Life or Death?

[kenshinsbabe]

[SIZE=2][FONT=Georgia]I was just musing and a thought came to me. Would it be better to live forever or die? Both, in their own ways, are rather frightening.

On the one hand, you die. That's it. If religion is right, you either go to a "Garden of Eden" in the sky and live with God or go to eternal damnation and are tortured for the rest of eternity (fun!). Or, if science is right (woo, logic), you just rot in a hole in the ground.

On the other hand, you've got eternal life. You have to watch all your friends and family grow old and die. What would be the worst for me is to have to live forever without my lover. He would die and I would have to go on without him.

I would probably pick death over eternal life. I would hate to live forever, watching everyone I love die and just having to move on, like it never happened. That would be true torture for me. What are your thoughts?[/FONT][/SIZE]

[Guest kuroinuyoukai]

I agree with you. if I were to live forever everyone I care for would die. I don't think I could stand it.Plus what if you wanted to die and couldn't? I would get tired of life.

I believe in religion and if I am wrong,then I guess I'll just rot. But I would rather die than live alone.

[renayiiq]

I'd live forever. I'm afraid of the "afterlife." Well, my fear is eternal darkness with no thoughts or dreams or ANYTHING, just seeing black forever.
You never forget someone, and although they may die, and you will not, you will soon find others to bond with. Then they will die, and you'll find, again, others to bond with, and the cycle will continue for all eternity. I'd like that instead. Misery and depression are no strangers to me, I can't remember a time when I haven't known them. I'd rather that they stick with me forever rather than to not even be able to feel or think or anything, to just sit there in the darkness.

[Lord Rannos]

[COLOR=DarkRed]I'd have to go with life as well. Mostly because, I don't want to risk it. Sure, maybe everyone goes to the great garden in the sky, but by the rules of several religions, I'm already going to Hell. And crap, I don't want to go to Hell. Unfortunately, I also don't really feel like stopping a couple of my favorite sins... (Gluttony being top among them)

I guess it wouldn't be so bad if I just didn't feel anything, and there was nothing (As science says). But again, I don't want to experience, or rather not experience, that kind of non-existence. Only I wouldn't care, because I wouldn't exsist...and now my brain hurts. Great.

It would be nice to be able to live until you choose to die, though.

Also, a point my friend made: Your friends and family will die anyway, but if you don't, you can go on enjoying life.

To the George R.R. Martin fans: [I]Valar Morghulis[/I] [/COLOR]

[2010DigitalBoy]

[COLOR=Purple]I'd rather live forever... but only if I could remain the age I am now and grow older whenever I wanted too. Do'nt ask.[/COLOR]

[Guest Heero yuy]

I rather die...what else is there to witness? More wars and the corrupted values of humanity and society.

I feel totally content in rotting 6 feet below.

No one want's to bare eyes to that anymore.

[Annie]

[font=tahoma][color=sienna]Yeah, I would much rather die than to live forever--especially alone. If someone offered me the power to live forever, and to offer one other person immortality, I still wouldn't do it. I wouldn't ask someone to live forever with me. I couldn't bear watching all of my friends and family pass on.

I would much rather die with the one I love, when we're old and ready.[/font][/color]

[Ikillion]

[COLOR=DarkSlateGray][SIZE=2][FONT=Times New Roman]Yeah I would have to go with dying rather than eternal life. To be able to have great friendships with people only to watch them slowly age and eventually would just be to much of a trance on my heart. I dont think I would be able to take it all and stay sane.

If I do rot in a whole in the ground then..I guess I will join the billions upon billions of people who are already in the ground and if our souls eventually do end up in a place we can talk or some odd stuff like that. Then I could make all of the friends that I would have want...until they then are taken to the world of the living...Then maby...life is really a circle?[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[sakurasuka]

[SIZE=1]I'm not afraid of death. Not at all. I think I'd choose death over eternal life.

I'm a somewhat religious person. Or, rather, have been. I'm pretty much in a stage of my life in which I am deciding what I REALLY believe, and not what I've been told...

I wouldn't like to die right now, though. I think I've got a few things to do yet.[/SIZE]

[AzureWolf]

[COLOR=teal]Freudian psychologists say that the ultimate goal of life is death. We are unconsciously seeking our own destruction. That being said, when you see myths and stories about immortal people, they start to realize that they want to die. So don't be surprised if EVERYONE says they want to die.

