Can Death Be Beautiful?

BurrBurr Join Date: 2002-11-19 Member: 9358Members
Me and a freind were discussing this. I said that on some level, you could find beauty in death, but I couldn't explain how. I know somehow you can, maybe its the fact that it is the only thing that truly makes us all equal. I would like some thoughts as well as some examples.
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Comments

  • HawkeyeHawkeye Join Date: 2002-10-31 Member: 1855Members
    Death is often seen as a symbol of losing against the battle with life.
    Old people die, and even if expected, it is seen as a tragic event since they've managed to live so long.

    However, I've seen many a moments presented in movies where death is far from "losing."
    Tom Hanks in the movie Philidelphia gets HIV and tries to survive long enough to see the outcome of the trial for him being discriminated against and fired for having HIV. Towards the end on his death bed, he hears that he in fact won.

    He dies in the end, but I don't believe that is tragic as much as it is a happy ending. He knew he was going to die in the end, so in this case, accomplishing what he wanted to accomplish was the "battle." And he won in the end.
  • TheWizardTheWizard Join Date: 2002-12-11 Member: 10553Members, Constellation
  • TheWizardTheWizard Join Date: 2002-12-11 Member: 10553Members, Constellation
    I never truly understood the fear of the inevitable.
  • reasareasa Join Date: 2002-11-10 Member: 8010Members, Constellation
    Most old people that I know seem to except that their time is drawing near, I suppose when you have lived to be 70,80,90 years old, you have already done as much as you can really do with your life. I just hope I'll feel that way when its my time. If you can look back and say "I had a good life" then maybe it isn't so bad.
  • BogglesteinskyBogglesteinsky Join Date: 2002-12-24 Member: 11488Members
    <!--QuoteBegin--wizard@psu+Nov 7 2003, 07:37 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (wizard@psu @ Nov 7 2003, 07:37 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I never truly understood the fear of the inevitable. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    its not the fear of the inevitable, its the fear of the unknown

    If, like me, you beileve in life after death, death is still sad, but there is an element of happines (beauty if you will) in the knowledge that you will see the decseased again.
  • MenixMenix Join Date: 2003-09-13 Member: 20828Members
    Life after death? That's an oxymoron.

    Back on topic, I'm comfortable with death.
  • BogglesteinskyBogglesteinsky Join Date: 2002-12-24 Member: 11488Members
    edited November 2003
    personally i wouldnt say that talking about if there is life after death is off topic, because it relates directly to the title, as I showed in my post. My point was that people aren't actually afraid of dying, they are afraid of what happens afterwards, becase nobody (if we exclude religion, which btw, if the original poster (thats you Burr) could tell us what side (non/religious) we are arguing from) has been able to come back after they have died and tell us what it is like.
  • torquetorque Join Date: 2003-08-20 Member: 20035Members, NS1 Playtester, Constellation
    I think the act of dying can be beautiful. I guess I'm not explaining it very well, but an example of a 'beautiful death' to me would be one who has lived their life to the end, seen things through, has made their peace and done what they feel needs to be done, and is 'departing.' It's the end of their story, so to speak, and an ending can be just as beautiful as any other part of a story. Sometimes, it is the most beautiful.
  • BurrBurr Join Date: 2002-11-19 Member: 9358Members
    My side: I believe in God, but not religion. You can argue from either side, it doesn't bother me, just don't turn this into a IS GOD/IS NOT GOD Thread

    Maybe I see not actually death as beautiful, but maybe what can represent death or what can bring death or what death has done. The ballet of a bullet going through flesh and ending a life, ending something that was and now is not. Once you are dead (at least in this day and age) you are gone forever from the mortal world, and maybe just the fact that death has that kind of power and it is inevitable makes it somewhat beautiful.
  • Bosnian_CowboyBosnian_Cowboy Join Date: 2003-06-07 Member: 17088Members, Constellation
    It can be beautiful. But you have to remember that it also can be funny.
  • uranium_235uranium_235 Join Date: 2002-11-20 Member: 9478Banned
    <!--QuoteBegin--Bosnian+Nov 11 2003, 04:04 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Bosnian @ Nov 11 2003, 04:04 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> It can be beautiful. But you have to remember that it also can be funny. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    There's some perspective for you.
  • kidakida Join Date: 2003-02-20 Member: 13778Members
    Death can be beautiful; it is something we all have to face one day; it is something that we shouldn't look at with fear.

