Why do people to continue to live if they know they are going to die?

[cuppajoe_9]

Every other major philosophical question was taken.

[RobinHood3000]

Because they can? What else do they have to do? Between "A. Live" and "B. Die," the choice seems fairly straightforward.

[Xamonas Chegwe]

Because there's still time for another pint and one last orgasm - why else? :D

[Broken]

There is something inherent from birth that drives people to value their life as the highest good. Although that feeling can lessen over time, I think we all retain that natural instinct.

Some of it may also be attributable to a great fear of the unknown.

[superunknown]

Because of the undiscover'd country that makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others we know not of ;) .

[Scheherazade]

I think we live with the hope that maybe, just maybe, we will be the one who beats death and manages to live forever (as to why we want to live forever and how morally wrong it is, please see the appropriate thread).

Should we also consider why we eat when we know perfectly well that we will be hungry again? Or have a shower knowing only too well that we will start getting dirty again the moment we leave the bathroom?

[IrishCanadian]

Because we want to be spiritually prepared for death?

[ShoutGrace]

Wasn't it Camus who wrote that the only interesting question was whether to kill yourself or not?

I also think it was Sarte who said something like, "Whether you live a few minutes, or a few years, matters not, once you have lost eternity."

[Union Jack]

"Why do some people continue to live, even though they will die anyway?"

Well, some people are just stupid I guess.

[QueenMab]

Because the inbetween is all yours.

[Virgil]

Well, frankly, I enjoy life, and though some day I may die (I'm not convinced yet, after all what evidence is there that I will?) I want to push it off as far as possible. All those people that prefer death, can't they just go and do it and leave the rest of us alone?

[ElizabethSewall]

This is probably just a silly thought but here is what I believe.
Each new day can be your possibility to bring a smile on the faces of those you love. Little things are often the most valuable and if my last days could bring the slightest joy to someone, why would I shorten it?
I never wanted to live eternally but I hope to die with the comfort that my life wasn't devoid of purpose.

And I agree with Irish. One needs to be 'spiritually' prepared to die, to face it peacefully. Not to mention that the people surrounding you, caring for you, also need to accept the idea of your death.

Still, I believe it is up to each human being to make his own choice and I respect both decisions. I think both require moral strength.

[AimusSage]

I like life, don't care if I suddenly drop dead, but you know, I'd rather not. :)

[jackyyyy]

I don't understand this question. What has knowing I will die one day have to do with living?

[blondeatheart]

coz we cbs killing ourselves

[IrishCanadian]

Well really heres my more involved answere ... and it requires a willing suspention of disbelief from all you who do not share my Christian background.

Life is a job interview for what comes after death. The body dies (and I can sort of understand the pointless appeal of keeping it going) but humans, the ghost within the machine, does not die. Life is an unconscious choice of what we will have in the eternity that comes after. Of course I say eternity because what other period of time can you give to the ellusive "after"? C.S Lewis believed that those who go to Hell are those who lived in (a) sin in their life on earth. Hell is an eternal Prometheus kind of deal in which one revelles in that sin that was carried to death from life. I'm far tooo lazy to outline sin but you guys are smart enough for that bit to be omitted.
Heaven is the opposite. A child's idea of heaven as a place where everything is wonderful but gets better with each passing moment may not be too far off. It is simply a euphoric presence of Love and goodness and compassion etc. that I like to call God. Emagine being eternally in God's presence! Its impossible to emagin because its greater a wonder than our brain's emagination can fathom. The best way to know God in this sence would be to know that the only reason he created us (He didn't need humanity) was so that He could love us. Amazing. Thats how I see life and death.
It doesn't mean that I'm not affraid of death. Hell and God are both scary to me. Now you can all see me as a Bible thumping idealist. I may be, but thats no proof of falacy.

[Bandini]

Because of the undiscover'd country that makes us rather bear those ills we have than fly to others we know not of ;) .

And for some it is that the almighty has fixed his canon against self slaughter. Me, I love the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune!

[Bandini]

Hell is an eternal Prometheus kind of deal in which one revelles in that sin that was carried to death from life.


Sort of like your Dad cathing you smoking and making you smoke two packs of fags (English usage!) one after the other. But, like, for infinity? Bummer!

Has anyone read 'Prometheus Rising' by Robert Anton Wilson by the way? Required reading: "We are all giants raised by pygmys." Rise!

