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What is the beauty in death?

Percussion_is_Free

Percussion_is_Free

Bluelighter
Joined
Jan 29, 2005
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402
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Southern California
When we die on entheogens, we call it ecstasy, and in all its terror, is there really anything more beautiful? We call orgasms la petit mort. And we honor death with an aesthetic... Baudelaire, Poe, Tim Burton...

Or in AFI's Days of The Phoenix: "I remember when I was told the story of crushed velvet, candle wax, and dried up flowers. The figure on the bed all dressed up in roses, calling, beckoning to sleep, offering a dream."

I got to thinking about this when I saw this video of people committing suicide. It brought me to tears, and I was actually muttering 'no, no' to the people standing on the railing... and then when I saw the last shot, it occurred to me that this was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSDIa-cHeIo

It's the feeling of beautiful sadness. Is that sick? The same way we enjoy being scared on halloween, sadness has this exquisite and beautiful quality to it. What is that? Why?
 
If that is a video of people killing themselves, I'm just going to post this to remind myself: never enter this thread again.
 
yeah i aint clicking on it either. i appreciate how there is beauty in the transformational process of reintegration, but such exposure only traumatises me. i am one of the biggest critics of the sanitisation of our mortality, as i feel that it creates unrealistic disparities between the inner and outer worlds which results in unhealthy mental states, but to compensate with such explicit and brief imagery will generally only further those unhealthy mental states.

imo we need to create a culture which has proper rights of passage, far more substantial than our current school graduations and 21st bday pissup rubbish.
 
I don't know I don't find it beautiful. I watch liveleak all day which is an amateur ogrish. I don't know why I click on the things I do, but I don't do it because it's beautiful. It's really, really, weird and odd watching/knowing death.
 
Why is it sad?

I think a grave error is to mistake death - the one thing that gives life any meaning - with the tragedy of life that causes people to crave its end, and the pain that comes with that process.

The problem as I see it, is actually life, not death.
 
^cultural issue, jammy. what i refer to as the sanitisation of death is what gives us this peculiar notion.
 
death is beautiful cuz it gives meaning to life

you know like they say "live every day like its your last" type of thing

the fatality of it all makes it precious
death makes you realize you are living, you are alive, right now, in this very moment
 
Jamshyd said:
Why is it sad?

I think a grave error is to mistake death - the one thing that gives life any meaning - with the tragedy of life that causes people to crave its end, and the pain that comes with that process.

The problem as I see it, is actually life, not death.
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that's what's sad

the video was sad as fuck...

it showed tons of (normal looking) people, at the last moments of their life. you have to wonder A) what were they thinking? B) how hard would it be to send yourself into the unknown? C) what would lead to that? D) how shitty must their lives be?

jam, life isn't the problem.. i know this because many of us are very happy. if we can be happy, others can too; we are growing as a species, and are at a stage, i think, where we are basically collectively learning to be happy

centuries earlier, mental *and* physical pain were seen as necessary facts of life, and people rarely escaped them. the results of this approach to life were horrible

today, mental and physical pain are increasingly being battled, and i think that's a good thing. it's not even necessarily "unnatural"... it is less human, in terms of how humans developed in their original environment. but i think also human to grow and to direct our course/destiny. i choose to direct my course towards more happiness
 
Impacto Profundo said:
^cultural issue, jammy. what i refer to as the sanitisation of death is what gives us this peculiar notion.
Click to expand...

I agree with you both. In previous civilizations & other cultures death is celebrated, but here we fear it. I think we underestimate how much this fear of death affects us & how we live our lives, we're kind of repressed and opressed by it. But then this celebration generally stems from faith & belief (in something), and we're losing that too - we're too smart for our own good. We definitely need to figure out a more healthy way of dealing with it. I saw both my irish grandparents in their coffins in the front rooms of their houses, it seemed ok, like where they should be, and quite peaceful.

I try to look at it that we are returning to the state we were in pre-birth - ie non existent. We don't get terrified at how we were before we were concieved, so we shouldn't be trerrified of no longer existing. I just hope that I go suddenly, or am so ill/old that I don't give a fuck and the fear is neutralised by just wanting a break. Or I develop a deep & unquestioning faith & 100% believe I'm going to be dancing around on a cloud playing a harp.
 
badandwicked said:
we're too smart for our own good.
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I get what you mean, but I would even put it like this:
We actually are still too ignorant (but evolving). We overvalue thought. We believe the rational thinking mind to be superior to any experiences, without realizing that this in itself it's actually just another belief. Belief in rational thoughts superiority.
 
being said:
We actually are still too ignorant (but evolving). We overvalue thought. We believe the rational thinking mind to be superior to any experiences, without realizing that this in itself it's actually just another belief. Belief in rational thoughts superiority.
Click to expand...
Yes, some of us overthink and over rationalize. I think a lot of people over emote, over intuit, over anesthetize, over engage, under engage, on and on. Your assessment of over valuing thought is likely true of the majority of people who frequent discussion boards. If us is humanity at large I'm not sure over valuing thought would be among the biggest problems.

Off topic: You are a very impressive new participant on Bluelight being, to me for sure, I suspect to many others as well :)
 
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^ That's because murder and dying are not the same thing. Yes, murder is probably disgusting unless you're sick.

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IP and Bad: Agreed.

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Qwe: I worded my post poorly.

I did not mean to say that life IS a problem without exception.

What I meant is that when someone is driven to take their own lives, the problems that drove them to do so have absolutely nothing to do with death itself.

When I look through the BL shrine, I notice many people actually feel sorry for those who died because they died. I do not feel sorry for the departed (in fact, I almost envy them, to use a hyperbole).

The thing I don't understand is how people are willing to defend a tortuous life with the skin of their teeth and with every last atom of their being before being willing to accept the fact of death.

On a more personal level - I honestly have no problem if I die this evening, so long as:
a. I can live without facing painful or debilitating disease, or torture by other people,
and
b. That I am always given the opportunity to die if the above two ever present themselves.

I do not care about hapiness or longevity - I only care about not being in pain.
 
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Not sure what the difference is, but I'm ok with using "homicide" if it somehow feels better. *shrug*

My point is that killing and dying are not the same thing. I mean sorry to state the obvious but it seemed like rangerz may think otherwise...
 
if a deer dies in the forest, it decomposes, feeds microorganisms, other animals, becomes soil.... death always becomes life. i think death is beautiful because it entails my consciousness becoming one with the universal consciousness ( which is everywhere in the universe at all times, thats why people can have out of body experiences, their consciousness attaches to the universes consciousness). i believe in reincarnation. my belief is that i will die, then i will go to a place i have gone many times.. ill think of all the lives ive had, where i just was... what i learned... then my consciousness will be sent to learn and grow in another vehicle somewhere.... i have an awesome life. ive contemplated suicide before... however, my family wouldnt be happy i was gone, like i would, so i couldnt do that to them.........
 
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