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If this is in the wrong place by all means, move it.

My question is this:

Often times I hear the phrase "Life and death." It has always been my opinion that birth (or conception) is the opposite of death. That would mean that "life" has no opposite.

What is your opinion?

If life is the opposite of death...wouldn't that make death the opposite of life?

You would think so anyway, even though they say the key to eternal life is natural death. Make sense? I don't think so....

I think it makes sense, I have heard people say that even after we die, our energy lives on...so in a way, even in death we are still alive...well not really alive but around I guess.

I always thought of death as an action. Either brought on by self, accident, disease or old age (maybe some other ways not listed here). But, life itself is not an action, therefore not having an opposite.

I dont know.. I think life is an action.... just as death is.

No matter which way coming or going youre doing one thing or the other. Theres action in the way life is created, in the first breath taken of it.... Thats just my opinion though.

Living your life is an action yes. Life itself though is a state of being.

That said though.... wouldnt death be that very same thing? Because dying is an action death is more a state......

I would agree (this will be fun) that death is opposite to birth. I propose that life's opposite would be non-living things such as water, rocks, minerals, etc... I think we can all agree that the inanimate things of this world are devoid of life. However, these are the very same things of which, we are all composed. So, as living beings searching for the opposite of life, we find within ourselves the answer. That we are composed, wholly, of that which is not living.

Also by being conceived you are being given life so doesn't it really go hand in hand?

Now in my opinion... I think that its not so much that these items are dead because if you think on it on a larger scale.... everything is made of energy even a rock..... so in some way shape or form would that not indeed indicate that there is some form of life through the energy making up the inanimate object?

Just a thought to throw out there. :)

All living things need some form of sustanance i.e. food or water. A rock? Could you elaborate?

I don't think she meant the rock was actually living, but that it contained energy.

Ok... well... just as all living things need food..... all living things need energy to exist right? Ok so that said... although a rock may not be per say Living in the aspect of breathing eating....... its made of energy and that energy is what makes it exist.... now also... if you think about it.... crystals... do crystals not grow? Have you ever opened a rock to see crystals growing within it? I have.... like I said... this is just one of those throw it out there to make you think..... perhaps there is more to life then we think of on a normal basis?

Life registers to me as being present. Death is departure from the present. Life is determined by how one lives, and how long. I accept Death as a brief moment, at the end of my life.

Ok...isn't death the end of life? So in order to have the one you have to have the other...so in a sense they could be opposites or do they simply compliment one another?

So then, death being a part of life as opposed to being an opposite?

(I was just wondering about all of this, not wanting to start anything)

Well I guess they follow in a sequence of birth..life..death. So rather than opposites they are seperate parts of a whole. The beginning, middle, and end.

Ok so I study the druid faith... so to me you cant have one without the other as all things must be at a balance..... Its just like you cant have day without night and you cant have ground without sky...... So to me its not that they compliment one another... its that one wouldn't exist without the other. Thats just me though.

Some would suggest it is a cycle.. I would think those that subscribe to reincarnation would have mentioned that by now.

GAH Dabbler you beat me to it.. I was waiting to throw it out there. lol.

Okay so reincarnation.... which is the act of life after death... that is to state that the soul/spirit/whatever you wish to refer to it as never dies... so in that aspect... what would death be considered?

Cursed..if you are speaking of reincarnation then yes death is a part of the re-birth so yes it would by cyclical.

When life is sustained on the corpse we leave behind that just as much a cycle as reincarnation.

Very true Dabbler. I am not sure if it is as much today as it used to be but when we are buried our bodies go into the ground and from there springs life of other things. So therefore our bodies do spring forth life after death.

In death we become memories. Our impressions on others becomes us. Life shared with others gives us that window to imprint ourselves in the memory of others. So if Birth is the beginning of our window, then death could well be the curtain call.

Dab..as memories though would we not still exist in a sense? Even though we are no longer of flesh we would exist in the hearts and minds of those who knew us or loved us and as long as they were alive and remembering us wouldn't we still be in existence?