    In my humble opinion, dying at the age of 70-90 is not how I want to die; I want to die for a purpose and for a cause-I want to die knowing that I did something to help the world-and not old and rotten. It all depends on the fates, if they want me to die old then I will die old, but we shall see, because I still have plenty of life to go to assume and feel in what way I want to die.
  • SnidelySnidely Join Date: 2003-02-04 Member: 13098Members
    I think the act of dying can be beautiful*, but death isn't. Death is the end.

    <span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>*sacrificing yourself for a loved one, for example, as opposed to impaling yourself on a corn cob or something. </span>
  • HawkeyeHawkeye Join Date: 2002-10-31 Member: 1855Members
    Endings can be beautiful. The ending isn't always of good things. It could be the ending of a horrible play, or the ending of a Kenny G song.

    There's beauty in everything if you know how to look for it.
  • 2_of_Eight2_of_Eight Join Date: 2003-08-20 Member: 20016Members
    <!--QuoteBegin--Hawkeye+Nov 11 2003, 04:33 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Hawkeye @ Nov 11 2003, 04:33 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> It could be the ending of a horrible play, or the ending of a Kenny G song. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    I'm listening to a Kenny G song right now... "Loving You".
    Back on topic: death can be beautiful if it influences others emotionally (in a positive way). It can also be good in a way - it controls overpopulation (I think I've mentioned that in every post I've posted in this forum).
  • RenegadeRenegade Old school Join Date: 2002-03-29 Member: 361Members
    <!--QuoteBegin--wizard@psu+Nov 7 2003, 10:37 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (wizard@psu @ Nov 7 2003, 10:37 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I never truly understood the fear of the inevitable. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    People fear death because they wish to prolong their lives. As for me, I'm not sure if death can be beautiful, but I'm certain it can be preferable to certain living conditions.
  • Bosnian_CowboyBosnian_Cowboy Join Date: 2003-06-07 Member: 17088Members, Constellation
    I think people fear death because it's a mystery. You can never be sure of what happens after.
  • HawkeyeHawkeye Join Date: 2002-10-31 Member: 1855Members
    Bosnian makes a good point. Do we fear death, or what happens after death?

    Are you afraid of being stabbed, or the blackness beyond dying.
  • uranium_235uranium_235 Join Date: 2002-11-20 Member: 9478Banned
    Bah, people scared of that need to grow some balls <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
  • HawkeyeHawkeye Join Date: 2002-10-31 Member: 1855Members
    I think if you aren't scared of death, you've never really thought about it.
  • WaltWalt Join Date: 2003-10-12 Member: 21635Members, Constellation
    it's very close to the natural world, much closer than most human activity. Romantic poets wrote about death a lot, it was mysterious, impossible, and part of the ultimate cycle of nature. In my opinion the beauty of death is the natural side of it. It gives our lives meaning: If we are never to die, then what do we have to live for?

    Going back to that "dust in the wind" idea (we're all a drop of water in an endless sea and so forth), death shows us that we are less than pawns in the course of the universe, gives us an idea of how small we are compared to the majesty of the natural world.