(Surprisingly, even Soul Caliber III has this consistent death notion with Zasalamel.)[/COLOR]

[nomad19]

the way i see it is that eternal life is a great gift with a huge price to pay...i agree we stay young but all the people we all care about die...

but on the other hand we die....

all our lives is one big wait...waiting is that gap between birth and death...we meet ppl, friends, loved ones...and make our wait happier and more productive...eventually it makes the whole wait harder...i dunno if it's one big test or something but all i know is that live life to the fullest...:D

[IceRose]

I rather die than live eternally. I mean one can grow old and see the time go by, one dies and doesn't have to suffer from the fact of seeing everyone else die which could be if one were to live eternally. When one lives eternally the time goes and one sees how all the people one loved just died and stuff.

[Stark]

I, too, would choose death over eternal life. Those who want immortality are in for a lot of sorrow, for everyone will die whether they like it or not. Yet, I don't fear death. I lost that fear a long time ago.

I just see it this way; even after my consciousness passes, the energy in my body will go on to nourish other life forms. Life, I think, is a cycle. I'm just another phase in the continual waltz of life, death, and birth.

Besides, energy is never lost. It is probably just another way to see immortality.

[Dagger]

Ha, usually I'm the only one who chooses "life" in hypothetical situations like this. I'm glad I have some company this time around.

Chances are that I'd answer differently if I were fifty years older. But there's a lot to enjoy about life. And how amazing would it be to actually witness everything that happens in the future? Technological developments, countries rising and falling, space exploration... not only that, imagine the kind of positive impact you could make if you had centuries or millenia to work with.

I guess I wouldn't want to exist past the end of the human race, though. That would probably be my limit. :p

~Dagger~

[Panda]

I wouldn't want to live beyond my years. I don't want to watch every single family member and all the friends I have made over the years die. It would just be too hard on my heart to handle that kind of loss. Though, like Dagger said, it would be an exciting thing to watch all the changes in technology.

This does remind me of a Hinotori episode I watched where this man is given eternal life and could not die. As time marches on the house he is living in starts to fall apart. Books seem to turn to dust in his hands because they are so old. At one point when he thinks he is the last human on the planet he finds a coffin-like box with a woman's name on it and a timer to open it, I think it was a thousand years or some other really long time period. So for all that time he waits for it to open. He doesn't want to open it earlier since there might be a reason it was set for that time. Finally the day comes and the timer goes off and -- [spoiler]nothing. It doesn't open. So he opens it himself and finds only a mummy of a woman inside. He waited all that time for nothing.[/spoiler] In the end he is sitting happily on a cliff as the [spoiler]volcanoes erupt and the world around him is literally starts falling down. He was the only one left and with the planet falling apart he hopes this will be an end to his eternal loneliness. [/spoiler] It just seemed very sad.

So, as I mentioned before. I would only want to life my natural life and go when it is my time to go. I don't want to end up like the guy in Hinotori.

[Retribution]

[size=1]Choosing death over life is a very hard choice for me. While I would like to believe my Faith is strong, what if I'm wrong? What if I'm greeted by a black abyss of nothingness after I die? The horror. I could just choose to live eternally, but that doesn't seem too exciting, especially when there's the chance to live in an eternal paradise where nothing goes wrong.

I would choose to live in a divine kingdom where life is perfect and untouched by worry or pain or anguish. Yes, it's a leap of faith, but it's one I'm willing to take.[/size]

[Lozer and Proud]

[FONT=COURIER NEW]I would very much rather die than live forever and watch my family and friends die around me. I've always had this weird idea that there was always a life after death and all that stuff. So if I were indeed to die I'd still be around to watch over my family no matter what.

Although, there is always the vampire thing where you forever become the living dead, but I guess that doesn't really count in such a situation or with the question you asked.lol.[/FONT]

[Harakiri]

[QUOTE=kenshinsbabe][SIZE=2][FONT=Georgia]I was just musing and a thought came to me. Would it be better to live forever or die? Both, in their own ways, are rather frightening.

On the one hand, you die. That's it. If religion is right, you either go to a "Garden of Eden" in the sky and live with God or go to eternal damnation and are tortured for the rest of eternity (fun!). Or, if science is right (woo, logic), you just rot in a hole in the ground.

On the other hand, you've got eternal life. You have to watch all your friends and family grow old and die. What would be the worst for me is to have to live forever without my lover. He would die and I would have to go on without him.

I would probably pick death over eternal life. I would hate to live forever, watching everyone I love die and just having to move on, like it never happened. That would be true torture for me. What are your thoughts?[/FONT][/SIZE][/QUOTE]

i realy don't care. 'cause, well, i'm livin' now and i'm gonna die soon so i could care less.

