From: Be@Here.Now   
      
   On 9 Sep 2005 00:21:46 -0700, "jbaloun"  wrote:   
      
   >Tsunami, hurricane, flood, sinking ship all include victums faced with   
   >the prospect of drowning. Thinking of such sends a chill down the   
   >spine, and still what would be the best (least tramatic) way to...in   
   >effect...drown? If the choice is inevitable.   
   >   
   >I understand there is not a lot of experience in such matters aside   
   >from NDEs.   
   >   
   >If you hold your breath, eventually the gag reflex makes you take a   
   >breath. At the point of gaging, it can cause a very uncomfortable panic   
   >feeling as instinct kicks in.   
   >   
   >Taking cold water into the lungs would seem to be quite a shock and may   
   >cause a person to pass out.   
   >   
   >I was just wondering if it would not be better to make yourself   
   >breath-in water sooner rather than waiting for a dreadful panic to   
   >force it. In this way it might be less traumatic.   
   >   
   >Just a rhetorical queston.   
   >We all have a date with death. Very strange.   
   >   
   >James   
      
   From everything I've read and experienced, death can be very easy.  No   
   more traumatic than going unconscious.  If you have ever been knock   
   out or passed out, then you have had the basic experience.   
      
   Sometimes severe pain can precede death, but we have built in   
   defenses.  The body produces its own pain killers, and sometimes   
   consciousness will separate from the body even before the body dies.   
   People report watching their body yelling or screaming while their   
   consciousness looks on from a location outside their body.   
      
   It's strange, you may feel more alive than you ever had before just at   
   the time of your death.  You might also experience time or space   
   changes, or even have some sort of life review experience.  A few   
   people have these experiences just from being in a situation in which   
   they have a great fear or expectation of death.   
      
      
   Of course, our "real" self, consciousness or awareness itself, never   
   dies.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)