It has accrued to me that neither believers or non- believers should be afraid of death. Why do so many fear it? Is it the unknown? Believers say that they do know so why fear it? What are your thoughts?
Maybe some people fear death because they think it will take them too long to die. Maybe they see the dying process as a loss of control that they can't manage. Suffering from a debilitating disease or disorder for a long time in agony and then dying is not very appealing. I think that people can accept dying if they think that they have some level of control over it. The dying process is probably harder on the ones watching someone they love die. The closer the bond the harder it is for the survivor.
Sounds a bit too nihilistic for my taste. To be fair, it is often said that we should not fear death, we should only fear that it may happen too soon. Since I do not subscribe to any of the common religions and I believe in the idea that humans need to make their own meaning if you want one, I imagine a lot of people will have living as at least one aspect of the lives they want to lead, making death undesirable.
I believe that death is the ultimate transition---huge change. We all tend to fear change. But I also believe that we are created with the drive to live. Any animal or plant has the drive which makes death in general repulsive. But I have noticed that when a person starts approaching the Century mark---they are frustrated that they are still living. And I have personally watched a 99 year old woman succomb with utter joy. The ideal is to live healthy, clear up to the time where you know your time is past and you've been on this earth too long. Then a natural death is welcome.
Each practice death, every nite that they sleep. ie.... the consciousness of being self aware is out but the life, still exist.
"Alone of gods Death has no love for gifts, Libation helps you not, nor sacrifice. He has no altar, and hears no hymns; From him alone Persuasion stands apart." Aeschylus (525-465 B.C.) "Niobe"
A lot of people just don't want to die. Those that fear death want to keep living, and the fear is rooted in the knowledge that death and the end of living is inevitable.
People fear death because they don't like the idea of dissipating into nothingness. But it's ironic. After all, we willingly surrender our consciousness every time we go to bed, don't we? The next time you go to bed, wait until you're at that point right before you lose all consciousness, and ask yourself, "is this really so bad?" Of course, I suspect that life continues beyond bodily death. It's seems a strange twist of nature to give consciousness, only to rob it away. (And of course, you shouldn't discount out of body experiences so easily.)
There is a natural fear of death among humans. It's an extension of the survival instinct of all sentient creatures, it's just that most of the sentient creatures know what danger is but they can't comprehend the state of nothingness that we call "death". We are in fear of death as we live because we are able to envisage - perhaps with some difficulty - the concept of nothingness. That's because we compare a state of sentient being with a state of nothingness and it's scary. But when we're in that state of nothingness we can't compare anything, it's simply nothing. So in essence we fear being nothing because we are something. When we are nothing we fear nothing. Blimey I sound like Don Rumsfeld - "there are known knowns..." but he did make sense.
It's often said "Fear of the unknown is the greatest fear of all". Death is the ultimate unknown, hence why some fear it. Intelligent people know it's inevitable and, therefore, quit worrying about it. It'll happen whether we want it to happen or not, so why not focus on the "now"? Have some fun, try to make a difference, leave a good mark on others, family and children before we pass. I like this short talk about it from philosopher Alan Watts (now long deceased) from his "Out of your Mind" series. Please pardon the loud music (although I do like the music chosen): [video=youtube;Opn5iVaRyDU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opn5iVaRyDU[/video] another one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VN8jwM4HbI