[Bandini]

Oops! Was that pride? I'll be getting that rammed down me throat for aeons and all now.

[superunknown]

Every other major philosophical question was taken.
Why do you continue to live if you know you are going to die?

Because, as I've already stated through a Hamlet quote: you can never be sure of the nature of death until you die. And since you're not liable to kill yourself any time soon (unless you're really, really depressed), if death has been crossed otu as an option, then there really isn't much else to do.

[IrishCanadian]

Oops! Was that pride? I'll be getting that rammed down me throat for aeons and all now.
Catmatic! Not dogmatic.

[BeingaBunny]

I do not have any beliefs. I continue to live just coz I don't know what else to do.

Well, I do have some beliefs but not spiritual. Humans are normal animals as I find pretty obvious (every time I see a human I swear I see an ape) - which means I do not think there is a "ghost in the machine." I think there is a brain, and when the life of that brain is finished, the psyche is also finished. Then the earth swallows you and sends bits of you back into different life forms, although you are not aware of this because you no longer exist as you once were.

Of course, eventually this all boils down to how the universe began. Some people would say a god. The main problem I have with that is - where did the god come from?

Basically, if life is even real, it might as well not be real. Enjoy it, love it, hate it, whatever. Life is just something to do.

[bhekti]

Who says we're alive? If, as we all know for sure, we will die, how can we say we are alive? We are of Death, becoming Death, only in very slow way.
(Then, death is alive? I remember people used to say that death marks our life, but I think it is more our life that marks Death)

[Broken]

Beingabunny, I'd love to hear your thoughts on how reincarnation would exist outside of any divine existence performing the action of reincarnating us. I've never thought of reincarnation in those terms, and I'd be interested to hear more about your ideas.

That said, I do have a bone to pick with this quote:

Basically, if life is even real, it might as well not be real. Enjoy it, love it, hate it, whatever. Life is just something to do.
It seems to me that life is inherently more than just something to do, because it is the sum of all that we do and not something we actually do.

Life appears to be the focal point or the essence of our humanity, rather than just an attribute of it. I do not see how we can approach our existence as if life would be the same whether it were real or not. Our life only has significance on any level, as I see it, if we assume it to be real - at least to us.

bhekti, it seems to me that your statement assumes death to be an eternal state. For death to be marked by our life, wouldn't it need to be significantly longer than, and simultaneously prior to and coming after, our lives? I tend to agree with the statement that death marks our life in the sense that death comes only after life, and is simply the absence of life. It seems that to take the opposite stance is necessarily to have a weightier understanding of death than the one that I hold. Then death would have to be characterized by something other than, or at least more than, the absence of life.

[RobinHood3000]

Life appears to be the focal point or the essence of our humanity, rather than just an attribute of it. I do not see how we can approach our existence as if life would be the same whether it were real or not. Our life only has significance on any level, as I see it, if we assume it to be real - at least to us.Well, yes, of course it's real enough to us, regardless of whether that is actually the case. If it IS real, great. If it's all some bizarre, drawn-out dream from which we wake up at death, then that's not so great, but if that's the case, we'd have no way of knowing. Therefore, we live as if life were real, and whether it is or not is beyond our comprehension.

[AimusSage]

That reminds of the PC game, The sims, which is basically a simulator of life.

Is that real life? Not for us, but what would these 'sims' think?
This might sound silly as they're just part of a computer game, but it's beyond their comprehension as to weither life is real or not, but it feels real for them.

[QueenMab]

Good simile Aimus, but I dont'n know, I always found the Sims rather boring once you play for awhile. You can play with your Sims, making them do this or that, but in the end its all so constricted that it's a bit frustrating. Maybe it is because we have our minds to break on the monotony that we can enjoy life while all they do is sleep, eat and empty their bladders.

I suppose I've never been really concerned about death, but if I was, I think it would be quite stupid te become paralized. It's like the drop line of an essay, you have until that time to do your best.