    In a nutshell I figure the beautiful part of death, for me at least, is the natural corellation death has.
  • uranium_235uranium_235 Join Date: 2002-11-20 Member: 9478Banned
    <!--QuoteBegin--Hawkeye+Nov 12 2003, 03:26 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Hawkeye @ Nov 12 2003, 03:26 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I think if you aren't scared of death, you've never really thought about it. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Quite the opposite, I'd say.
  • BurrBurr Join Date: 2002-11-19 Member: 9358Members
    Ive been awfully close to death, close enough to see it in my mothers eyes and hear it in the doctors voice. I still think this hasn't prepared me for death though, I truly think nothing can. Sometimes I welcome death, and sometimes I'm scared of it. Other than time, it is my biggest obsession mentally (meaning I think about it alot). I am obssed with time and death, about how little time we have and how we all must die. We are all dust in the wind, a microscopic speck in the eye of the universe. The universe cares not that I live, it doesn't care if I find a cure for cancer, and it does not weep for me when I do die. To the universe, I may not even live for a nanosecond, but does that mean my life is meaningless? Why keep on living if you know your going to die? The only reason it seems like I go on anymore is just out of curiosity. I have this need, this desire to know what will happen in the next minute, the next hour, the next day, the next year, and so on. This is the only reason I feel like I do need to keep living, just a natural curiosity of what may become.
  • BeastBeast Armonkyi Join Date: 2003-04-21 Member: 15731Members, Constellation
    -Depending on your beliefs- Death can mean a lot of things - It's all relative. Taking how "deaths" are portrayed in films as an example, we see one or two things that can portray death to be beautiful; or, a better word, powerful. One thing I would say that "would make death beautiful":
    Sacrifice.

    I personally define "beauty" in terms of "artistic power" - how much it can effect us emotionally. There is "good" and "evil" beauty; it's all in the eyes of the beholder, and the context.

    Myself, I believe in reincarnation. I do not fear death; but I fear suffering. Those who know me will understand this, those that don't will soon enough.
  • uranium_235uranium_235 Join Date: 2002-11-20 Member: 9478Banned
    <!--QuoteBegin--Beast+Nov 13 2003, 06:58 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Beast @ Nov 13 2003, 06:58 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->
    Myself, I believe in reincarnation. I do not fear death; but I fear suffering. Those who know me will understand this, those that don't will soon enough. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Was that a threat? <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
  • BeastBeast Armonkyi Join Date: 2003-04-21 Member: 15731Members, Constellation
    I didn't mean it like that, allthough it sounds quite funny like that. I'll explain later...
  • kidakida Join Date: 2003-02-20 Member: 13778Members
    I'm scared of being burned alive and having my skin flayed.
  • HawkeyeHawkeye Join Date: 2002-10-31 Member: 1855Members
    edited November 2003
    Some quotes about death (some funny)..

    Those who welcome death have only tried it from the ears up.
    Wilson Mizner (1876 - 1933)

    There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?
    Woody Allen (1935 - )

    Never knock on Death's door: ring the bell and run away! Death really hates that!
    Matt Frewer, as Dr. Mike Stratford in "Doctor, Doctor"

    Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.
    Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992)

    To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.
    J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Socerer's Stone, 1997

    It is easy to go down into Hell; night and day, the gates of dark Death stand wide; but to climb back again, to retrace one's steps to the upper air - there's the rub, the task.
    Virgil (70 BC - 19 BC), Aeneid

    The fear of death is more to be dreaded than death itself.
    Publilius Syrus (~100 BC), Maxims

    Cowards die many times before their deaths;
    The valiant never taste of death but once.
    Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,
    It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
    Seeing that death, a necessary end,
    Will come when it will come.
    William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), "Julius Caesar", Act 2 scene 2
  • Asal_The_UnforgivingAsal_The_Unforgiving Join Date: 2003-03-26 Member: 14903Members
    I have done some serious thinking about death, and what (if anything) comes after. I do not fear death itself, but what comes after. I do not want to experience the pain and suffering that goes along with it, but I would gladly have my life ended as opposed to the lives of my friends. Death simply does not scare me enough for me to not do what is right.
  • kidakida Join Date: 2003-02-20 Member: 13778Members
    We borrow life from death, someday we will have to give it back <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
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