On 12/21/2014 3:47 PM, 'Chris de Morsella' via Everything List wrote:
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Bruce Kellett
Sent: Sunday, December 21, 2014 3:27 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: I signed up to be cryogenically frozen
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.
Fear itself (for species that experience this sensation) can become an
evolutionary dead end... a paralyzing negative force that diminishes rather
than improves an individual organisms chances for survival. The fear of death
is often an example of this kind of paralyzing useless fear, providing no
evolutionary advantage. It is unlike say the -- fear/memory -- of something
hot, the fear being the useful quick shortcut to the executive mind of the
memory of past bad experiences with being burned by hot things. This is a
useful rapid shortcut to the forebrain that is clearly useful in evolutionary
terms.
Fear can either help the individual to act quickly or it can paralyze the
individual; while a healthy fear can deliver a lightening quick (possibly
life-preserving) alert to the conscious mind, paralyzing fear instead, is of no
use for an individual's survival, and can often be a distinct evolutionary
disadvantage. When someone is paralyzed with fear, they are worse than useless,
in a critical life and death situation.
I think that's right. I've never felt fear while in a life-threatening situation. I felt
trepidation before choosing to enter in to the situation. And I've felt weak in the knees
afterward. But during I've always felt complete calm.
Brent
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