I have never really suffered from panic attacks in my life until I began to consider my own guaranteed mortality.

(Even time lords die someday.)

I suppose it begins with a lack of faith. Usually faith is something the parents attempt to plant into the child during the young stages. A child believes that God exists because the parents state that it is so.

My own parents were lackluster in they're faith, at times saying God exists and this is how to worship him, and at other times falling out of it.

Therefore I generally think of God as a man made concept used as a form of hope and control.

This places me in a dilemma of attempting to look at death in a more scientific manner. Generally, science would state that the mind or consciousness and the body (or brain) are one and the same thing. Which means that once the body (or brain) dies, the mind/consciousness is extinguished.

Once extinguished, this means there is nothingness. Similar to sleeping, but without the dreams, since, there is nothing.

Considering this sad outcome easily can instill fear within the mind, (and does) with me. I cannot accept this terrible fate, however, I have no faith with which I am willing to accept any alternative.

When in this mind-set, terrible panic attacks are possible. Often thinking about that terrible moment. Perhaps considering the parents that gave you birth as well. Standing there, talking with your mother/father, when suddenly the gasp and collapse and die. That's right.... it could happen....  It's in fact guaranteed that at some point it WILL happen.

The scientific person would say, well, make sure you have life insurance and all of your affairs in order.....

I say... Who CARES? If the outcome as is typically assumed by many is nothingness, then nothing will matter really anyways.

In fact.....

Given this mind set... I would say that a really expensive and rewarding life insurance policy on YOUR life is also the ONE and ONLY selfless act anyone can do. In the end that money won't do squat for YOU.

Bah! Regardless, this mindset causes adrenaline, it causes panic attacks, it causes anguish. However, if you as a lot of people this is the mind-set that a lot of people have.

One can say, well, meditate and concentrate and attempt OBE's, and do this and do that, but, in the end, a true skeptic will most likely always deny the existence of an afterlife... therefore; continuing a life of stress and panic.

Well, I can emphasize with you and can recommend you read the kind answers people gave me in a similar thread.

Just on a sidenote: I know quite a few atheists who do not have any fear of death. It is not only a matter of believing in an afterlife.

Dr. Who,

The awful view that "nothing means anything," presupposes that consciousness isn't real, just an "accident" of nature.  But who defines meaning?  We do.  And when has science proven that it the brain is primary and the mind secondary (not vice versa?) Never.

Princeton University had a lab called the P.E.A.R. research center.  Google it.  In that lab, thousands of controlled experiments documented that shielded random number generating machines were altered by human consciousness, without any scientific explanation.  The center closed, but its work was published in peer reviewed journals. 

If you can convince yourself that you are more than your physical body, or that consciousness can change the outcome of something in the "real" world, without any known scientific explanation, then you must accept that our consciousness is more than a random trick of nature.

Man invented science to describe common experiences in the physical world.  Science tends to rely on sensory data, by looking at commonly agreed on parameters and outcomes.  Yet science is a tool - nothing more and nothing less - to describe what our physical senses tell us.  Yet for sight, sound, smell, while there are reproducible commonly agreed on things (smell of a skunk), the person's experience is always unique to them.  Do you and I both see the color "red" the same way?  I don't know.  We can both identify it time and again, but our minds may see "red" differently.

So then you must ask yourself, if science is really a tool of the mind, and if our senses are only based on commonly agreed on perceptions, what are we at our core? 

We are, each at our core, our conscious mind or perception.  This is what Descartes found in his dissertation.  He could imagine reasons why any perception might be faked (he even imagined a grand deceiver).  Yet no one could falsify his perception of thought (I think therefore I am).

This is one of the most powerful ways of understanding how our mind/consciousness is our true primary self, and how everything else flows from it. 

When you start believing that, you have every reason in the world to act lovingly to others and to believe in God.  Because you realize that our consciousness emanates from a common source, and that loving thought or action frees us from the fears you describe.

Matthew

Dr. Who,

"One can say, well, meditate and concentrate and attempt OBE's, and do this and do that, but, in the end, a true skeptic will most likely always deny the existence of an afterlife... therefore; continuing a life of stress and panic."

One can say a lot things, but in the end the one leading a life of stress and panic is the one leading the life of stress and panic. Though helpful friends may comfort or give one a kick in the butt, the one will have to deal with it. In a world where one's getting used to pressing a button to perform an action or getting something done, most other things require several steps to get ahead, and maybe, just maybe, that's ok.

One tune for the road:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5PJzpp1UIk

That was a very good response, DocM, you should write a book.  Maybe you have...?  Very helpful and thoughtful.

Dr. Who, if it's any comfort to you, the fact that you've found this board might be a key.  It's probably not a coincidence, I have found that much out myself.  This place became a door to lots of other resources for me.  Follow your instincts.   

The person that dwells on death and believes in nothing, is they're own worst enemy.

They can rely on nothing, not even themselves.

This locks the person in a panic. I fully understand the thoughts of a person in this state... as this accurately describes me.

The answer is either to:

1. Become able to accept the unknown, living with the fact that death is an unknown, and becoming ok with that.

(I think this is what every psychiatrist will attempt to invoke in a person as a solution.)

2. Find out the truth, not just for oneself, but the absolute undeniable, fully tested truth in regards to death and what happens.

Dr. Who wrote on Oct 13^th, 2010 at 3:40pm:

t The answer is to: 2. Find out the truth, not just for oneself, but the absolute undeniable, fully tested truth in regards to death and what happens.

That's exactly what Bob Monroe did, and the results are here on this forum, in his and Bruce's books, and in the work and documented records of the Monroe Institute.

Easy peasy when you look!  ::)

David.
:)