[blondeatheart]

sims can fall in love...and it's not dependent on much except getting to know one another, ie. talking a lot which progresses onto hugging and stuff - wish it was rlly that easy

[Bookworm Cris]

I just can´t imagine that all ends with the event of death... What´s next? Nothing? And what´s nothing? What was the purpose of all we have done since we were born? None? That´s too nihilism for me, thanks. And, besides, in this theory how could we explain why there are differences between the situation of a person who was born in a family, with health, food, inteligence, and another who was born poor, hungry, ill, with no perspectives as too many milllions in this world? What a divine injustice!
I´d rather believe that there is a life after death, or better, that there are many lives before and after death. What we do in between being born and die is what matters.... what we do, what we learn, how we behave with ourselves and with other people, how we react in some situations, and, even if we know we are going to die, that doesn´t stop us from acting. It may be instinctive, or it may be our free will, but certainly we can´t help but keep on living and doing the best we can. Otherwise, we fall on the nihilist theory above.

And, about the Sims, I think it´s like playing with dolls, but more high-tech... I like to see my daughters play, but I haven´t got the patience for that.

[apple jiang]

Every other major philosophical question was taken.
I think we start our journey not because we want to arrive, but to appreciate the beautis along the way. Life is just a process between birth and death, when we were born, we have nothing with us, when we die,we will have nothing with us either, so try our best to get as much as possible to color our minds when we are on the way to death.I think only in this way can we say that we have experienced a life when we die.

[Cristina]

I might just be trying to make myself more comfortable with the idea of death, but I think that the time constriction brought on by the prosepect of death is what drives us to live fully instead of adapting a passive or appathetic life. If we lived forever than there would be no reason to do anything because we'd always have another chance. We'd just waste away doing nothing.

I think the reason why we live life even though we know eventually everything we are enjoying will be taken away is because it's hard not to. Like if someone offers you a pie you're not going to turn it down because it won't last or beacause it will eventually be taken away leaving you pie-less. You know you can't have your pie and eat it too- you can't have life with out death and while still savouring life. I think that the not so enjoyable things like death and all the bad stuff make us happier when we experience the good stuff by comparison.

[Gawaine]

... Boredom ...

[amanda_isabel]

because life, between birth and death, is the only one of the three we have control over.

[Nightshade]

why not just to see when and how you die?

Each new day can be your possibility to bring a smile on the faces of those you love. Little things are often the most valuable and if my last days could bring the slightest joy to someone, why would I shorten it?

hear!here! (both because Im not sure which it is )

Life is a job interview for what comes after death. The body dies (and I can sort of understand the pointless appeal of keeping it going) but humans, the ghost within the machine, does not die. Life is an unconscious choice of what we will have in the eternity that comes after
I guess this is what I really belive too.
Life is a series of tiny tests leading up to the rally big one whihc is death. To accept it and trust in Fate and God. Or to try and take it into your own control.
But I guess the real real reason I would never commit suicide is Im a through and through coward what if I blotched it? Im not hot on pain and anyway its arather pointless excersise afterall, well unless its euthanasia and even then its iffy.
:D

[RobinHood3000]

I suppose that makes Death the test that everyone fails (or passes)?

[Nightshade]

No thats not the test and dont you make fun of me :p
Im not good at putting somthing I really mean into words... I guess what I mean is to accept and resign yourself to your fate and wait for it to catch you up is the way of passing the test. That said if you are going to commt suicide obviously your fated to do so. In the way that fate doesnt decree and makeyou do what you are going to do but already knows it.

[cuppajoe_9]

Why do you continue to live if you know you are going to die?

Because, as I've already stated through a Hamlet quote: you can never be sure of the nature of death until you die. And since you're not liable to kill yourself any time soon (unless you're really, really depressed), if death has been crossed otu as an option, then there really isn't much else to do.
I don't know what death is like, and I don't really care to spend too much time thinking about it, because I am going to find out whether I like it or not. Usually the fact that I enjoy life is the reason I keep on living (the BBC would like to apologize for the melodramatic nature of the previous sentence), but what about when life is not enjoyable? Don't worry about me, I'm not going to kill myself, but I want to know why. Part of it is the fact that it would be unpleasant for my friends and family, but I get the feeling that I would not kill myself even if nobody would care one way of the other. So why?

[Cervan]

Why do people to continue to live if they know they are going to die?

Why do people continue to read a book if they know the book will end?

Why do people listen to a symphony if they know it will end?


Here are some better questions, in my humble opinion: Would you read a book that you knew would never end? What would be the point? Would you listen to a symphony that you knew would never end? Could there even be such a thing?

