What is death? What is our consciousness connection to this physical

[Johnthelegoman]

What is death as you would describe it? What is our connection to this physical plane we live on. Experiencing this world together I'm asking myself what am I? This body with arms and legs and a head?

If im perfectly happy to be in my mind thinking forever do I need my body? How badly has every other thing introduced to me besides my mind, my connection to what there is besides my physical body.


How much do we actually need to eat to think Gandhi survived 40 days or something in meditation fasting could he have gone longer or would he have died of starvation.


If I ceased to exist on this physical body I gues by dieing and becoming part of the earth would what I am still exist if everyone that also ever knew me would what they are still exist?


What is the fear of death? Could It be the fear of not being there for people or that people will be sad when your gone? Has even the fear of death been wrongly taught to us?




Just asking other peoples opinions sorry if it's hard to understand its just a train of thought so if it's easier to respond to it that way any response would be appreciated

[CFTraveler]

What is death as you would describe it? What is our connection to this physical plane we live on. Experiencing this world together I'm asking myself what am I? This body with arms and legs and a head?

To many, death is one more stage of our spiritual growth-life is full of 'little' deaths- the death of our infancy when we grow older, the death of our childhood when we become adults, and the death of our youth when we get old. All are personal and individual, so eventually, physical death is the end of our incarnation here and now. So our connection to the physical plane is simply that we chose to experience objective perception, and this is it, with all its variables.
To me, death is a mystery, the last of the 'firsts' that physical life is composed of. In this existence, we have the first time we had a thought, the first time we spoke, the first time we walked, fell in love, fell out of love and were perplexed by it, felt joy, felt anger, saw someone else be angry and wondered why, etc. And at some point, we wonder, what it feels like to die? That's a 'first' that comes last. So there is a sense of wonder enmeshed with the feeling of dread that comes with this.

If im perfectly happy to be in my mind thinking forever do I need my body?

Even though I believe we are 'thought' in the purest sense of the word, we don't think the way we do when we are incarnate. We use brains to think the way we do here, the thought state out of body is closer to 'being', or 'knowing everything, which makes information kind of meaningless' in the sense of how we conceptualize thinking. Sort of thinking of color if you are light- meaningless unless you divide it and have each ray look at each other.

How badly has every other thing introduced to me besides my mind, my connection to what there is besides my physical body.

Some say that whatever you experience is part of you, you create your experience, there is no boundary. That's why most metaphysical traditions consider life to be lessons, because you are creating it as you go along.

How much do we actually need to eat to think Gandhi survived 40 days or something in meditation fasting could he have gone longer or would he have died of starvation.

Only Ghandi knows that. Biology will tell you one thing, and people exaggerate when a person becomes a legend. So who knows.

If I ceased to exist on this physical body I gues by dieing and becoming part of the earth would what I am still exist if everyone that also ever knew me would what they are still exist?

I think so. Or, I like to think so.

What is the fear of death? Could It be the fear of not being there for people or that people will be sad when your gone? Has even the fear of death been wrongly taught to us?

Fear of death is not taught- it's a natural reaction to an event that is tough to accept. I personally have never feared death because I always have felt a sense of continuity of my idea of what 'I' am, but I do remember what I felt when my great grandmother (and other relatives) died. Grief was not taught to me, it came naturally, because I knew that they would not be there in the physical anymore, even if they were there in my heart and mind.
Animals mourn their dead, from dogs and cats to elephants (who have very complex mourning rituals) so the love and attachment that happens is not an exclusively human thing- it's just natural.

People who naturally tend to go inwards and are attracted to metaphysics and spirituality tend to do what everyone else does- compartmentalize facets of their existence and reject others. Many gurus (I mean this in the broadest sense) tend to think that if they focus on a spiritual life they must either reject, ignore or demonize the physical aspects of it, making them just as human as everyone else. So some of the more radical ones tend to teach asceticism as if it were a virtue, and not just another form of attachment to something.

The two teachers who I most admire tended to not do this (in spite of what some of their followers advertise)- Jesus fed the hungry and cured the sick, didn't tell people to deny themselves, and turned the water into wine; and Gautama, after living a life of privilege, lived with the self deniers, soon realized this wasn't the way, and created the middle way- not denial, not attachment, simply realization of the truth. I think both had much to teach us.

So anyway, this turned into a sermon, sort of.

[Johnthelegoman]

Wow thank you so much you really helped me out here. I think I neither fear death. But maybe I do because I fear not being there for people but I'm starting to realize people will be okay without me do even that fear is greatly dimming.

Everything is changing for me very rapidly I'm no longer feel like my mom isn't with me and I'm not even sad she doesn't see how great a person I've become this is something I never thought i would feel. And it feels great.

Do you think spiritual and conscious growth have sped up lately

[ButterflyWoman]

People are always okay, one way or the other. People lose their parents, their siblings, their children, their other family, their friends, and they go on. Some even go on with greater purpose following the death of a loved one, as if trying to live "in their honour" (I've seen that happen).

Also, there's no point in fearing death. It is absolutely inevitable, and fearing the inevitable just leads to misery and stress. You are going to die. So am I. So will CFT, every person who has ever read this board, every thing that has ever lived. Even abstract things like empires, nations, and cultures grow, reach a peak, decline, and die. It is the natural order of things. Worry about that is as fruitless as worrying about the fact that the sky isn't always the same colour when you look at it.

[Johnthelegoman]

There's a new pop song that says you only live once. I used to mock this song saying. Maybe you only live once but I will live forever! I gues I always knew I would die but I sti think I will live forever

[dreaming90]

Well, we've all taken on the human experience for any number of reasons. The human experience takes place in a "universe" where there are rules called "physics." According to the rules, carbon-based organisms can only remain active for so long, and then they "die." At which point, that particular human experience ends, and the "spirit" then enters into an afterlife experience where they cope with their death, maybe catch up with some deceased loved ones, and eventually re-integrate into nonphysical existence.

So, death is really just the end of an experience. Nothing more.

Let's say you fall asleep. At first there's just some disorganized thoughts and images that sort of fade into a nothingness. But after a while, a dream arises. Now, the "you" in the dream may be very much like physical reality "you." Or, "you" may be completely different, as though you are someone else. You engage in actions not physically possible or logical in physical reality. This may last for only a few moments. It may last for years, or decades. (I once had a dream that lasted ten years, it was very difficult to re-integrate into physical reality.)

But, according to the rules, one's physical body will wake up at some point. The dream ends abruptly. After perhaps an hour, the dream becomes a hazy memory. A little while later, it is gone forever. You were a completely different person, operating in a completely different reality, living an entirely separate life. But just like that, it's gone.

Death is very much the same.