This being the reason I started the thread on Immortality through memory. I find a settling assurance in that concept, one that I was seeking in Established religion, and Philosophy, yet could never find. faith is alluring, but there is enough evidence to make me confident that I will resonate in memories after my body stops functioning enough to sustain life.

I believe that is called leaving a legacy. As long as those remember us after we pass then we are not totally gone and dead from this earth as we live on as memories.

If some curse our very name, it could well be our life was a stain, on that most would not miss being repeated in their present. Like stealing grave stones from Pedophiles graves. Uplifting the name of the victims. Polly Klass for example. Tragic Deaths Tend to qualify one for a lasting memory, even memorials.

Yes even those who do not deserve to live on in our memories because they may have been vile people still do but it may serve to remind us of what has happened in the past to prevent it from happening in the future.

So life is the opportunity to paint our canvas, death is the closing of our window.

I just don't want people to remember me as the guy that obsessed over death. When I hear people expound about their faith, I am tempted to ask them what about this life now? We know what happens when we die right? We stop functioning. During dying I can imagine it helps to have a set distraction. I can imagine that those we love would gain some assurance in knowing that we had a "destination" in mind.

That all depends on how you view the definition of life. One could say that life is the bringer of all things including death, that is you can't have death without life, therfore death could be the opposite of conception, but isn't conception considered life?

Death is simply the lack of life. Life is a sort of electro-chemical reaction, so when that reaction reaches stasis, then the entity is dead. If the view of life and death is based on the presence or the absence of the soul, respectively, then there are a lot of people and things running around and growing yet dead.

Life is to birth as is death is to re-birth, they create the balance.

I do not believe that leaving memories in other truly can make anyone immortal... Just makes them known

CuRsEdToDaRkNeSs,

I think perhaps the clarification needed in your rock/energy concept lies in entropy -- the tendency for systems to fall to lesser order unless energy is added.

A rock doesn't contain energy so much as it is energy. Matter and energy are simply two states of the same thing (i.e. E=MC^2).

Life is a bit different in that it requires the relatively continual addition of energy. If energy input stops, entropy takes over and death is the eventual result. A rock, unaffected by other forces, remains static if energy isn't applied. (Actually, entropy will apply but only at a very gradual pace.)

Forms of life all require fairly regular energy input. Plants obtain their energy from the sun, herbivores ingest the energy in the plants, carnivores ingest the energy in the herbivores. Even in isolated systems where solar energy isn't present, the same kind of chain of energy exists.

So life requires energy-input either continually or at frequent intervals while non-life does not.
---

Having read the other responses concerning the opposite of life, I'm struck by how many of them seem right, yet are different in their approach. This leads me to believe that it's more of a philosophical question

I would say that since dying is a transition stage and conception is a transition stage, these are perhaps most comparable and as much similar as they are opposite. Life is scientifically defined as a condition characterized by homeostasis, organization, metabolism, growth, adaptation, response to stimuli and the ability to reproduce. Anything which doesn't exhibit all seven of those properties is other than life.

I would suggest that rather than opposites, they're simply two different states -- something like carbon-dioxide and dry ice. The difference, of course, is that life can easily lead to death, but once dead (biologically dead), one can't return to a living state. Carbon-dioxide can be converted to dry ice and dry ice can be converted to carbon-dioxide; back and forth, to infinity.

I have trouble seeing life and death (or conception and dying) as opposites but they are most certainly different states for the same unit of matter.

I think that death is actualy a part of life.
The "life or death" situation type of thing implys that there are only two options to be had. To live or to die.

To be born, to live then die. That is the cycle of all living things.

I do not think that "life" would be the accurate opisit of "death", I think it is a complimentary union. You can't have death without first having life. Many things in our plane of existance can not have life without having had death.

I suppose you could make this particular topic as complicated or as simple as you wanted to, for each individual who reads this.

Food for thought I suppose.

I think that there can be many answers to this question and none of them will be wrong. In certain instances, life and death could be considered opposites--when it is used in the context of a "life or death" situation. However, when it comes to distinct opposites, I have to agree that Birth (Beginning) is on one side of the spectrum of life and Death (End) is on the other.