Does the fact that a book must come to an end deprive it of meaning or value? Does the sweeping finale of a beautiful piece of music deprive it of meaning or value? Of course not. Quite the contary, in fact.

Just some things to think about.

[jackyyyy]

Why do people continue to read a book if they know the book will end?

Why do people listen to a symphony if they know it will end?


Here are some better questions, in my humble opinion: Would you read a book that you knew would never end? What would be the point? Would you listen to a symphony that you knew would never end? Could there even be such a thing?

Does the fact that a book must come to an end deprive it of meaning or value? Does the sweeping finale of a beautiful piece of music deprive it of meaning or value? Of course not. Quite the contary, in fact.

Just some things to think about.And if we are enjoying the music, the book, the thing, we may not want it to end. I guess, until we have listened, read, done, we can't know and should not assume.

Thanks, Cervan.

[cuppajoe_9]

Why do people continue to read a book if they know the book will end?

Why do people listen to a symphony if they know it will end?


People stop reading bad books and walk out of bad symphonies.

[lucimi]

Because of enjoying one's life ,the most important thing is to undergo the processes but to heed the results.During one's span,we always can get more from any tiny thing and then become mature .So most of us will choose to spend our life colorful rather than wait for dying.Even though,the death will necessarily happen,we still can keep our enthusiasm and energy to value our time and to achieve sth.

[water lily]

As human beings we search for purpose, as long as our life appears to have more purpose than would our death, we go on living. When death gains more purpose than life--like to get back at someone for example (i.e. Anna Karenina) or to relieve ourselves from our misery--then we choose to end our lives.

Cervan, I agree, what is ephemeral is precious.

[PeterL]

It appears that no one else is going to give the actual answer, so I suppose that I have to. Humans live for two reasons: to entertain the Gods and Goddesses, and to reproduce DNA. For those reasons we are hardwired to want to stay alive. The exception for those who commit suicide is because they are being rejected by DNA for reproduction, or because it will entertain some God or Goddess.

[Cormeister37]

Perhaps look at it this way - if you were to die now, and then had the opportunity to live another twenty years, why not live the twenty years. I mean, if you start with the negative (that death is inevitable) and then put a positive spin on it, you may be all right. Rather than looking at the positive (of living) and then having your dreams crushed by knowing you will die. I don't know if that makes sense.

It's also that if you don't exist before or after death, then you won't be there to experience it. Therefore your life is outside time, your life spans an eternity. In a way, just because you can comprehend eternity (or try to comprehend it) you are eternal.

I don't know if this makes sense and it may be too deep but it's all I got. I don't like feeling nihilistic though I do a good deal of the time.

[water lily]

I was reading Anna Karenina, and came across the following section which immediiately made me think of this thread:



"Having then for the first time clearly understood that before every man, and before himself, there lay only suffering, death, and eternal oblivion, he had concluded that to live under such conditions was impossible; that one must either explain life to oneself so that it does not seem to be an evil mockery buy some sort of devil, or one must shoot oneself.

"But he had done neither the one nor the other, yet he continued to live, think, and feel, had even at that very time gotten married, experienced many joys, and been happy whenever he was not thinkiing of the meaning of his life.

"What did that show? It showed that he had lived well, but thought badly.

"He had lived (without being conscious of it) by those spiritual truths which he had imbibed with his mother's miilk;but in thought he had not only not acknowledged those truths, but had studiously evaded them.

"Now it was clear to him that he was only able to live, thanks to the beliefs in which he had been brought up....

"'I looked for an answer to my question. But reason could not give me an answer--reason s incommensurable with the question. Lfe itself has given me the answer, ini my knowledge of what is good and what is bad. And that knowledge I did not acquire in a ny way; it was given to me as to everybody, given because I could not take t from anywhere...

"Reason has discovered the struggle for existence and the law that I must throttle all those who hinder the satisfaction of my desires. That is the deduction reason makes. But the law of loving others could not be discovered by reason, because it is unreasonable."

Here Here Tolstoy

[Thunder Blossom]

Because of hope and possibilies available

[BeingaBunny]

That reminds of the PC game, The sims, which is basically a simulator of life.

Is that real life? Not for us, but what would these 'sims' think?
This might sound silly as they're just part of a computer game, but it's beyond their comprehension as to weither life is real or not, but it feels real for them.

lol, i suddenly feel bad for my sims, although i have only played the game a few times.

