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Originally Posted by George H.
I see... but you seem to be evolving the subject... which is okay. And there is some vagueness there too which does complicate things because it leaves me with no choice but to make assumptions. We all know how assumptions can be completely wrong  One thing I should make clear, your apparent belief in an afterlife may complicate things. I have no religious belief so I have no set belief in an afterlife. It might be interesting to share our ideal concepts of an afterlife but that's another subject. Another thing I should make clear is that I tend to think about the deaths of animals/pets more than the deaths of humans but I'll try to stick to humans.
I don't understand your statement about choosing to miss someone. I don't make a conscious choice to miss someone. I either miss them or I don't. And there have been deaths that I have welcomed. You mention your mom having a life of misery but no specifics about the cause of the misery or her death. If she was very ill or in great pain and there was no hope of recovery I think it would be understandable to welcome her death. I don't think that would have any effect on whether you miss her or not. Both my parents were dead mentally before they died physically. I felt a sense of relief at their death because it was inevitable and there was no hope of recovery. But I can't say either death made me happy. I miss my mother. I don't miss my father. That was due to our respective relationships. My mother was a nice person. My father... not so much.
Back to the subject of death. We are all going to die no doubt. It took me a long time to really understand that in more than an intellectual way. Natural deaths may make me feel sorrow and cause grief. Sudden and unexpected tragic deaths have an entirely different effect on me. Anger and something much deeper and darker than sadness are the typical emotions. Death is inevitable but not always natural. I've been to "celebration of life" events held to remember and share the lives of people who have died. Those I can understand. But death is usually complicated for those left behind. Grief, sorrow, guilt, anger.
But I feel like I'm telling you more about my views than talking about your issue. Maybe if you were more specific? And yes, your last sentence makes sense.
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Ok - so you mentioned a lot of things - I am going to try to address them all - I apologize now if I miss any.
First - yes, I personally believe in an afterlife but whether or not a person believes in an afterlife just the fact that this misery (which is life) is over, is an event worthy enough of celebration by itself - but also that the person lived and created memories to be cherished is another reason to celebrate. So whether or not a person believes in an afterlife becomes a moot point, because the beauty of the cessation of misery and of the goodness in the life they lived is now what is able to shine through rather than the daily stressors or illnesses or etc the person had to face. As far as my mom - I used her death as an example, but she had heart problems as long as I knew her. She had joy in me n my sister n her marriage to my dad but she also had several stressors. Everyone has a lot of misery in life. When life is over - whether or not an afterlife exists - those stressors cease to exists, therefore, the misery is over. People go through the mourning process you described whether the death is expected or not - but that is precisely what I am getting at - why do we go through that? Why can we not just let them go n be happy for them n celebrate the life we had with them n that they no longer have to experience the misery we know? We already know sooner or later all of us will die - that is part of the life cycle - so why do we have such a negative reaction to it? I hope that explains what I mean better?