[Lady Asphyxia]

[font=Arial][size=2]I'm not so much afraid of death as I am afraid of not meeting up with the people who died before me. That being said, the thought of dyin, say, tomorrow fills me with dread. If I were given an option to die now or to live forever --


--- well, that's a tough one. On the one hand, it'd be great to see what the future holds. On the other, I'm already scared about what's happening to the state of the world; politics, environment, people. You'd have to watch your family and friends die, and the people you came from, too. But if you could accept that everyone dies and move on, you'd make new friends -- and yet those would die too. And since, by having eternal life, you obviously aren't able of accepting death, that'd be hard.

So if I were given the choice tomorrow...

Eternal life with an easy-out clause? [img]http://otakuboards.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif[/img]
[/size][/font]

[MindGrinder]

Well.....I'd rather sleep for the rest of my life and live in my own little dream world. One day....I won't wake up, and you'll never see me again.

My best friend's thoughts are different. She wants to live for eternity so that she has time to gather all the knowledge she can to discover the truth behind everything and plot out ways to rule the world. It would be pretty cool....but it won't happen.

[James P. Galvatron]

I would choose to live forever to find out the truths in the world and live to see its end.

We all die so why would i be scarred to see my loved ones die we are dying to live and living to die as Tupac and Biggie said. We will all die one way or another no matter what we do its all over sooner or later the quicker we realize that the better.
I would like to believe that when you die you go to a better place, but I have no proof the bilble was written by man so how am I to trust it man has killed, lied, and stolen from one another and I'm to belive what he writes considering all the stuff in it happened thousands of years before the bible was written.

[Pumpkin]

[QUOTE=Dagger]Chances are that I'd answer differently if I were fifty years older. But there's a lot to enjoy about life. And how amazing would it be to actually witness everything that happens in the future? Technological developments, countries rising and falling, space exploration... not only that, imagine the kind of positive impact you could make if you had centuries or millenia to work with.

I guess I wouldn't want to exist past the end of the human race, though. That would probably be my limit.[/QUOTE][SIZE=1][LEFT]I'm going to have to agree with [i]Dagger[/i] on this one. I don't blame people for choosing death, it seems like the resonable option. Why watch all the people you love, friends, family and others die? You'll be lonely and if you were close with anyone again you would have to watch them die as well. You'd become cold-hearted otherwise you'd have serious breakdowns every day. But still....

I suppose I would choose eternal life if it mean't helping other people. Despite I would love seeing how this world develops, the future and know the histories, I could also help with not repeating the world's mistakes. If it mean't saving lives somehow, maybe I would do it, but as for fearing death? Naw, actually I don't fear death. Even if I do turn to dust, because I know that you only truely die when your forgotten. [i]People live on in the hearts of others[/i] is how I see it I suppose since I don't really have religion to fall back onto. If I were to live on forever, their lives would also be remembered forever. [/LEFT][/SIZE]

[Gavin]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting.

This was a rather odd question for me, as a Catholic I shouldn't fear death and in a way once I've lived a long life I should look forward to it. But then I also have the heart of a scientist and I'd love to keep living in order to see how humanity will evolve technologically, philosophically and politically over the next century and beyond. I suppose being raised on Star Trek, Star Wars and generally Science Fiction has made me very much interested in technological advancement in the future.

So the question is, would I want to live forever by myself, reaping the rewards of an endless quest for knowledge, or would I rather live about eighty years and then die knowing that my life as it was, was in the first step in a great journey ? Now that's a damn tough question if ever I heard one. I have to admit though I think as enjoyable as an endless quest for knowledge would be, I would eventually like to die knowing that I would go on to somewhere greater, something greater. So for me, I'll take what time I'm given by the big man above, and when he says it's time to go he'll get no argument out of me.[/SIZE]

[Zidargh]

I'm not even going to bother being another to say the 'fear of not seeing friends and family' thing again, even though it is true.

However, I will raise another point. One of the biggest aspects of death that I fear, is that some scientist will experiment on me and turn me into a zombie. Now wouldn't that be interesting?

It'd be like, "Hey mother... Long time no see... How long's it been? 20 years!?" *Bites off arm*

[Shadow Blade]

[size=1][color=slategray]I'd rather die. And face eternal damnation in the fiery pits of Hades! Nah just kidding!

But I would rather die. If I were given immortality I would have to watch my family members and friends die, which would be really depressing. Plus I would see more advanced technology and new generations be born which would make me feel extremely old. Which isn't cool in my opinion. Besides I'm afraid of death. I have a religion that makes me less afriad of it. It's pretty much like that Latin saying:

[center]"Memento Mori"
In english translation,"Remember you will Die"[/center]

[/size][/color]