[BeingaBunny]

Beingabunny, I'd love to hear your thoughts on how reincarnation would exist outside of any divine existence performing the action of reincarnating us. I've never thought of reincarnation in those terms, and I'd be interested to hear more about your ideas.

That said, I do have a bone to pick with this quote:

It seems to me that life is inherently more than just something to do, because it is the sum of all that we do and not something we actually do.

Life appears to be the focal point or the essence of our humanity, rather than just an attribute of it. I do not see how we can approach our existence as if life would be the same whether it were real or not. Our life only has significance on any level, as I see it, if we assume it to be real - at least to us.

Sorry to dig up this old thread, but thanks for asking me this. I guess I would say that life is not just something to do - life is WHAT we do, everything we do, which I think is what you are saying. Human beings do two things in life for sure: live & die. You cannot have one without the other, so that is why we do not just die. Because you have to be alive in order to die.

Also, I do not know if I would consider what I said to be reincarnation. It is just the cycle of life. Like I said, I do not believe in the human soul, and I think reincarnation pertains to the soul specifically. It is just like how when we eat food the food becomes a part of us in a way, but the food, whether it 's an animal or a plant, no longer exists as it was. So it is when the crows peck out our eyes and the worms eat our brains and the roots of trees suck out the rest of us.

Well, I guess life is real because it is real to us. That's our perception of it. But I don't consider life to be concrete but rather abstract. Outside of everything, life is basically nothing and meaningless. But to a human mind, just as to any animal mind, life has meaning. Life is eating and drinking and laughing and crying and doing whatever we like to do - hopefully being happy.

I've recently experienced an absolute happiness, a glimpse of eternal paradise. Since experiencing this, I now understand why I would want to be alive. Life is great and it is strange. Right now I am more sober than I have been in a long time, but I learned how great life is from marijuana and dextromethorphan combined. I'm not telling anyone to take the path I did - coz it would be illegal for me to do so - but this is honestly what has helped me realize happiness. I hope this does not sound evil to some people here. Just as a note, anyone getting this idea from here needs to do their own research and choose their own path.

[Cormeister37]

Thanks, water lily, for pointing out those quotes which I guess I overlooked when reading the novel.

[Chava]

well, i guess life has kinda grown on me, and i'm not half inclined to kick the habit.

[literaturerocks]

i think the reason people are inclined to live is to enjoy the time we have here on earth to the fullest..as someone said before me in this thread (i forget who but) if we can bring a smile to the face of a loved one or teach someone something or leave any legacy at all we can feel that our life was meaningful and not devoid of purpose..for me life is to experience..life is to enjoy..life is to learn and to grow not only physically but emotionally and spiritually..my inclination to live on is to live every second to the fullest and enjoy every day of my stay here at the place we call earth.. i intend to live my life as i feel neccessary and to enjoy all the pleasures and breakthroughs and learn from all the disappointments and break downs...alot could be discussed about this topic..good topic

[sHaRp12]

Because it is convenient.

[caesar]

I believe that ultimately it dosen't matter whether I die today or later. I just want to stick around and see whats going to happen.

Has anyone heard the song, "Is that all there is" by Peggy Lee? (I recommend this song particularly to those who think that life is meaningless)

[Kouchy]

Whether life is long or short, every minute is worth living and experiencing. Death will come, we all know that, but life is more important than death...and more fun.

[Kelly_Sprout]

Life is scientifically defined as self-repairing and self-replicating. Anything that can do both of those is considered alive. Do one, or the other, or none at all, and it is not alive.

When we say we are alive, we are generally talking about our consciousness, our awareness. However, consciousness/awareness neither self-repairs nor self-replicates. The truth is, the whole and total "I" is not a single, discrete entity. That thing I call "I" is a colony of separate cells each of which is capable of self-repairing and self-replicating. Each of these lives combine their strengths to produce systems such as circulation and distribution of sustenance, conversion of matter to energy, movement, sensory perception, and thought. It is at that point that the thing I call "I" becomes self-aware and capable of imagining a condition in which it would not be self-aware.

