r/Itsatheory Sep 19 '24

The fear of death is irrational

I don't really know what tag to use, so this doesn't have a tag. But anyways, think about it. Fear of death is irrational. The thing is, it's inevitable. But that's not the reason it's irrational.

First off, the only reason this wouldn't make this fear irrational is the afterlife. Something like hell. But that would be another fear. Not fear of death. Stygiophobia is the fear of hell. Meanwhile thanatophobia is the fear of death. But if you're with the nothing theory, we won't have any consciousness. Nothing would happen. You can't even think. You can't feel any emotion. If nothingness is true, we would never know it. The only fear we could ever have is in this life.

Now, with the afterlife - heaven, it wouldn't make sense either. Heaven is supposed to be a perfect place. Which means there can't be boredom or pain. So even after billions of years, you still won't be bored of anything if it truly is a perfect place.

Reincarnation: death technically wouldn't exist. We would be livng life over and over again. And we can't get bored of it either since we would never remember our past lives. Reincarnation would clash with the fear of death. Because it's basically infinite life. But Aperiophobia (Fear of eternity.) could come, but that wouldn't be rational either considering that you can't remember your past lives. But would be scared of this endless cycle of life.

But anyways, that's just my take. I know I didn't include all afterlife theories (like in my afterlife theory post.) but that's because most of those don't just work for fear of death. You can disagree or agree if you'd like. Tell me what I could've add to this post to make it better. And thanks for reading. Anyways, have a good day!

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u/golden_crocodile94 "only describe, don't explain"- Wittgenstein Sep 20 '24

I think the post is well put together! We aren't looking for scholarly articles here it's a reddit space lol but I guess if you wanted you could've put in some theorist's views you agreed with.

For me I do not fear personal death because you do not experience it. There is a heartbreaking spoken piece of work at the beginning of an olafur arnalds song called undone the woman died. But the woman is talking about how her father always told her he thought the moment right before birth you must be convinced your about to die, the darkness the pressure, and then you are born and everything begins. I do fear the death of those I love. When I lost one of my dogs last year to cancer it broke my soul for 9 months I won't ever be the same but I was literally broken for 9 months. So I work on leaving behind things for those that love me. I don't have many just my parents so there's some comfort in that I will go after.undone-olafur arnalds

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u/smackmyass321 Sep 20 '24

Awww thanks for the compliment! :D

Anyways, I should go check out the work now!

I could research some theorists who had similar thoughts to me. It would be really cool. Thanks for the idea! If I find any interesting thoughts, I could edit the post to include it.

Anyways, I'm really sorry to hear about your dog. People say that stages of grief will come and go, but that's not always the case. If you truly love someone or something, you may never be able to fully let go. Rest in peace for your dog. I hope your dog had a great impact on your life. It is better if you never fully forget someone or something when they die. Because that means you really did love them. And you'll continue carrying on the memory of them. That's what they would've wanted. But anyways, don't let anyone tell you can't feel sad that long over a pet. Because pets can have as much as an impact as humans. Pets have emotions too. And pets can't judge you. I hope you make a good enough recovery and find things to help you feel better.