
What's the best way to die? - Hooke
http://wilsonquarterly.com/quarterly/transitions/whats-the-best-way-to-die/
======
speedkills
Abruptly. People sometimes think they want time to wrap up their affairs but
as someone who has done some grief counseling in the past o e of the saddest
things I have seen repeatedly is long drawn out terminal illnesses and their
effect on friends and families. Invariably your loved ones after seeing you in
pain for months on end will have the thought "maybe it would be better if you
just died instead of continuing to suffer". And then you do, and even though
it is absurd they then feel immense guilt for wishing you would hurry up and
die. Or after the first month of shock is over and they have visited you every
day, they start to get back to their normal lives, not able to miss another
day of school or work, then when they have t seen you for a week or two, you
die, leaving them again filled with guilt. It just tears people apart.

I wish for a quick and somewhat unexpected death. I would rather leave people
wishing they had a chance to say goodbye than have them feel guilty that they
had the chance but decided to go to work or school instead.

------
Fezzik
As someone who was bothered by a fear of death from a young age, I always
thought I would want to die in a blaze of glory - skiing off a huge cliff,
skydiving, etc... But as I aged (still young, only 34) I found, what I think,
is the perfect summation of how I want to die (I forget the author, in a hurry
and google is failing me. Probably Neruda):

"I want to die at the end of the day // in the high seas // with my face
towards the sky // when it seems like agony is just a dream // and the soul, a
bird ascending in flight // Let there be no sad tears as I draw my last
breath, // At one and alone with the sky and the sea, // No sobbing, nor
prayer, nor laments of death // I only would hear the deep waves cover me //
To die when the bright glow of twilight is fading, // and catches the waves in
its last net of light // to be like that sun as its luminous shading //
expires and is lost in the arms of the night // To die, and die young, before
time has destroyed // the delicate fabric illusion has spun // when life can
still say: “I am yours” but the void // Of a final echo tells us death has
won!"

How exactly to attain that feeling, I am unsure...

~~~
simonsarris
You are thinking of Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera. Here's an alternate translation:

[https://gist.github.com/simonsarris/9980a385af4f4c4d3967](https://gist.github.com/simonsarris/9980a385af4f4c4d3967)

------
jonah
My grandfather died a couple years ago. He was 95. He was up at his lake cabin
fishing with some family and friends. He woke up one morning not feeling well
and was dead by evening with his wife and a son at his side.

I think that's the way to go - quickly after having lived a long and full
life.

------
mettamage
Disclaimer: information might not be 100% accurate from memory, it comes close
though.

In meditation retreat I was told that meditation (Vipassana in this case) is
actually practicing in being prepared to die. According to this idea by doing
this you can live fully. For me this seems a bit vague, but it did plant a
seed in my head.

The thing is, meditation teaches you equanimity, which from my understanding
means being able to feel but without judgement. When I was in deep meditation
I experienced equanimity a couple of times. At one point my muscles were
aching so much by sitting perfectly still that I walked like a cripple after
that meditation session. My body just could not perform normally, which I
found odd in a sense. Yet, I never felt any pain, I noticed my body was having
a hard time sitting perfectly upright in a still position, that was it. Or
perhaps better said: I did feel a form of pain (aka that something is wrong
with my body), but I never experienced any suffering from it. The converse is
also true with regards to pleasure (e.g. small forms of non-clinical
addiction).

What I learned from practicing equanimity is that I prefer to die while using
this skill. Because to me it means I won't die by suffering from pain or
pleasure, I just die and experience how it feels. It could be pain, it might
be pleasure, either way I just experience it and nothing more.

Note: while equanimity has to be explained through language, it's not an
intellectual concept in the sense that riding a bike isn't an intellectual
concept. It's something you do. Intellectualising about riding a bike won't
get you anywhere, same goes for equanimity in the way that I've been taught.

------
rayalez
Oh, I have recently written a (very) short story on the subject:

[https://medium.com/@rayalez/the-best-way-to-
die-b6118acb34c7](https://medium.com/@rayalez/the-best-way-to-
die-b6118acb34c7)

Seriously, though, I don't want to die at all, I hate death, but if I had to
choose it would be morphine overdose. Also I hope I'll have the balls to
commit suicide before I'm a bed-ridden piece of meat. Once my body and brain
are bad enough to prevent me form writing/programming/creating things - it's
time to go. I don't understand people who spend years suffering for no reason
just to let random mindless natural causes to decide when it's over.

Also, there's a horrifying article on how people actually end up dying in
modern medical system:

[http://slatestarcodex.com/2013/07/17/who-by-very-slow-
decay/](http://slatestarcodex.com/2013/07/17/who-by-very-slow-decay/)

(I strongly suggest you read it, is amazing)

------
politician
The best way to die? With awareness of the time, in a mixture of gases - 90%
nitrogen and 8% oxygen or less.