I think dying would be the opposite of being born...
it would seem right that the opposite of being alive would be being dead ,breathing and not breathing
that one gets a little confusing doesnt it?

Life the opposite of death conception birth which is life withering and eventually dying the opposite of life death. ummm not sure where ur going with this but I think that what u have said in the above is the truth thus far..

I'm sorry this calls for Mathmatics now lol!!!

if a+b=c than b+a will also = c
Opposites

a+b is the opposit of b+a but they will both = C lol

Life is the opposite of death
Death the opposite of life

man as in "Humans" the opposite of beast as in animals

woman the opposite of man

evil the opposite of good

Life nad death

The phrase "matter of life or death" generally is applied to a situation where action would result in someone living and inaction would result in someone dying... of course, more frequently it is used in the metaphorical sense - i.e. someone isn't going to "die" because of inaction, but their life will be impacted seriously.

In terms of life and death being opposites... its a semantic issue - the process of birth is the opposite of the process of death. The state of life is the opposite of the state of death.

you kinda contradicted yourself. You said that life (or conception) is the beginning of life and is therefore the opposite of death. You basically said that life is opposite of death and so death is opposite of life.

I think Stormwind was comparing the usage of life and death in two different siturations--as he said it a matter of semantics.

The STATES of life and death--meaning if a person is living or dead--used in this context, they are opposites.

Birth and Death as two PROCESSES within the cycle of life itself. In this case life is not the opposite of death but the system that contains two componants which are.

Of course living and dying are actions, they are states of being. They can hold opposites, but maybe if you think about it, life's opposite may not be death but being empty. Fullfill it as the opposite of love being apathy. When you are dead, you are in theory still alive in spirit, but if you are empty there is nothing there. If you want to put death as the opposite to anything, it would be concious because it is essentially being asleep, except permanently. Completely unconcious to the world living around you, as you are absorbed into the soil beneath you. You still have that bit of living energy within your body, so in theory you aren't really dead. You are like a battery, waiting for that last charge to go out.

To be a complete opposite, you have to have no ties to that which you are opposite of. That is why Hate is not opposite of Love, but Apathy is the opposite of love. It is the complete lack of emotion or care. Death goes hand in hand with Life, but to be empty is another story. It is a complete lack of life, it is a complete lack of anything for that matter.

More people are obsessed with death with death and what happens next. Then they are with living and what is happening now. Does a baby wait in the womb to be dead. I am sure when a baby is birthed it seems like the end of it's whole world, and in a way it is.

- A Journey-
From the..

Water
Of
My
Beginning

To the...

Ground where my
Remains are
An abandoned, empty
Vessel rotting buried under
Earth


"Be here now."
Baba Ram Das

But it is human nature to obsess about the unknown, so in order for us to be who we are it would only be necessary to at least think about it now and then. With that said, I can not deny that I do think about it a lot, but I don't let it take control of my own life. That is the key to obsession.

On another note, loved how you ended your post Dab :)!

Thank you, placeing death in context is a key to existence as we are now. It is not enough that people say, I have a healthy concept of death
people will always be ready to push others into 'admitting they are "fascinated with pending death", I refuse to do that any more. I also find those that claim mastery over death, so they use the "Admit it you have no idea what happens when you die" They are incorrect with that assumption. I am confident that will die. Plan and simple. I am also confident that I am alive.

when someone presses another person for their concept of death they are in a way securing their concept at the expense of others. I disbelieve what they project "comes after death", they believe that I need to accept their projection.. then they want to know why? For what reason? Then it is a cycle from there, leading to their attempt to make me obsess over dying. A healthy understanding of death, is when one sits down and connects with others about what securities are to be managed when they die.