This brings us to the crux of the question. It is more satisfying to be self-aware than not to be self-aware. It is on this point that religion goes astray. Religion strives to circumvent the state of not being self-aware. It matters not if the specific belief is in the soul, or reincarnation, or resurrection, or even hell. The goal is still the same: to reassure the self-aware "I" that it will always be self-aware. But that is not the goal of life. The cells of the eyeball are not self-aware. The organs that produce sperm and eggs are not self-aware. The sperm and eggs themselves are not self-aware. Even the fertilized egg is not self-aware. It simply begins rapid cell-division, carrying on the primary function of life: self-repair and self-replicating.

So what is death? It is the cessation of self-repairing and self-replicating. It is a transformation from animate to inanimate. Why do we live if we know we are going to die? Because we are animate until we cannot be animate any longer. Because we are self-aware until we cannot be self-aware any longer.

[Passenger]

I don't know why but i have made this Question a lot of times to myself and i ended up with no answears just thinking about this being called god.

The point is that after sometimes that i did this i tried to ask some godfathers(u can say priests) about that concern of mine, they all started to say thinks about Heaven and Hell and that this is kaint of Exam for your soul and stuff like that.
I asked a lot of people others said that its what it is and we are going to live for ever cause of the incarnation and we are going to be reborn etc etc.

But i think that this whole Question is something we could talk ages about it( i like it) but we are not coming to any reall answear.

So what i think about that is that Somebodys life is good and nice and so his dead somebody elses life and death not, so try to live your live your way make it fun so when u die u gonna die with no doubts about yourself and create your live how u want because its YOUR LIVE no one can take it from you even death can't because its gonna still be your live u lived there, that's why do not go with the masses (if you don't like it) make it UNIQUE for you till u die.
What's coming after death....nobody know so just make something out of this u got right now. B happy.

[cuppajoe_9]

I just want to stick around and see whats going to happen.Thank you all for your responses. This is my favorite so far.

[caesar]

Glad to hear, CJ_9.

I haven't come across, in your posts, even a letter on which I'd prefer to differ.

[RobinHood3000]

Same reason we play chess, despite the knowledge that the game will eventually be over.

[Virgil]

Glad to hear, CJ_9.

I haven't come across, in your posts, even a letter on which I'd prefer to differ.
:lol: I've noticed that too. Are we sure you're not the same person with two identities? :D

[caesar]

Same reason we play chess, despite the knowledge that the game will eventually be over.

There an interesting quotation on chess:


Once the game is over, both, the king and the pawn end up in the same box.


:lol: I've noticed that too. Are we sure you're not the same person with two identities? :D

You mean, like, AimusSage and Mililalil XXIV? ;)

[Stanislaw]

hmm, I don't really believe that there is a purpose...unless it some gigantic psychotic rat maze, otherwise life and death, its all relatively the same. Indeed one could say that there must be a purpose for our existance...but is there really such a need for a grand purpose, or are we just deluding ourselves with a sense of grandeur...

more directly, I think we live because:
1. we infact are afraid to find out hat will happen when we die...no one really wants to find an answer, questions are always more fun.
2. er, what else is there to do?

[Ryan_002]

I can't actually die, so I'm in a completely different category from you. It's an odd medical condition I was born with.

That being said, I would surmise that deep down everyone suspects themselves to be immortal. Why else do we put off the most important things? If you could only say one more sentence, what would it be and who would you say it to? And if so why are you waiting?

[Fat29]

Everyone will die one day, regardless of beauty, health or wealth. People live on because of various reasons or no reason. Some cling on to life because they fear death, others live so that they can taste delicious food & drinks, to enjoy a life blessed with material welfare, to be in the companion of loved ones, to realise a dream, to fulfill an obligation or a combination of reasons.

For me, I aspire to live a life that I can be of blessing to others such that after my death, my work can continue to be of use and help to those who live beyond my time. In reality, I am thankful to be living each passing day and I am exceptionally happy whenever I could be of help to others, especially those who are less privilege than me.

[alshadai]

Everyone has their own reason in this one... there is no universal truth or theory available to answer this question!

My personal reason for living:
man, death might be rather boring :\

[TENNWH]

DNA. We are survivors and reproducing animals

[subterranean]

Why do people to continue to live if they know they are going to die?

Well, you can just kill yourself tonight. It's an option open to everyone. People who say that there's no way that they're going to commit suicide is, IMHO, actually lying to themselves To live is an option, but to die is not.

