<p>"I don't understand how we are or why and become immensely terrified of death."
There is no special purpose or reason for anyone's existence. It's just luck and chance. Oh yeah there is no such thing as reincarnation, because there is no scientific studies or any evidence for it. Anyway, why are you terrified of death? Think of it as sleeping without dreams.</p>
<p>Death can't be that bad, can it?</p>
<p>I recommend reading some Kierkegaard. "Sickness Unto Death". Good stuff.</p>
<p>in my metaphysics class we have been talking about the problem of "me" existing. if you accept that your specific genome + something else (because of identical twins) is necessary for you to exist, the chance of you existing drops to 1/~infinity. </p>
<p>none of that interests me all that much directly though... what i can't get my mind around is the idea of consciousness. without consciousness, none of this would matter anyway. it is just unlikely for a given tree to exist, but it isn't afraid of death, and it isn't baffled by its own existence... when does consciousness begin? what separates one person's consciousness from another? there is technology now which allows an implant into the brain that, after a learning process, can allow a person to move a cursor on a screen simply by thinking of it moving. if consciousness is so unique and bounded, how is this seeming add-on possible? etc. etc. etc.</p>
<p>I wish we talked about that in my metaphysics class. All we do is listen to Aristotle keep on saying the word 'thing' a thousand times.</p>