That fear of death is cultural is the most insane thing I ever heard from the insane theory of cultural determinism
Fear of death permits to do planning in advance to avoid death. Because planning is something human-specific, fear of death is a human-specific instinct. For a believer like me, fear of death is something imprinted in the human soul by a gradual process of evolution or by a creation process (For God that lives outside of time, both things are the same) that appeared as soon as other higher human capacities appeared. A rational mind can not survive without fear of death. But like all higher instincts, it is flexible. I can fight to death to defend others or someone can suicide itself when he feel that it is a burden for the others. That may prove that suicide is not only only a personal sin, that denies that God loves him, but a sin of the others that make someone to feel a burden. That proves the intrinsically social, not individualistic nature of Men: His own life is not the highest value to defend, and yet It has to defend his own life, not only for himself but also for the good of others. 2014-12-22 1:47 GMT+01:00 Bruce Kellett <[email protected]>: > 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 >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "Everything List" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to [email protected]. >>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>> >> >> > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Alberto. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