I wanted to mention that death, and "what happens next".. is an extended obession, beyond the physical process of dying. Can we all agree that once dead our bodies are no longer functioning, and that we cannot attend life?

interesting theory posed, the question the OP asked is what is our opinion. my opinion is this; the words life and death are terms used to describe the state of energy as well as to describe the action of the energy. spirit energy being something which never lives or dies but transforms from one cycle of matter or energy to the next. when a person makes a statement that something lives, they are saying that at this time and in this place that energy breathes, eats and has a recognizable form. to say it dies is to say that it has transcended it's current physical form.
i like to see life as a classroom. be it a tree or a human or even an insect. this includes positive and negative lessons. every "life" we live is a lesson. we learn and move on, if we don't we repeat. with each lesson or life we reach a higher state of awareness.
yes for the reason of my beliefs i do not believe in a heaven or hell either. i do beleive that we are all(good and bad)given a time and a place for reflection and i do believe that some beings cling to a "life" which no longer exists for their own personal reasons.

The opposite of living is death.

The opposite of birth is dying.


Living = you're in this world.

Death = you aren't.

Birth = being brought into this world.

Dying = being taken out.

That only applies if you just take it for what it is, but try thinking a bit deeper. When you are dead or dying there still is some spark of life left holding on to you. There is still much to decompose. That shread of energy, that glimmer of life is what connects life and death as equals.

I would imagine if such a thing was actual, that those that had great retention to life would be bound while others would do out with a releasing flash. what is our last vision when we die? How strongly you crafted your consciousness in preparation, metaphorically your post is sound, physiologically it is far from established medical knowledge.

Then there is the "How close can I get to evil crow." yet all they ever do is random mistcive.

life and death are just plots on time lines.. and time is fluid.. they are just different stages but matter can not be destroyed

Life and death are part of a continuum. A period marks the end of a sentence, but it's still punctuation.

I think I will have to stick with my original opinion that "life" not "living" has no opposite.

Birth, you come from a womb.

Death, you enter a tomb.

Life has no opposite.

Just to be clear, I was not talking about living but life itself. Living is what you do with your life.

I can relate to that concept. It is when people blur metaphor with with actuality. That the philosophical "puzzle" presents itself for ponderence.

Finally I came to a point where any vision of the after life seem to restrictive, and dictated. I sought to Escape the set accepted limitations, the first step out of the box, left me uneasy, like I had no place to go. I imagine that that is how I felt in the womb.

i think of it as a cycle.
once someone has pasted, a new is brought into this life.
i think not of opposites but of partners.
if no one died, then the world would be over flooding with people from all ages and the cycle of life would not exist.
dead and life work together to create balance.

Dabbler:

Always love reading your posts (whether I agree with you or not). You never come across as unintelligent and you seem to always have a kind word.

for one we need the other, for everyhting is a working scale balanced just right. good or evil, life and death. could not have one without the other in a living enviroment.

In "all" things there is a balance. If we believe that conception is the begining of life and death is the end of life, therefore the opposite of life is "non-existance"; the time before conception and the time after death, the time we cease to exist.

Based only on my opinion, life has no true end so therefore life truly has no opposite. Is death even a truth. It would appear that death is really non existent. So therefore death cannot be the opposite of life if life is never ending :) sorry if i hurt your head :)

life never ending, in the concept of all earth inhabitants, or just metaphoricaly speaking, for individuals live and die, so essence there is an ending.

yet on the scale of earth you are right evolution is always there, and one species dies another seems to come in a nd take its place, yet if we destroy this planet than would life seem to end or would it find another.

The history channel had a great program the other night where all living things evolved from particles on astriods that hit the earth. we all are aliens,....cool

I am not there is such a thing as death, I think we just exist like on energy. After we die i think the energy is used else where.

batteries of the earth, (matrix thoughts come to mind)
yet does the energy hold the memories of the life or does it get rebooted.

I think life and death seem to be equals on the balance of the planes in life. for one comes another a cycle of things that will always be.

It all depends on your definition. If you choose the definition of life and death as a state of being, then life and death are opposites. you can be either alive, or you can be dead - you have to be one or the other.

But if you choose to define death as an occurence, then that is a different matter. Death is something that happens in one moment of time, but life is a quality you possess before that happens to you. Is travelling the opposite of arrival?

If you were to be truly pedantic, you could say that the oposite of life is efil. There is no such word as efil, but it is the word life reversed.