[RobinHood3000]

Personally, I'd rather leave the pleasure of killing me to someone who REALLY doesn't like me. If I've got nothing to lose, why not one last act of kindness?

[anne1987]

because they are too lazy to change things and tust want to let things take their own course, i guess...

[Shifting Leaves]

Why do people continue to read a book if they know the book will end?

Why do people listen to a symphony if they know it will end?


Here are some better questions, in my humble opinion: Would you read a book that you knew would never end? What would be the point? Would you listen to a symphony that you knew would never end? Could there even be such a thing?

Does the fact that a book must come to an end deprive it of meaning or value? Does the sweeping finale of a beautiful piece of music deprive it of meaning or value? Of course not. Quite the contary, in fact.

Just some things to think about.
I'm shifting gears, from looking at life as a big work of art to lives as art in themselves.
Life is an artpeice that we create as we do things, to engage in escaping the axiety that stems from the absurdity of existence. I do it to be remembered and so people can learn from whatever happens in my life, for good or ill. If it is a bad book, well whose fault is that? Everything is subjective to the point of near insanity and this is where all questions begin and lead to... It's so circular, but really I guess kind of spirally (purpose I mean). Life is only tragic in those moments that one ponders purpose rather than engaging in the great architecture of existence, or rather when the desire for higher purpose causes angst. Responsibility not guilt. To paraphrase Epictetus slightly, they can kill me but they cannot harm me.

[miss tenderness]

I think that we continue to live though we know that we're going to die some day because we still have hope that we will live loooooong or at least our time is not so close. There are requirements that we have to fulfill before our day comes, I live for them.

[okeedokey]

You know you're living when you live, while you don't know you're passing away when you die. Everybody strives for happiness, which is only can be so when he lives.

[AllisonForbes]

First, not all people continue to live knowing they are going to die. Many die willingly. Ruling that out, why do the majority of people live knowing they are going to die?

I would believe that besides the relative physical pleasures of living, people continue to live out of two reasons. One is the belief that their life matters and they have a finite amount of time with which to accomplish whatever it is they believe they are meant to do.

Or

They are afraid to die, because death is unknown. We tend to be creatures of comfort and safety. We seek experiences that are knowable and predictable. Death is the one experience that we know nothing of and cannot predict.

The will to live is extremely strong, despite the emotion of how you feel about living. That can be proved on any hospital room death bed where you witness the battle for life and death. A technically brain dead person's body will continue to fight for life until in the end either the person revives or dies.

Meaning is what propels people forward to live and continue living. Meaning is finding a purpose that is outside of your own self-gratification. Usually people find meaning in relationships with one another, people they care about. Or in their faith. Or in acts of service towards their fellow man. Or in artistic endeavors/scientific endeavors etc.

If nothing else, people live to find out what the story was at the end of their life. It's quite impossible to tell if it's a good story while you are writing it. Only by looking backwards at the entirety of your life can you judge the relative meaning of it.

[Regit]

"the great advantage of being alive
(instead of undying)is not so much
that mind no more can disprove than prove
what heart may feel and soul may touch
--the great(my darling)happens to be
that love are in we,that love are in we"

EE Cummings

[iwnttoknowall]

people continue to live because depending on ur religeon(or if ur an atheist) that is the meaning of life, to live.

[holograph]

People have an innate "i need to survive" quality. it is embedded in our genes to survive, in order for the human race to survive. each one of us has, almost like a reflex, this need and wish to live against all odds. survival is no miracle. it is a biochemical and psychological phenomenon. I, for instance, have no wish to live for a long time. Perhaps my generation will have a higher life expectancy than those prior to it, but if you were to ask me, "do you want to live a long life?" i would reply "not in the very least." however, im sure if someone would push me off of a bridge, i would certainly swim back up. not because i want to, but because i am physcially incapable of doing anything else. think about it. ;)

p.s. i realized that i am, in fact, not going to live forever at a very young age, and i was scared. but with time, life and death just became two parts of one whole that i accept and look forward to. i think with old age, people tend to wish to live longer, as long as possible, because the reality catches up with them, and death, the "unknown" is quite the menace to our ignorant psychology. and then theres religion. bla bla bla.

[aeroport]

Come on, folks! Six pages and no Hamlet?

To be or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing, end them. To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn(e)
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.

I almost wonder if Mr. 9 was reading this speech when he asked the question.

