I feel after having done DMT that dying isn't very intimidating anymore. It feels like I have been there and done that. It makes sense as many people have reported dying in their trips. But the fact that it carries over into reality is very interesting.

There’s at least one big difference – you come back from a DMT trip, and this is something you know going in. It might be more intimidating if you went into it knowing you’d never be coming back.

Though I do agree with gibran, experiencing the death motifs of the DMT experience does seem to take away a generous amount of anxiety regarding death in day to day existence.

I honestly feel DMT has allowed me to realize that there is no death...There is complete awareness without the body, most of the time with more clarity and sensation. There is much stigma attatched to the process of dying, only because it is misunderstood. Something I like to ask a person who is questioning death is, "Do you ever remember dying?" Most of the time its no, which is a pretty good sign, and if by chance one does remember dying before, either way one is still alive to contemplate this, hence there is no such thing as Death, there is only passage into something else, whatever that may be, I believe it is unique to each individual portion of God (us), where one truly "goes" when leaving this "container". Just my two cents. =)

I too experienced this after my first breakthrough. I think it was two things, one was the Rick Strassman DMT NDE hypothesis. I would love to fade into non-existences with the most beautiful deep breakthrough.
Another was the realization of the eternal infinite universe that I was made aware of through DMT. I almost know for certain basic concepts like heaven and hell wouldn't apply in an afterlife if there even was one.

IMO it would be more like Nirvana, or like Bashar described it. Waking up from a dream and realizing you just explored this one life in this one dimension and have access to many others. Maybe we are the DMT entities all along, we live in this world because we chose to. Imagine standing at the doors of a multi-verse and having your pick of universe, world and even person. Imagine that this life was just a drug trip, you took some really powerful substance and are actually experiencing this entire life in just a matter of minutes in the external world. Sounds like something out of Philip K. Dick science fiction ("A Maze of Death, and "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" both explore these concepts.

If its non-existence that's fine, if its something magical and infinite that's fine as well, the important thing is many DMT users(myself included) lose the fear of death after breaking through

I find that with myself, after having experienced a real deep death trip on dmt ( or maybe 4-5 death trips) that I am no longer afraid of being "dead"... The process of dieing still scares the crap out of me.

i think the anticipation is worse than the event.
like how people live in fear of being punched, but when it happens, it doesn't really even hurt, and you don't quite fully comprehend what is happening until the worst of it is already over.

not to say punching = death, but i thought it a fitting analogy.

The point I was trying to make in my earlier post seems to be missed here. First of all, I’d highly recommend anyone interested in this subject take a look at some of the NDE sites. This one in particular has lots of detailed experience reports:

Near Death Experience Research Foundation

As I see it, there are 3 fears/anxieties surrounding death:

1. The fear of extreme pain. Pain is fleeting, and those who have had NDEs report that all pain vanishes early in the experience. It seems to me that chronic pain and disability in life is a much greater problem than a few moments of pain before death.

2. The fear of the unknown. It seems to me that this is the fear most alleviated by entheogens. In some sense, many of us have seen the other side. However, a brief visit to hyperspace as a consciousness bound to a living human being is not the same as entrance into the realm as a full-fledged “immaterial being”.

3. The fear of letting go. Death – the transition from this experience to whatever lies beyond – is permanent. You can’t pay a visit and then return to your Earthly existence. It’s a one-way ticket.

You leave everything behind. Everything:

Your body. Your identity as a living, breathing human being on planet Earth. Your spouse, your children. Your extended family, your friends. Your favorite pet. Your best friend. Your home/apartment and all of your possessions. Your career. Music. Sunshine. Blue sky, white clouds. Green grass, trees, flowers, birds singing. Warm days, sandy beaches. Waves on the ocean. Art. Your favorite movie. The full moon on a clear night. Crickets. Food. Ice cream. Laughter. Tears.

Call me crazy, but the thought of saying goodbye to everything is still an occasional source of anxiety for me.

That's not crazy at all. And it's the same for me. I think that's just the nature of being human.

