What made you first grasp your own mortality?

October 24, 2006 7:13 PM

What made you first realise your own mortality, and how did you react to the discovery?
posted by Black Spring to Religion & Philosophy (5 answers total)

I've always known that people don't live forever. There wasn't really a defined moment in which I realized "Hey, I could die from this.", it was more an ongoing acknowledgement that 'things don't last'. I first started considering death and the afterlife around the age of 8 or 9, I think, and I decided in favour of reincarnation because I found the idea that the complex entity of a brain/the memories/emotions could just completely disappear too mindboggling.

I've always also feared death, maybe due to my ongoing awareness of it? Heh.
posted by Phire at 7:24 PM on October 24, 2006

At first, you're like, "oh shit, I'm gonna die". But then when faced with the fact that you have very little control over that you're like, "I may not have done everything I wanted to do, but I've lived a pretty good life and I'm okay with that."
posted by CrazyJoel at 7:26 PM on October 24, 2006

I have a vague recollection of being afraid of death in late childhood. I think it was fear of the unknown more than anything else, because at the time I followed the Catholic belief system and presumably would have thought I'd go to heaven.

Later on, when I became atheistic/agnostic, I think I lost my fear of death around the same time. Come to think of it, no one in my immediate family seems to have any fears of dying. Other fears and phobias yes, dying, no.
posted by justkevin at 7:32 PM on October 24, 2006

I was watching an episode of "Donahue" when he had on these kids with progeria -- first time I'd ever seen someone with that disease. I was maybe 13 or 14. Scared the shit out of me, thinking about death, and was also my first panic attack. 20 years later and I'm still working on the anxiety/panic thing ... and the fear of death thing ...
posted by macadamiaranch at 7:35 PM on October 24, 2006

I started to feel a lot more contempt for people who do not appreciate the gifts they have, their health especially. I'm not proud of that. Conversely, every day that I feel my feet under me after getting out of bed seems like a gift, and innumerable small things, from the feel of rain on my shaved head on the way to the garage in the morning, to sitting in traffic half-asleep on the way home, are sublime.
posted by docpops at 7:36 PM on October 24, 2006