[iwnttoknowall]

to live is in our genes, but it is also in our faith. if we have no faith, people would start to wonder. if there is no god, wat happed when we die? all chaos would follow. living is, as if this could be a worse pun, our life.

[Madhuri]

I know i'll die someday, not sure exactly when, so, what do I do until then? I have only the option of living, so that is what I am doing. I cant do anything about death, coz life is what I have right now, and to live is my priority. I love life. When I am dead, i'll think about it then, in heaven or hell I dont know. :)

[Bita]

Because we want to be spiritually prepared for death?

:lol:

I really like this one.

[Bita]

I wonder a lot about this too: "why continue living ... when I am going to die one day". I could just start a very unhealthy diet of burgers and start smoking and ignore red lights ... But then I so badly want to know the answer to this question: "why continue living ... when I am going to die one day", that I would probably continue to live for the next 1000 years (of course dear God would send the angel of death before i know the answer). :nod:

[optimisticnad]

Because there's still time for another pint and one last orgasm - why else? :D

hey! i havent read any of your posts for ages! u r an argumentative sod if my memory serves me right.

i agree with some people here, what choice is there...and theres always some hope, iv always thought thats what makes us so special and human, that no matter how destitue we are and how bad things get theres always the idea that things might get better, wer all like sisyphus pushing that rock up and down, i dont know, but maybe they hope some miracle might occur?

[ShoutGrace]

Come on, folks! Six pages and no Hamlet?

That bit of thought is perhaps the most fundamental ever penned. It gives a sense of wonder and reality every time I read it.

Also from Hamlet (pertaining to the theme):

“I have of late--but
wherefore I know not--lost all my mirth, forgone all
custom of exercises; and indeed it goes so heavily
with my disposition that this goodly frame, the
earth, seems to me a sterile promontory, this most
excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave
o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted
with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to
me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.
What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason!
How infinite in faculty! In form and moving how
express and admirable! In action how like an angel!
in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the
world! The paragon of animals! And yet, to me,
what is this quintessence of dust?”


“O, that this too too solid flesh would melt
Thaw and resolve itself into a dew!
Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd
His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! God!
How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable,
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
Fie on't! ah fie! 'tis an unweeded garden,
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely. That it should come to this!”




I know i'll die someday, not sure exactly when, so, what do I do until then? I have only the option of living, so that is what I am doing.

Actually, there are other options, and many people choose them.


I cant do anything about death, coz life is what I have right now, and to live is my priority. I love life.

Then you've got it made. :D



i agree with some people here, what choice is there...

You could choose not to live. You could choose to die, to sleep.

“To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd.”

[subterranean]

You could choose not to live. You could choose to die, to sleep.

“To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd.”


You never ceased to impress me ;).

[wilbur lim]

Every other major philosophical question was taken.

It is not explicit for me though.People have solely one life,and life is inevitably precious,thereby that is their perspective.My answer is literally short.

[WICKES]

A lingering hope that one day the clouds will part and something better and wiser than our revolting little species will appear and explain it all: why the good and kind suffer, why the evil thrive; something that will help rid us of the fear of death and the burden of time, that will explain the deepest secrets of life, the universe and everything and make it all alright!

Then there is also the fear of death/ the grave, the fear of pain and blood, the fear that we might be punished for committing sucide, the pain it would cause those we love, the inbuilt will to survive etc etc.

"I have wanted to kill myself a hundred times but somehow I am still in love with life. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our most melancholy propensities; for is there anything more stupid than to be eager to go on carrying a burden which one would gladly throw away...In the countries where it has been my fate to wander and in the inns where I have worked I have met a vast number of people who detested their existence, but I have met only twelve who voluntarily put an end to their misery."

(Voltaire Candide)

There is a passage in Measure for Measure about the fear of death which really struck me I read it for A level English.

Something like 'To lie in cold obstruction (?), to go we know not where...tis too terrible etc'

[Within Me]

Since we are alive and we were born and there is not turning back,why don`t we take the advantage to BE, to do something we can be proud of, be ourselves and make a life.
Be somebody.At least when we die, we rest in peace knowing that we once did something and made a difference.

[blazeofglory]

This is a taxing question. Just think that every time you do not think about death. And we forget that we will die. And man is too much obsessed with life and forgets death.