What is death?

[Jurhum]

Death is the absence of life.

 

[Amara]

Death is the absence of life.

I hate it when people read the title, but not the posts. It brings nothing of value to the conversation.

 

[Bender]

I posted this a couple of weeks back in the Life forum and thought it would be relevent here. The book this is taken from has about 4 chapters on Death and it certainly puts 'the dreaded' into perspective.

I read this recently, found it intriguing, and thought it might be of interest. It is from a book Tupac has read himself called:


Ponder on This
Written by Alice Bailey & the Tibetan Master, Djwhal Khul

It's main subject is about Initiation, and touches upon a whole range of topics from A - Z. I thought it might shed some light on why Tupac didn't seem to bothered about the prospect of Death. The chapter before is also about Death but proposes that we should fear Birth and not Death -" for birth esablishes the soul in the true prison, and physical death is only the first step towards liberation. "

Death: Restitution.



Chapter 34 p 69




​

" After all, death is in itself a work of restitution. It involves also the work of rendering back of substance to the three worlds of substance, and doing it willingly and gladly; it involves also the restoration of the human soul to the soul from whence it emanated, and doing this in the joy of reabsorption. You must all learn to look upon death as an act of restitution; when you can do this, it will take on a new light and a true meaning, and become an integral part – recognized and desired – of a constant living process.
If I were asked to say, what are the major tasks of healing groups, such as the Hierarchy seeks to see functioning in the future, I would say it is to prepare human beings for what we should regard as the restorative aspect of death, and thus give to that hitherto dreaded enemy of mankind, a new and happier significance. You will find that if along these indication lines of thought, the entire theme of death will constantly recur, and that the results of this will be new attitudes to dying, and the inculcation of a happy expectancy, where that inevitable and most familiar event occurs. Healing groups must prepare to deal with this basic condition of all living, and a major part of their work will be the elucidating of the principle of death. The soul, we are told, must return to the one who gave it. To date that has been an enforced and dreaded restitution, one which endangers fear, and which leads men and women everywhere to clamour for the healing of the physical body, overemphasising its importance, and making them regard the prolongation of earthly existence as the most important factor in their lives. During the next cycle, these wrong attitudes must come to an end; death will become a normal and understood process – as normal as the process of birth, though evoking less pain and fear. This comment of mine is in the nature of a prophecy, and should be noted as such.

The words “earth to earth and dust to dust”, so familiar in the burial rituals of the Occident, refer to this act of restitution, and connote the return of the physical body elements to the original reservoir of matter, and of the substance of the vital form to the general etheric reservoir; the words “the spirit shall return to God who gave it” are a distorted reference to the absorption of the soul by the universal soul. The ordinary rituals, however, fail to emphasize that it is the individualised soul, in process of reabsorbtion, which institutes and orders, by an act of the spiritual will, that restitution. "




The chapter on Hell is interesting. I would seriously recommend this book as one to read.
__________________

 

[VENOMOUS]

read again. and notice, I wrote dreams, not nightmares....

No, sometimes there isn't more to life then pain, pressure and drama.

you lost me on the 1st sentence.

But there is always more to life then pain pressure and drama Life is what you make it....Plus if life didnt have pressure pain and drama then how would you learn about life lesson's,How would you advance?

death is apart of life and visa versa.death could e part of the natraul cycle of exsitence.

Sorta like a cataerpilla cocooning it self to turn into a butterfly.I believe this same principle apply's to humans but on a level that we cant even begin to comprehend.Humans have a life force and that life force is energy.From what i underastand energy just never ceases to exsist but is always changing form.

have you guys ever stop to think that this may not even be reality but this might be a shadow of reality

 

[Bina]

I hate it when people read the title, but not the posts. It brings nothing of value to the conversation.

But u know what life is, so death is the opposite....

Little note i was gona say, when u die- there's stil parts of ur body that stil work, cant remember if its the brain (which i dont think so), i think its the muscles in your body where the brain has already sent chemical messages out to. For example, u cant stil move your tongue and talk- saw this on one of the (Iraq) beheading video's released last year.- so does this mean he was dead before or after he stopped screaming?? (RIP Ken Bigley).

Also, sometimes gases in the body have built up and are released by the body jerking from a laying down position to a sitting up position(to help release the gas). -jus thought id throw that piece of useless info in!!!

 

[Amara]

But u know what life is, so death is the opposite....

I was looking to go beyond the established definition though....analyse it. Which some people were able to do. Like has been already said. If there is life after death, then death is not the opposite of life - it is a continuum of existence so that the established defintion will not sufice.

Little note i was gona say, when u die- there's stil parts of ur body that stil work, cant remember if its the brain (which i dont think so), i think its the muscles in your body where the brain has already sent chemical messages out to. For example, u cant stil move your tongue and talk- saw this on one of the (Iraq) beheading video's released last year.- so does this mean he was dead before or after he stopped screaming?? (RIP Ken Bigley).

Also, sometimes gases in the body have built up and are released by the body jerking from a laying down position to a sitting up position(to help release the gas). -jus thought id throw that piece of useless info in!!!

That's not useless info because, it is a technical rebuttal of the argument that death is the cessation of bodily functions. If there are still biological functions being served then that makes the definition of death even less clear cut and definable, or at least creates some ambiguity in regards to "when" is someone to be deemed dead.

 

[Bina]

I was looking to go beyond the established definition though....analyse it. Which some people were able to do. Like has been already said. If there is life after death, then death is not the opposite of life - it is a continuum of existence so that the established defintion will not sufice.

