19 FEB 2015 by ideonexus
Oliver Sacks on Focus in the Last Months of Life
I feel a sudden clear focus and perspective. There is no time for anything inessential. I must focus on myself, my work and my friends. I shall no longer look at “NewsHour” every night. I shall no longer pay any attention to politics or arguments about global warming.
This is not indifference but detachment — I still care deeply about the Middle East, about global warming, about growing inequality, but these are no longer my business; they belong to the future. I rejoice when I meet gi... 1 
notes
notes28 MAY 2013 by ideonexus
The Brain Dies in Stages
“The body tries to stay alive. It’s not so… It’s natural. Maybe you’ll see it now. First the human brain dies, then the animal brain, then the lizard brain. Like your Rm, only backward. The lizard brain tries to its very last bit of energy to keep things going. I’ve seen it. Some kind of desire. It’s a real force. Life wants to live. But eventually a link breaks. The energy stops getting to where it needs to be. The last ATP gets used. Then we die. Our bodies return to earth, go...
1 From higher functions to lower functions, de-evolving.
09 JAN 2013 by ideonexus
The Naturalist's Concern for Death
But just because naturalists do not believe in a life after death does not mean that they don't care what happens after they die. I am deeply concerned, for instance, about whether my family members will be happy and successful after I am gone, whether my friends will continue the traditions we have established, and whether the world will be a better place because of my actions. I hope that what I do in this life will make a long-term difference in the world, though I will never know whether ... 1 notes
notesThey are concerned about the welfare of their loved ones, and the causal effects of their life rather than rewards in an afterlife.
21 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Becoming More by Dying
I died as mineral and became a plant,
I died as plant and rose to animal,
I died as animal and I became man.
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying? An interesting poem.
30 MAY 2012 by ideonexus
The Tragedy of Death
I have accumulated a wealth of knowledge in innumerable spheres and enjoyed it as an always ready instrument for exercising the mind and penetrating further and further. Best of all, mine has been a life of loving and being loved. What a tragedy that all this will disappear with the used-up body! 1 notes
notesIs that the accumulation of knowledge and wisdom in the body will disappear.
28 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
The Finality of Death Makes Life Even More Precious
Many people—including, presumably, most of those reading this book—believe that death is probably the final end of all personal experience and do not expect to continue their existence in some other life or other world. In this view, it is precisely the fact that our lives are limited that makes them precious. How we choose to use our time is all the more important when we know that we won’t have the opportunity to do everything. The fact that we can lose the ones we love makes it urgen... 1 notes
notesThe atheist perspective.
28 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
Teaching Children About Death
In a discussion on my blog regarding teaching kids about death, one of my readers commented that he uses a book called Lifetimes, by Bryan Mellonie. He explained that the book describes the lifetimes of various living things and focuses on the life that happens in between birth and death.
He explained, “I tell my kids that they do continue, not only in the life matter and lineage cycle, but as part of the world/universe per se. ‘The world produced life and us along with it. We are not se... 1 notes
notesVarious strategies for secularists to teach children this fact of life.
18 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
"Look for Me Under Your Bootsoles"
I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun,
I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jags.
I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.
Walt Whitman comments on his demise.
06 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
An Insightful Ancient Observation on the Origins of Things
The Greeks are wrong to recognize coming into being and perishing; for nothing comes into being nor perishes, but is rather compounded or dissolved from things that are. So they would be right to call coming into being composition and perishing dissolution. 1 notes
notesAnaxagoras correctly notes that things come into being as compounds of existing things and dissolve back into compounds.
17 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Death is Nothing to Us
Equally vain is the suggestion that the spirit is immortal because it is shielded by life-preserving powers: or because it is unassailed by forces hostile to its survival; or because such forces, if they threaten, are somehow repelled before we are conscious of the threat. <Common sense makes it obvious that this cannot be the case:> apart from the spirit's participation in the ailments of the body, it has maladies enough of its own. [80] The prospect of the future torments it with f... 1 notes
notesA state of non-being, we won't care about it because we won't be there to care.
