is a good one.
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I am with you.
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“The coward dies a thousand times before his death, the valiant taste of death but once.”
— Shakespeare —
“Julius Caesar”
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This is true about so many!
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“Christians fear death because they don’t really believe in heaven”
Oh, memes, how I love you.
Personally, as long as no god is real, as I believe is the case, death is of no consequence to me.
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It shouldn’t be.
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What shouldn’t be?
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I agreed with you that for those who have no beliefs in gods, death is of no consequence.
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Ah~ ~_~ Cool!
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