Sure there are many experiences that may resemble what death may be like, but ultimately we don't know.
Nobody wants to die. And anybody that believes that they do not fear death, should seriously take into consideration
their own beliefs, shields, etc. The strange thing of death anxiety is the fact that we would not be alive today without it,
and without it we would not be alive to experience that anxiety.

Unfortunately, just because the DMT experience may seem true, doesn't mean that it is. And I put great emphasis
on the word 'may', however, I do think that psychedelic experiences are a great tool for the reduction of death anxiety.
But that doesn't mean that these experiences completely eradicate our death anxiety.

Nobody knows exactly what happens during the process of death, because nobody has died and lived to tell about it.



Check out the book The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker for a more in-depth analysis on death anxiety.

I don't see my reduced fear of death resultant from my DMT experiences to be a flaw at all in my own beliefs or a protective shield. Just because I really don't fear death doesn't mean I welcome it with open arms either. I still have too much of a lust for this life to go that easily into the night. Just because I don't want something to happen doesn't mean I fear it though. I didn't want to wake up at 7:00 this morning, but I wasn't afraid to.

.
.IIRC, very few NDE experiencers were at all happy at being told they had to come back here.

. ....even despite the Green Grass and Ice Cream. .

I think the MODE of death/dying is relevant here.I would find it harder to 'just let it all go' if I was about to have my head chopped off with a knife Iraq-style than if I was diagnosed with a terminal disease and this progressed over days to weeks to culminate in a peaceful (opiated) death surrounded by loved ones.

Death, IMO, can only be truly known once experienced as a one way journey.Assuming DMT is a true reflection of this is probably psychological conjecture which tries to explain something so remarkable/bizarre/shattering.

Yet most of them choose to live out their natural lives.

I figured that dmt would have produced more certainty in some of you...speculation on Death is cute, but totally irrelevant...pay attention to NOW.

This is the best approach.
But I'm curious to what you mean by certainty? Certainty about death? No one can have that, I don't know what kind of whacked out shit you saw when you were high, but nothing has convinced me to be absolutely certain about what happens after we die.

As to the other points made about losing everything we cherish here on Earth. That is an entirely different issue, I will be sad to give up those things. But I don't fear dying in that regard. Its hard to explain, I guess I would say I don't fear death, but I'm in no rush to get there.
I want to enjoy my experience here while I have it.

That's right, and usually with renewed vigour and purpose. Strange that we seem to be 'prevented' from knowing the real story, and yet those who are given a glimpse of it find they can lead much more useful and fulfilling lives. i.e. The world would probably be a much better place without this knowledge-embargo. So what purpose does it serve? .

I agree that it's fundamentally important to pay attention to "now" but to say it's cute to speculate on death when it's sort of one of those themes that the DMT experience throws at you makes it quite relevant to talk about and so others who have had a foot in death's door can "share notes" to try and see if anyone else has had similar or reasonable experiences in order to validate their own. In a society that has eliminated God and that tries to make you believe at all costs that absolutely nothing happens when you die, it becomes entirely appropriate to speculate on death, especially if the DMT experience hints at "nothing happening when you die" just might not be the case. To say that DMT produces certainty is to say the subjunctive mode produces certainty --- that is it doesn't. DMT and similarly the "life experience" are so unpredictable that I question your certainty.

not crazy at all, in fact you would be crazy/lying to yourself if this situation caused you no fear, but alan watts had a good "sermon" on this topic. talking about how we don't feel "ready" like we need to "wait", but since there is no time, only a timeless now, you are already ready, and you have already faced your fears.

i kinda aborted it.. but...
it was really good when alan watts said it.
i'll see if i can dig up a link

I'm not sure what society you live in that has eliminated God and says nothing happens when you die.
But the majority of people in the world are theists, and I would venture to guess that a great many believe that they have souls and that there is indeed an afterlife, or at least that death is not the end of the journey.
In fact most people I talk to are thoroughly convinced of this.

I truly believe fear of death is a conditioned experience. I come from a hillbilly community where I have seen more times than I can count men of that culture go and do things while others watched in amazement all the while thinking wth they freaking out about.

It's all about threshold. From my culture people dies all the time and not from old age. The fear threshold has always been high in these mountain communities. I think how you deal with death has a great deal to do with your upbringing.