No.21256
This is NOT a suicide/euthanasia thread. Death was once an ever present part of life, in all its beauty and all its horror. Our ancestors lived with the ever present threat of death, from the butchering of livestock to accidents, the death of elderly family members, even public executions. For us moderns, death is something we like to ignore. Except for Hollywood movies and video games and internet gore, we do not see it. We don’t think about it. As scientific means have extended life, witnessing death and dying is no longer common place for us. So we conceal death, pretend we’re not dying, try not to think about it, and when people do die unexpectedly its scandalous.
Once, we would have ended our lives on our deathbed surrounded by family and friends. Today, your end of life is more likely to be a sterile white hospital or hospice surrounded by strangers in medical gear and masks. Scientific medicine extends life, but maybe it allows us to cheapen it too? We’d rather extend our lives artificially in medical facilities, even if it means a wretched existence, than die peacefully in dignity at home.
There is a Japanese tradition about dying beautifully, Sufi sages and Buddhist monks call upon us to die before we die, to make peace with death. So sushi how would you like to die? What would you want your end to look like? How do you come to terms with your mortality? What do you want to accomplish before you go?
No.21257
In my own bed, with a belly full of wine and a maiden's mouth around my cock, at the age of eighty.
No.21259
Don’t you just love it when a random sushi roll fills up the board with his unhinged rants?
>>21257Yeah good luck getting any maiden to put her mouth around your shriveled rotten 80 year old cock
(Be nice, uncomfy sushi.) No.21260
>>21259this thread is fine and you can fuck off
No.21261
>>21259Since when is one thread filling up the board? Disregarding that long form posting does not equal rant. I think OP does well to incite discussion.
And 21257 is just being silly quoting Game of Thrones.
No.21264
>>21256I don't know when I'll die, but I think I would like to die underneath a tree.
No.21265
>>21264I imagine dying in a field full of flowers and being buried under a tree.
No.21301
I don't like much of the rest of his opinions, but I did get this notion from Jeremy Clarkson: It's important to die in an anecdote, how else are your kids going to be entertaining at parties?
Idea being you should always factor in how interesting a death it might be when considering risky activities. Dying in a bed of some obscure cancer with a tube up your nose at age 96; boring. Dying going 210 MPH sideways in some home made drift car to win your loves honor; interesting.
So as long as my death is interesting enough that people have a good story to tell that's OK with me.
No.21307
>What do you want to accomplish before you go?
I don't really have any grand aspirations. Just trying to live a good life and be a decent person. Explore the fruits of collaborative society while I'm here. Have some good sips, eat some interesting food.
Something neat I read the other day: in the older days when folk felt their death was impending they brewed beer intended to be had at their funeral, to make sure it'd be up to snuff.
>What would you want your end to look like?
No idea honestly. Not even sure if I'd prefer to know in advance it's coming up or to go away without warning. It would be nice to set things in order before passing, but just having a meeting somewhere new to me gives me brutal anxiety.
>How do you come to terms with your mortality?
Mostly just trying to focus on life I guess. Already spent years with existensial angst and the rest. Death might also be preferable to some potential futures, based on tech we're developing now. Don't want to get into specifics because it's fucking horrifying.
>>21291
It used to be different, at least from what I remember. Slow but good posts. Quality over quantity. A back and forth can take a couple of days between replies, no hurry. Now there's some semi-spammy elements around that makes it harder for the actual slow discussion to take place. Quantity over quality posts, 2-3 words kinda on topic and an image/embed. Sometimes completely unrelated to the thread, like the last handful in thread >>>4502 . And since it's not really against the rules or actual spamlinks, it's not taken away, so it masks the actual slow paced discussion. I don't even understand why. Somebody who wants to post but doesnt know how to interact? Somebody under the impression that more new posts equals better, regardless of content? A bot, but then, for what purpose?
Just to be clear I don't think short posts are inherently bad, but the ones I have in mind just carry a different vibe. Maybe it's just the old school internet slowly dying. Maybe it's something else. Who knows.
Sorry for the OT rambling, but it's been on my mind a while.
