The End Of Your Life

[avz]

The person in the question is 96 years old!

I feel that only somebody who has made it to 120 is qualified to give any sort of advice.

 

[ChemEngrMBA]

My Beloved Wife loves to watch Father Brown and I was impressed when the Father encountered a suicide victim.
Said the good Father, "That is the only unpardonable sin."

Your loved ones want you to join them in Paradise. Be sure you do. Stay here and do your duty, helping others all you can.

 

[Lioness~]

There’s no end to my life, there's an end and transitions of the physical form on earth, as it belongs to the earth - that’s it.
How life and its consciousness exists and evolves is a much larger question that has to do with more then life on Earth, and Earth is not my home planet 👽

 

[Huntn]

There’s no end to my life, there's an end and transitions of the physical form on earth, as it belongs to the earth - that’s it.
How life and its consciousness exists and evolves is a much larger question that has to do with more then life on Earth, and Earth is not my home planet 👽

I agree! And the rational is simple- I believe in purpose, without any proof, it seems obvious. The counter? Apologies if I’m repeating myself. If in an infinite time line we find ourselves with consciousness for the equivalent of a micro-second, and then go back to not existing, is there a point? Could it be chance, without any logic? Certainly, definitely beyond our understanding. But although I don’t, can’t believe in anything specific, the miracle of consciousness, would seem too special to be wasted on a micro-sec of it.
One other philosophical point, if 0-100 years is all anyone gets, why bother? Does anything matter at all, if we all end up not existing after a such a short stint of awareness? In contrast, I believe in the concept of a journey that has to be longer than a pitiful 100 years. I like it, and if I’m wrong, no harm done, mortal death is just returning to our natural state. 🙂

 

[Herdfan]

One other philosophical point, if 0-100 years is all anyone gets, why bother? Does anything matter at all, if we all end up not existing after a such a short stint of awareness? In contrast, I believe in the concept of a journey that has to be longer than a pitiful 100 years. I like it, and if I’m wrong, no harm done, mortal death is just returning to our natural state. 🙂

Someone once said that every 100 years you have an entirely new set of people. And for the most part, this is true.

I have never been one to worry about what happens to me when I am gone. My will states that I am to be cremated and my relatives are free to do with my ashes as they see fit. Don't care what happens to my "stuff" either. My mom wore me out in her last days over what I was going to do with the portrait of her father that hung in the living room. I mean this this is like 5x7 FEET. Keep in mind he died before I was born, so I never knew him. I had to promise her it wouldn't end up in a dumpster somewhere. As of now it is in storage in the corner of the storage building and most likely will remain there until I die and then my wife or daughter, who didn't make the promise, can throw it away.

I also think medical technology has outpaced some of its usefulness. Just because we can keep someone alive doesn't mean we should. Now in my grandfather's case, he died of a heart attack in 1964. Had that happened in 1984 and certainly in 2004 there is a good chance he would have survived it. But at the same time, my mother in her last days was suffering kidney failure and 10 days before she passed I was asked (I had medical POA) if I wanted to start dialysis. She was 93 on her way to 94, couldn't walk, couldn't clean herself, etc. So NO!

And while I do care of what effect my passing would have on my wife and daughter, that is only a concern I have while living. Once I am gone, I won't know.

 

[tonywalker23]

I know a little about death. When I was 10, I found my mother dead. My step-dad had shot her in the head. Years of abuse that ended on March 22, 1994. Of course, the image is seared in my brain and I think about it everyday. That moment is one of the lens/filters that has shaped how I view everything.

And myself, I had a medical episode on Feb 14, 2018 where for a few seconds I sincerely thought I was dying. I obviously didn’t, and it ended up not being serious, but for about 15 seconds or so, laying on the bed with all my senses and functions gone I looked at the window and thought, “well, this is it.” and waited...

I’m a Christian and a pastor and in ministry graduate school. Most pastors are around death a good bit. I have the “honor/priveldge” (I know that isn’t the right word but you know what I mean) of not only being a pastor who hopes to comfort people, but I also carry around with me the mental image of my mother dying the way she did and me finding her. And my theological leaning is toward seriousness and some of the puritan thoughts. I think about death because it is certain to happen, I won’t be able to stop it, and it faces every single person I come in contact with. And, similar to the comment above (though used the word consciousness and an alien emoji) I believe that when that happens that is not the end of a single person whom I have or ever will meet. As a Christian, my belief in the Bible shapes what I think about after this life. And, due to a personal experience I experienced in October 2005 I will never, can never, shall never deny what I experienced that night. Time and space here doesn’t allow, but if someone presented me with all the money in the world and tried to get me to deny what happened that night, I wouldn’t be able to do it. Keeping with the alien emoji, it’s like Fox Mulder said in the first season of the X-Files, “You can deny what I have said, but I cannot deny what I have seen."

Sorry for being long-winded (I am a preacher, right but I couldn’t see this thread and skip it. My heart wouldn’t let me. I know you’re a stranger, but I know Someone who has compassion on strangers. If the tone of my post has been any indication, I would be glad to help you—even if that is something as simple as being a listening ear.

I’ll end with this: on another tech forum I read, someone commented recently that due to their age, they were in the market for their last computer they’ll ever use. That hit me. As much as I love tech and love theology I had never thought of it in that way. (one day you’ll tell your spouse goodbye, you might not ever see this or that again, etc, all those sermon remarks). But I had never thought of someone buying their final computer knowing that whatever processor they get and whatever storage amount they get that will be the one the end with. Welp. That puts things in a different light. That could be any one of us. It could be me. And if it is me, I hope that the ways I’ve used my MBP and my MBA and other devices were for good and helping others. If I can help you, let me know.

Tony Walker