I know that in 1900 I didn't exist in any way unless I was predestined from the beginning of time. I can't say the same for 3000. Try something sometime. Imagine yourself not existing. People say we live on in the memories of children, friends, etc, but Imagine Yourself Not Existing. Think what it would feel like - well you wouldn't feel anything because you no longer exist. This to many human beings is a terrifying thought, the fear of annihilation, becoming Nothing.
I have been thinking about this more and more as I get older..it actually depresses me somewhat!
I suppose it's like being in your deepest undreaming sleep? unless of course you believe in Heaven or life after death or the spirit world ;o) the only thing that is certain is the fact that we are all gonna find out one day...
Doesn't bother me. It is the same feeling as thinking about life before I was born. My parents were quite happy with one child and would be again if I didn't exist! I don't think I have made that much difference in the world YET- other than teach a million children how to sing in perfect harmony! I have no kids or other half, so if I wasn't here I don't think it would be too much of a big deal. I think most people would say the same!
When my son was really little - about 2nhalf - he would tell us all about being a builder up a ladder and building a new town - this wasn't around the era of Bob the Builder btw -
He regularly told us that he had a scar on the back of his hand and wore bib and braces - all things which he would have no concept of at his age - he got the scar -which he showed us and there was never anything there - from his tools that were in his back pocket and caught his hand on one of them -
We later discovered that my grans dad was a builder who was involved with building new houses on an estate but theres no way he could ever have know this before. He was absolutely convinced he had been a man before he was a boy.....
And yes, I probably wudn believe it if it was someone else....but this was weird.....he doesn't even remember any of it now.....(he's 16 now)
Just so we don't end up with 13 answers, here is a Goonish take on death:
[Explosion followed by telephone ringing]
Seagoon:
Hello?
Bluebottle (on other end of phone):
You rotten swine, you! Oh, you have deaded me again. Oh, I die in my prime. Farewell I say. Pushes button B. Gets money back, exits to NAAFI for tea.
Scarlett's right. There's no point in worrying about just ceasing to exist. When bad things happen to us, we only comprehend them as bad because we're feeling their consequences. Even when worrying about future bad things, we're worrying about how the consequences will affect us. When you stop existing, there can be no reflection, or thinking "This not existing lark is really rubbish". You just won't BE anymore.
You know as a certainty that you will die, and if you don't believe in an afterlife then this is what will happen. Live life to the full now.
It doesn't bear thinking about because of all those unhappy people there'd be in the world if I wasn't here... plus my boyfriend would never have any clean clothes! hahaha!
Seriously though, I was told that I was Anne Boleyn in a previous life. So... GET MOVING AND EMPTY MY PI$$ POT, PIPPA!!!!
Seriously seriously though... if we're talking about regression then a hypnotist told me that I couldn't be regressed which could mean that I don't have a past life.
Oh the agony..look at my hands, m'lady :o( I just can't take anymore ammonia..the sooner you get your head chopped off the better ~ and stop wagging your extra finger at me!
It would be no different to when you are asleep, and not dreaming. Your thought processes are not working, your sub-conscious is not activated, so when you awake your feelings or thoughts only occur in that instant. If you cannot recall anything from when you were asleep (still no dreaming mode), then what is there to feel fear of?
In death, your brain is dead so how can you "think" what it would "feel" like? No feelings, no thinking, plain and simple!
Imaging Myself Not Existing? OK, used to do this sat outside the headmaster's office. Disassociate myself from reality. Imagine life going on without me. Would I be missed if I hadn't existed? A spare place on the bus? Would anyone notice? A spare chair. You just watch as 'life' trawls by - then, SUDDENLY you become part of it, swept along with the stream. Suddenly you're back.