~~~
GhotiFish
This is my understanding as well, hypoxia induced in this manner is a painless
way to go. It even numbs your ability to think about your death.

------
saganus
I have always wondered about Aldous Huxley's death. He asked his wife to
inject him with 100ug of LSD while on his deathbed. I believe that he died
some hours later.

Maybe dying this way is not pleasant, who knows, but at least sounds
interesting.

Maybe both effects combine into something that is much more?

------
hangars
A bit morbid, but interesting reading. Apparently death by Opium is a great
way to go, if not slightly illegal

------
bcook
When I die, I would like to be immediately resuscitated and be told I had just
died.

I just do not want to wake up dead. The shock of realizing I was dead would
kill me.

------
gvb
I want to die quietly, in my sleep

Like my grandfather

Not screaming

Like his passengers.

~~~
anigbrowl
I used to tell this joke frequently, until a few years ago - my father turned
out to have a major sleep apnea problem and almost drove into a wall while the
rest of my family were frantically trying to wake him up. HE got it fixed but
I had no idea that sort of thing could even happen.

Sorry :-/

------
kleer001
No mention of Albert Hoffmann taking LSD on his deathbead?

[https://thedreamatists.wordpress.com/2007/08/06/aldous-
huxle...](https://thedreamatists.wordpress.com/2007/08/06/aldous-huxley-takes-
lsd-on-deathbed/)

No mention of anxiety relief during end of life with psychedelics?

[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/magazine/how-
psychedelic-d...](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/magazine/how-psychedelic-
drugs-can-help-patients-face-death.html)

Maybe that's under "..many of the other drugs used to soothe patients.. "

Maybe it's just my own wheelhouse and hobby horse.

------
grizzles
Pretty sure Monty Python answered this question definitively...
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLctf4o6feQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLctf4o6feQ)

------
kbart
Not very likely, but I've always wondered what the feeling would be like when
your head is suddenly detached from the body (e.g. beheading by
guillotine[0]). A more down to earth way I'd prefer is hallucinogen overdose -
should be hell of a trip.

0\.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillotine#Living_heads](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillotine#Living_heads)

------
greg7gkb
I am by no means obsessed with death but for as long as I can remember
thinking about dying I've fantasized about going out like this:

After reaching a point where I feel like the end is nigh, and/or my quality of
life has sufficiently deteriorated, I skydive from 20,000 feet into the mouth
of a live volcano. No parachute (obviously).

Not sure why I see this as romantically as I do but I can't think of a better
way to go.

------
ggreer
Thank you for submitting this. An interesting post in the same vein is _Who by
Very Slow Decay_ [1]. It's a freshly-minted doctor's view of death.

1\. [http://slatestarcodex.com/2013/07/17/who-by-very-slow-
decay/](http://slatestarcodex.com/2013/07/17/who-by-very-slow-decay/)

------
justinsingh
“The classical man's worst fear was inglorious death; the modern man's worst
fear is just death.” -Nassim Nicholas Taleb

~~~
austinjp
Ugh. The winners write the history books, and their glorifiers write the
epilogues. "The classical man's worst fear was inglorious death"? Really?
Based on... what exactly? Who is this "classical man"? Define inglorious. Ugh,
just terrible, terrible trite attempt at aphorisms. (Not you justinsingh,
Taleb.)