No.21313
There is nothing beautiful, brave or natural about dying from some horrible disease that can be cured.
>>21256>but maybe it allows us to cheapen it too?lol, it actually does the contrary. It makes life valuable. Life was cheap when people died like flies.
>die peacefullyOnly painless deaths are peaceful in nature. And they don't really make majority of the deaths. It's better to die in hospital while medicated and numb to the pain. Existence is enough of a suffering already there's no need to make it worse.
No.21318
>>21313What I meant is that we extend our biological lives even when that prolonged existence will be painful and uncomfortable, not that we shouldn’t cure diseases. Is it really living to be slowly rotting away in hospital bed surrounded by masked medical staff in a sterile environment just to get a few more days or months out of your terminal body? We can prolong life, but the quality of life isn’t inherently better. Nevertheless, we still choose to extend it. Modern medicines are probably better in most cases, but there’s still something alienating and uncomfortable about the fact that we’d rather die in an unfamiliar environment surrounded by strangers and machines.
No.21319
>>21299Its hard for us to live beautifully in the 21st century for some reason. Deep down we recognize how soulless things have become and wish the world was a better place.
>>21307>Death might also be preferable to some potential futures, based on tech we're developing now. Don't want to get into specifics because it's fucking horrifying.Give us the details sushi.
>>21314I find death comforting too.
>it is a beautiful thing to sacrifice your life for a meaning that is greater than your own life.But what about people who sacrifice themselves for bad things? Many Nazis sacrificed their lives for a greater purpose they thought was good but turned into a nightmare. I really like those stories of the 47 Ronin and people sacrificing themselves to save their friends but never ideological causes.
No.21320
>>21318But do we? Is that based on knowing or what you assume how things work?
I have to admit I know nothing about hospitalization or medical work, but my naive thinking is that if you're hospitalized there's always at least a chance you'll make it out of there, or you're at least provided medication to make your end less painful.
Again, something I'm not sure at all about, but even if you said fuck it to hospitalization social stuff is different from the old days. Chances are you'd be by yourself in an apartment with your family visiting maybe some times a week at most. We don't have the same family dynamics we had before. I imagine we didn't have the same standards of moving out as soon as we could and so on. Larger families. Take care of your elders instead of placing them in a retirement home. Modern western life is more isolated and invidualised. Or might be, as stated I don't really have any clue about any of this.
>>21319>Give us the details sushi.I'd like to, but another reason not to is that speaking up about it is actually making it more likely to happen. Nobody here is in any position to do anything about it, and connecting concepts together that should not be is dangerous. A warning to some is a suggestion to others. Take heed.
No.21322
>>21320>Modern western life is more isolated and invidualised.Yes. This is a more important point than how effective modern medicine is or isn't. Society is much more atomized and lonely than it used to be. In the past, people lived with and accepted the reality of death whereas we try to put it off and ignore it. Maybe because we're deeply unsatisfied with how life looks now? We realize how empty and asocial we're becoming. You see people like Peter Thiel pumping money into scientific research to overcome death. We are not at peace with our own mortality. Often, we choose to extend and prolong our lives even if we'd just be hooked up to a ventiltor for a few extra weeks in a lonely hospital bed. Death used to be an important social event with deep meaning and symbolism, great tragedy and beauty but now its just a bureaucratic medical event.
No.21328
>>21319Life is a series of impulses, aversions, and pleasures regardless of the time. The only thing that makes life beautiful is in maintaining some detachment from it, in viewing it as some artistic sign, in seeking deeper expression in what's substantially mundane. Beauty is actively created and discovered. I think it's easier to be swept away into extremes, and easier to become socially isolated because of that. I don't know if that's a unique opportunity available to more people or something plainly destructive.
No.21335
>>21319It doesn't matter if we don't agree with their beliefs or motivations, What matters is that they believed in something to such an extent as to place it before their life. Many people who are unwilling to do such a thing simply let the world rot due to their own self interest. So yes even people who sacrifice themselves for a cause that I disagree with are doing something beautiful in a way, Not because of what they're willing to die for but simply due to being willing in the first place.