Ok, death is the end of ur life on earth, in which atheists will argue is the end of the road-there is no afterlife (mentioned on a prev post), however, other religions state death as the end of living, this is refering to their bodies. A persons soul never dies, it lives on, which is why it is referred to as the afterlife and why people dont see death as the end of the road. Its hard to explain, just hope u can see both points of the argument??

 

[Amara]

Ok, death is the end of ur life on earth, in which atheists will argue is the end of the road-there is no afterlife (mentioned on a prev post), however, other religions state death as the end of living, this is refering to their bodies. A persons soul never dies, it lives on, which is why it is referred to as the afterlife and why people dont see death as the end of the road. Its hard to explain, just hope u can see both points of the argument??

Of course I can and it's not about finding an answer, I wasn't pitting one framework against the other - rather, discussing the possibilities broadly, getting people to contemplate notions that may or may not exist beyond their contemporary understanding.

 

[LL COOL PAC]

I would say that life is best defined by the faculty of feeling. You can interpret this physically, emotionally or mentally, but once you have ceased to feel in all of these ways you must be dead.

This allows the concept of life after physical death to be considered, if you are not emotionally or spiritually dead.

Of course, I've expressed that in an overly-simplistic way, and I don't intend it as a comprehensive answer, but as a point which needs to be considered.

 

[Default MX]

Death is what you get for fuckin with D.

 

[Missy "C"]

there's a french proverb that explains it very simply:

"La mort est un état de non-existence. Ce qui n'est pas n'existe pas. Donc la mort n'existe pas"

I couldn't translate it to english, i'm not a native speaker of english or french. Hope u can understand it: it says that death doesn't exist.

 

[Jokerman]

there's a french proverb that explains it very simply:
"La mort est un état de non-existence. Ce qui n'est pas n'existe pas. Donc la mort n'existe pas"

That's not a French proverb. That's a Woody Allen quote from a play he wrote in French. "Death is a state of non-existence. What is not does not exist . Thus death does not exist."

It's really just a play on words, meant to be funny. It's a reformulation of a quote by Epicurus, an ancient Greek philosopher.

 

[AnarchistFunk]

"You only scared to die, when you ain't living right" Nas

live your life, find out what death is when you're dead, till now just live righteously

 

[TONGAN CRIP]

I reckon Death means that u go to a better place not physically but spirutaly.

 

[Missy "C"]

That's not a French proverb. That's a Woody Allen quote from a play he wrote in French. "Death is a state of non-existence. What is not does not exist . Thus death does not exist."

It's really just play on words, meant to be funny. It's a reformulation of a quote by Epicure, ancient Greek philosopher.

I was told it was a french proverb, i didn't know it was from woody allen! Anyway, I like it, it's an interesting phrase, and it's very interesting what u said about Epicure, i'll try to find out more about it

 

[Fo Shiznick]

death is fake

 

[LL COOL PAC]

The term, “death” is used freely to describe the concept of cessation of life. To die is to cease to exist. Yet, is ceasing to exist measured in terms of physical deterioration or the termination mental capabilities.

Dictionary and legal definitions shed some light, describing it as, “the permanent end of all life functions in an organism or part of an organism.”

Or the statutory definition in my state jurisdiction:
(a) irreversible cessation of all function of the brain of the person; or
(b) irreversible cessation of circulation of blood in the body of the person.

Yet, even this is somewhat ambiguous and seems to relate only to the physical functions of organs in preventing death, thus sustaining life. Although arguably “function of the brain” may be interpreted as embodying mental/thought processes. This raises questions as to what the function is, some degree of neuron activity or much more - independent thought process and memory retention? (What does this say about the so-called “brain-dead” or mentally impaired? Are they, in a sense, half dead?)

Is life that simple, so that we may say we are systemically composed? Why is that system so fragile, that once shut down, can rarely be rebooted? To speak in terms of functionality - operational capabilities likened a machine, is somewhat impersonal and dehumanizing. Yet, is it conceited to think of ourselves as anything more than a well built machine?

Do we have characteristics that determine death beyond the physical? Is there an essence or soul that ultimately determines the end of life? If there is such an essence, at what point does it leave the body? Is the body a mere shell – a shell displaced after death?

I find it hard to believe that death is merely physical. I think there must be more to it, yet the concept of a “soul” raises as many inexplicable notions and unanswerable questions as the original question itself. Is death so hard to explain in any meaningful way, that we must just accept that death is death, so just get on with life?

Anyway, this was all just on my mind. Anyone else got any thoughts on death?

The Bible tells us that for the elect, "to be absent from the body" is "to be present with the Lord" (II Corinthians 5:8), whereas "The Lord knoweth how ... to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished" (II Peter 2:9).

AS for "rebooting", the just will be resurrected to eternal life, whereas the unjust will be resurrected to be cast into the lake of fire.

"Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are
in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that
have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done
evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." (John 5:28-29)

"But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and
the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in
marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the
angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the
resurrection." (Luke 20:35-36)

"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." (Revelation 20:6)

"And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:11-15)

The Bible also tells us quite plainly that there is no reincarnation: ""And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." (Hebrews 9:27-28)

 

[KosimO]

Rip

 

[Bender]

Keeping things simple: Death has many definitions. < My contradiction of the day.

After some contemplation on the matter I say that death, hitherto, is a part of life missunderstood by the masses, and something that people too frequently assosiate with negative thoughts/emotions. Also, Death ultimately marks the completion of life.

Death is also a weapon, you want to scare somebody? nothing scares like the inculcated prospect of death. Hence it is misunderstood.

"Humans fear what they don't understand and they hate what they fear" - Eddie Murphy: Vampire in Brooklyn.

I yearn to see the day when Death is not regarded as a negative concept.
Proceed and open the mind.

 

[LL COOL PAC]

^lol i think my bible quotes are slightly more valid than eddie murphy