I don't doubt that "modern humanity" in "the west" seems to deal badly with
the process of dying. But Taleb... just no. At best he's a writer of highly
variable quality.

Try reading Atul Gawande's Being Mortal.

------
kevindeasis
A quick and painless death by trying to save children, loved ones, puppies, or
kittens from morbid danger.

~~~
a3n
Imagine all the puppies you'll save if you start now.

------
Ocerge
I have a strong fear of flying, which is unfortunate since I have to fly to my
company's HQ once a month or so. One of my coping mechanisms is that, at
worst, my death would be swift and with enough luck, painless. Above all else,
it better be quick.

------
aantix
I always thought an overdose of sleeping pills would be the way to go.

------
fourquinelle
A parachute not opening... that's a way to die. Getting caught in the gears of
a combine... having your nuts bit off by a Laplander, that's the way I wanna
go!

~~~
a3n
I've had to use my reserve twice. I think it was the most focused and
hardworking I'd ever been, before or since.

------
gooseyard
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLctf4o6feQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLctf4o6feQ)

------
nly
Orbiting a star in a space suit as it goes nova.

------
empressplay
Probably hypothermia. You just sort of wink out.

~~~
grecy
Ugh, being _really_ cold sucks.

I live in the Yukon, and get out and about in -40 regularly. I've had
hypothermia a couple of times, and it's not particularly nice. I imagine at
some point you stop feeling, but everything before that isn't nice.

~~~
pyre
I've talked to someone that claimed to have had severe hypothermia, and he
said that there was a sense of euphoria (after a certain point).

Also, I know that after a certain point people suffering from hypothermia
start feeling _hot_ and start stripping off clothes (and promptly freeze to
death).

------
Raed667
I was expecting a numbered list with a GIF for every point. I'm disappointed,
and should probably stop reading BuzzFeed

------
ntrepid8
Sudden cardiac death is not a bad way to go.

------
kefka
I know I want to die. Not now. But later on. And then I want to be reborn soon
there after to continue my works.

The body will grow old, frail. It will slowly deteriorate, whereas my mental
faculties will still be tied to this body. So let it.

When I leave, I'll tell those around me, "See you soon". Because I will meet
them again.

I am a reincarnationalist; not by belief, but by personal proof. I can't prove
it scientifically. So there's that.

~~~
DiabloD3
Woah, HN, let's not get on the downvote fairy bandwagon here. There is nothing
wrong with believing in reincarnation, no more than any other religious
belief.

~~~
kefka
But my understanding isn't linked to religion. Its derived from knowledge I,
frankly, shouldn't know.

There's really no other good answer to it. And I'd be game to hear any
hypothesis, or tests.

------
austinjp
I've mentioned this elsewhere, but some here may enjoy reading Atul Gawande's
Being Mortal.

------
lostcolony
Per the old joke, "I want to be shot by a jealous husband".

------
jqm
I don't know. Surprise me.

------
carsongross
Unafraid.

------
throwaway435833
Jim died just as he had lived: in a darkly lit room waiting for a deploy
script to finish running while through tears of exhaustion he tried to focus
on a screen crawling with log entries he could make nothing of. Tabbing back
and forth to sterile commentless code, that did everything except the one
thing it was obviously supposed to do, ignoring, for just a little while
longer, the ringing in his head and the faint scent of springtime morning
urging him to sleep, and that other, stronger scent, exhorting him to do some
laundry.

He passed away peaceably at his keyboard, the deploy failed, and eventually
the team had to roll back the changes.

Jim died in the best possible way: working on staging. He would have wanted it
that way.

~~~
songzme
I really hope this is a joke. because its hilarious.

------
ionised
He died just as he lived.

In his Jeep.

------
AC__
Dying is for fools.

~~~
CaptSpify
"Death is a mugs game" \-
[http://i.imgur.com/FYU2AYt.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/FYU2AYt.jpg)

------
rasyadi
The best way to die is when you have a guaranteed that your next destination
is heaven. Otherwise you should at least know that you have prepared for it.

