Death Cafes

[Bereft]

Only Death Is Real

"Most people walking down the street, they're terrified of death," said Jane Hughes Gignoux, 83, an author who leads Death Cafe gatherings at her New York apartment. "But if you think of death as part of life and let go of the fear, you think more about living your life well."

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/death-cafe/story-fneuz9ev-1226744121398

Strikes me as a rebellion of realism against a neurotic society that views the individual life as sacrosanct. You won't last forever, so get stuff done while you can, and maybe that change will mean something more than your individual life. ANUSites would probably fit in well I think, at least until the hipsters invade and poison it with fatalism.

[dead last]

Interesting that the article mentioned that most visitors were not younger than 50. I guess that's about the age when people you know well like parents begin dying. I'm young enough that only my musical heroes are dying.

A very unique idea though. I would attend if there were one cafe nearby.

[crow]

What a strange idea, to "raise awareness of life" by raising awareness of death.
Paradoxical, isn't it?
Still, there's nothing like visiting death, to give heightened meaning to life.
And if you can't bring yourself to visit it, then talking about it is probably the next best thing.

I sort-of want to ridicule the whole idea, but as ideas go, it isn't such a bad one.

[aquarius]

What a strange idea, to "raise awareness of life" by raising awareness of death.
Paradoxical, isn't it?
Still, there's nothing like visiting death, to give heightened meaning to life.
And if you can't bring yourself to visit it, then talking about it is probably the next best thing.

I sort-of want to ridicule the whole idea, but as ideas go, it isn't such a bad one.

Ironically, I came as close as I ever plan on getting to it recently.

Fortunately or unfortunately it wasn't as glorious as all my death-metal CDs might have led me to believe.

More like having your head pushed against some concrete by an invisible force that mockingly asks "enough?"

Of course I totally chickened out. "Enough, Jesus Christ, enough!"

Ok, back to my death/life-metal CDs

Or whatever.

[dead last]

Sorry aquarius but it is morning and my reading comprehension has not revved up yet. Are you saying tou had a near-death experience recently? Want to tell about it?

[aquarius]

Suffice to say my 5-HT receptors caught fire, or so it would seem. Actually, I don't really know how near to death "near-death" actually is, but I know it's as near as I care to find out for the time (which might not be very near at all). My real problem is that I'm too curious, but also very indecisive, can you think of a worse combination? Damned if I can. But then again that's exactly my problem !

 

[aquarius]

So in conclusion, while others almost seem hard-wired for self-destruction after successive near-death experiences, don't confuse them with me. I am just a curious cat.

[Humanicide]

at least until the hipsters invade and poison it with fatalism.

Do you think something like that would happen here? Death seems to be way too heavy of a subject in casual conversation to be overtaken by hipsters. They'd probably be all "oh, like death is so depressing and junk; can we just like talk about the new Dr. Dog cd?" or "Dude come on all of this death talk is totally killing my buzz. Yo Aiden let me get some more lines brah!"

I would love to attend one of these cafes, to see the kinds of people there and also for the conversation. It'd also be disarming to most of the folks there since I'm apparently less than half the average person's age who attends.

[Wild]

Do you think something like that would happen here? Death seems to be way too heavy of a subject in casual conversation to be overtaken by hipsters.]Do you think something like that would happen here? Death seems to be way too heavy of a subject in casual conversation to be overtaken by hipsters.

Hipsters invade everything.

See goths.

[crow]

Anything interesting is only interesting as long as it remains interesting.
Which means it only attracts others, until others become attracted to it.
Once attracted, the nature of one's interest undergoes a transformation.
One is no longer outside, being interested by it, but inside, dispensing and discoursing it, to those who remain outside of it. Until there is nobody left outside of it.
Hipsterism, in a nutshell. Otherwise known as fakesterism.
Spot the paradox.

[dead last]

Anything interesting is only interesting as long as it remains interesting.
Which means it only attracts others, until others become attracted to it.
Once attracted, the nature of one's interest undergoes a transformation.
One is no longer outside, being interested by it, but inside, dispensing and discoursing it, to those who remain outside of it. Until there is nobody left outside of it.
Hipsterism, in a nutshell. Otherwise known as fakesterism.
Spot the paradox.

I'm sure that might have been just a casual observation to you but that post blew my mind wide open. I've noticed that very system working every where I turn; something that I find interesting is only so as long as it is unfamiliar. As soon as it becomes familiar, then it is no longer so interesting, it is a new function that I've absorbed and it will affect all my future actions. I never thought another person might be observing the same thing; I figured everyone else either took it for granted and never talked about it, or it was just some idiosyncratic observation of my own. Sometimes I even try to consciously note the transition between interesting and familiar whenever I delve into some new learning experience, but there is no fine line as far as I can tell. But then you go and apply it to other people, in so broad of a context that it explains crowdism. Amazing. I'm floored right now. This means something will change for the rest of my life.

[Annihilation]

Hipsters invade everything.

Pretty sure that's how they're defined.

[crow]

I'm sure that might have been just a casual observation to you...

Haha
Every post is a casual observation to me.
I'm pretty sure, too, that the observations of Lao Tzu were casual to him.
This is the real meat and potatoes of any sound philosophy.
It moves beyond being theoretical, to the way you live your life, in every single detail.