Is it relevant? well it is if you have spiritual beliefs. most religions tend to believe in an afterlife - some state of existance that carries over after you have died. To those belief systems, death is merely a transition or doorway. you would not say that gate it is the opposite of walking would you?

if you do not believe in any kind of "afterlife" then death is final and eternal. Life is brief and ever changing - a process. Could you describe death as a process?

lol cadre aliens i so wish i could have seen that one :) i still feel that life as a whole is never ending weither or not we migrate to other places in the future :)

Science is always improving(not all the time good reasons)

Life is becoming more of the years and death is being held off to some point. yet at some time our bodies must fail. the concept of life, that no one can escape.

Tho we search to hold it off, the balance of life and this planet will once again claim what it has produced.

Was a good program- We all are aliens....

Very interesting thread, with not just a no and yes answer and very interesting posts as well.

I would ask what life is really?

Just the existence or its content?

Is just breathing, life?

Therefore here is my theory,
birth the opposite of death and living life in quality and just breathing are opposites.

what is life?

The existance in which a person takes in imagies and thoughts of knowledge to be all knowing at the time of our non existance.(my opinion)

we all are here to live as we see fit, before death comes calling. A balance on this world surface. for one we could not have the other.

I believe life has no oppisite. Technically we are dying from the moment of birth. So when someone says they are living technically they are dying

Life and death …. The mortal coil and the question that is answered with opinions hope and desires …. We are but shadows and echo’s that form a reality ….. sometimes this reality slips

lavisbre~well said post

I believe that we are on deaths bed reliving the memories of the past, the emotions the feelings and than all will go black.

I wish i could remember the story like this, but i percieve this is a logical thought. life and death is all in one.

I understand the basis for your question and share your curiosity for an honest answer.


Just as you said, birth or conception could be the opposite of death, that makes sense. Just as the opposite of waar is not peace, but procreation.

War creates the absense of life, with the many deaths. peace ends those actions, but that is not an opposition.

But the opposite of life could be viewed as possibly vegetation. Such as a person living life in a coma. As certain individuals said before, life is an action, and if one does no action, could that not be viewed as an opposition to life?

In reading everyones answers WOW I didnt think it wouldnt be so complicated but I agree with some points but disagree with a few. Dont they say for every life there is a death and the other way round. I would have to say other they balance each other.

We are born, then we live our lives until it is time for us to go. So as I see, it is life until death.

cant have day without night? ok...so does that mean that you cant have night without day? so....were you in a part of the universe with no stars, it would be totally dark....no day.
you could have non life without life. a stone...could exist without any living thing.
true, all things are energy...einstein proved that with E=mc^2 but the duality theology doesnt hold true in physics.
death is just a lack of life. sure...all things die due to entropy, but not all things live.
if you want to get down to the basics, life is just a self replicating chemical reaction. ive also heard it put this way....
life is a sexually transmitted disease that is always fatal.
yr obt svt
~W~

This is a really complex subject and very broad to just write one idea, but let see on what part of the river we set foot on. Hmm life and death, no one really knows what lies after death or before birth with accuracy, many claims to hold or vision past lifetimes but then again is a personal dimension not something we all experience, it so remarkable how the correlation both life and death holds, you don’t know anything but what you learn and experience in time, and then you just vanish from where you came from in the most bizarre ways, without any explanation, sounds more or less like we are here to travel, don’t you think?, despite of all those who claims to travel here longer than others hehe. But there is a lot of ideas that come across this mystery along with various theologies and theories of both scientific and religious parties that intends to make of this gift an idealistic way of living, rules, and commandments among other manipulative tools to control the masses. Hmm if i had to chose a theory of the method of creation of living things or humans beings, i would have to go with the Sumerians, they had far a lot more knowledge than we did a decade ago about Astrology and scientific advancement most likely impossible to understand how they did it. Here is a link of a good documentary i came across that explains this method far more detailed with examples, cause is too much details to explain it, hope you understand my point, do not judge if you haven’t seen the video.

Interesting theory watch it, this is part one continue the other parts at the end of the video if interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BToUxSi-QwA