How did you handle facing the reality of death?

by song19 50 Replies latest jw friends

  • watson
    watson

    Stll workin' on this one.

  • Awakened at Gilead
    Awakened at Gilead

    Song19,

    I went through a period when I was 35 and realized that I was going to die in this sytem of things. I was still an active JW but was having a lot of cognitive dissonance. I no longer believed in the paradise earth, the ressurection, and the whole live forever concept (which I began to doubt in Gilead). I had nightmares constantly about dying and I obsessed with it... But I still believed that JWs had the truth...

    After some time passed, I began to accept that I would die, and that this life was all there is... or at least I didn't know waht else there was... but gradually I realized that I no longer felt like a JW... and this led to my recent awakening this year...

    I no longer obssess about it... I accept that this life is what it is, I feel like an agnostic... and I feel at the age of 38 I need to start living MY life, not living it for an org...

    Enjoy your journey... the anger will pass...

  • nvrgnbk
    nvrgnbk

    I just realized this as I was waking up from the cult.

    I was 33 at the time.

    It really does change everything.

  • kerj2leev
    kerj2leev

    I handle it by living my life! Death is a reality much as your existience is. So why not enjoy the moments you have instead of worrying about the past or future.

  • Carlos_Helms
    Carlos_Helms

    The question ought to be: "How did you face the reality of life?"

    Everyone faces "death" eventually...and few are comfortable with the thought.

    How about life?

    I hate to quote the Tim McGraw song (I hate that damned thing), but do you LIVE like you are dying?

    You ARE dying, you know? It's an emotional thing for me. I've actually faced death (real death, not some funky non-sensory spiritual thing) several times, and yet here I am. It's crazy!

    I'm caught between "fuck-it" (pardon my French, but that accurately describes it) and LIVE IT. I'm inclined towards "live it;" but, to be honest, the alternative (F-it) is what gives "live it" its true value.

    You might think the thought of dying is intolerable...but I can tell you, you can't really "live" without the thought of dying.

    A-live today,

    Carlos

  • Casper
    Casper

    I feel like most of the posters above... I became a witness at 28, living forever was, of course, one of the biggest prospects that drew me in.

    I felt on some level that I had found the "Fountain of Youth"...and looked forward to that, among other things.

    Now it's all gone and I feel lost on what the future holds for me and my children.

    That's what worries me the most I guess, not being here for my Girls when I
    pass on...missing out on my Grandchildren & Great Grandchildren's lives.

    I try not to think about it, spiritually I am totally lost and haven't a clue what to believe...so many conflicting thoughts promoted here on JWD...it's hard to decide what I really feel inside.

    I wish I had never heard of Jehovah...

    Cas

  • chickpea
    chickpea

    it is a long slow march,
    if we are lucky....
    but inevitable

    as for what happens next?
    i cant spend a lot of time worrying
    about that since i have no guarantees
    that this isnt the whole megillah....
    and that we get just this one chance to be alive!!

    only one way to find out......

  • Robert7
    Robert7

    I am a big believer of knowing the 'real truth' versus some myth that will help me sleep at night. So as of now I belive there is nothing after you die, just like it was before I was born.

    There is nothing I can do to change that. Everyone in the past has died, and all of us today will eventually die. So why worry about it. I believe to make life as good as it can be and not to worry about things I cannot control.

  • Purza
    Purza

    I had a real hard time with this one. From birth I was taught that I was never going to die. Never.

    Once I finally left and got a reality check - that hit me like a load of bricks. I had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that I will one day die. My husband is a realist and he just accepts death as a fact of life. He hopes we live a good, long life and then he said he wouldn't mind dying. It still is a weird concept to me, but I have slowly seen where he is coming from. Then there is another part of me that thinks there will be something after death.

    The further and further I get from "the truth", I do not overly fear death. I can't stop it; I have no control over it; however, I don't dwell on it either. It is just an eventuality.

    Purza

  • Carlos_Helms
    Carlos_Helms

    You must die.

    That is Jesus' call. Die today, live tomorrow.

    If you can't figure that one out, you haven't experienced the "dark night of the soul."

    Life is nothing without death. Death is critical.

    Carlos

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