John Clark wrote:
On Sun, Dec 21, 2014 Bruce Kellett <[email protected]> wrote:
Evolution gave living things an instinct for self-preservation. But you can
have such an instinct operating healthily and still not fear death.
Unrelated? Bob and Don are crossing a street when a large truck turns
a corner and is heading straight for both of them. Bob has a fear of
death but Don has a instinct for self preservation, please tell me
about the unrelated and very different procedures Bob and Don use to
get out of the way.
They should both jump for safety! Don's instinct for self preservation
makes this jump instinctive -- and successful. Bob's fear of death leads
him to freeze in his tracks, and he is killed.
It [death] is not something to be feared because no-one has ever experienced it
Your paraphrase is very telling. I said no-one has ever experienced
oblivion, not that no-one has died [death]. Plenty of people have died,
and many have suffered from the experience of dying. But since we all
die at some point, fearing death is scarcely rational. Fearing suffering
is rational, however, because we actually experience that and rationally
try to avoid it.
Bruce
About 57 billion human beings have lived on this planet over the last
million years, and although many have made similar sounding greeting
card style statements not one of those 57 billion has actually taken
that advice to heart and survived. In the last hour of his life I
don't think Robin Williams feared death, or at least there were other
things that he feared more.
John K Clark
John Clark wrote:
On Sun, Dec 21, 2014 , Bruce Kellett <[email protected]> wrote:
>An instinct for self-preservation is unrelated to whether or not
you have a fear of death, or of oblivion
Unrelated?? Don't be ridiculous! Why the hell do you imagine Evolution
invented the fear of death in the first place?
Evolution did not "invent a fear of death". That is purely cultural, and is not
even associated with consciousness -- it comes only with self-awareness and an inner
narrative. Evolution gave living things an instinct for self-preservation. But you can
have such an instinct operating healthily and still not fear death. Fear of death
probably comes from a fear of the unknown, and is linked to the fear of prolonged
suffering. But oblivion is oblivion -- it is not something to be feared because no-one
has ever experienced it, or can ever experience it.
Bruce
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