Time of arrival, dear departed

[Aspychata]

So would you want to know exact moment you are departing your physical being, like face palm to the ground?

This is like yes, l need to know because or- whoa- that's too much for me to handle. I don't want to know because....

 

[Fino]

I'd like to know so I know how to ration my time.

 

[NothingToSeeHere]

Yep, I'd like to know how I should ration my time and money. If I'm going to die next year no point working hard or saving for retirement is there, I can quit and spend the next year doing whatever I want. If I'm going to die at 110 then I've got to work hard and save hard and make good health choices so I can live well until the end.

 

[Aspychata]

Right - if you know it's next year - some of us will live with less purpose, and some of us with more purpose. But being on the spectrum we may obsess about it too much. Like really ruminate so maybe l am leaning towards not knowing.

 

[Progster]

No, I would rather not know. I think that knowledge would be overwhelming.

 

[NothingToSeeHere]

I think it mostly comes down to whether you are afraid of death or not. I've really never found the thought of death frightening. I think being suicidal as a teenager has primed me to see it as a positive thing, a release from suffering, so even though I now really enjoy life and certainly don't want to die, I still can't see it as something to be worried about. I suppose if death frightened me knowing I was going to die soon would be awful and overwhelming.

 

[NothingToSeeHere]

I don't want to know how I'll die though. Finding out you are going to die of an incredibly painful disease, unable to so much as wipe your own bum after years of slow decline and suffering? Yikes. No thanks. Now that is something to be frightened of.

 

[Progster]

Actually, there might be some advantages in knowing... if I know that, for instance, I'm going to die of a stroke in 20 years, then I can live my life free, eating what I like, doing what I like, because I know that whatever I do won't change my fate. But if I don't know, and don't know what the consequences of my actions or bad lifestyle will be, then I'm going to try harder not to influence the outcome or speed it along by giving myself health problems.

 

[Bolletje]

I’m not afraid of death. I’d like to know when I’ll die because it will allow me to plan my future. If I only have a few years left I won’t bother with trying to advance my career or making big plans. That’s basically where I am right now due to depression, just hanging around the house and making no plans further than a week ahead.
However, if I have 50 more years to go, I have some planning to do. And I will work on my career.

 

[HidinginPlainSight]

I only realized that death was something that would actually happen to me relatively recently. Up to that point, I just figured to was something that happened to other people. I think I'd be better off without an actual date.

I mean what would I do with that information anyways? Waste time more frantically?

 

[Crossbreed]

So would you want to know exact moment you are departing your physical being, like face palm to the ground?

Piper asked a similar question on the season finale of Emergence. (It figured into the ending.)

 

[Pats]

Age plays a role in this, too. When I was young and was going to die at a young age, I would have wanted to know to get my affairs in order and stuff. At 62, it's become every day is a blessing. I don't feel I've got that long left, but do I want to know when? No. Then I'd be living each day planning for death, while this way, I just live day by day.

 

[Varzar]

Nah.. Who doesn't like a good surprise?

Surprise!! You're dead! Bet you didn't see that one coming....