I have a few other points to make relating to the fear of death. The first being that we will die before we have accomplished all our dreams we had anticipated as a child or adult. But to most of us this will not really pose a problem because we can think of all the things we have done and feel a sense of satisfaction, such a raising a family etc.

The second fear relating to the dying process involves the actual moment of dying. Many say this will be a terrifying experience because it represents the ultimate loss of control. But we actually have this experience every night when we enter the little death, namely; sleep.

Perhaps the greatest fear is what comes after death. Such as after I die there will be just nothingness Of course then there would be nothing to worry about would there 

But there might be something after we die, but why fear that, since we do not know what will happen to us just one minute from now, that also represents an unknown, just like next week does but we don't fear what will happen tomorrow. We have being living with the unknown from the moment we moved down the birth canal, we coped after that, so why would we not cope with the "something" that might come after we die?

Perhaps we should identify what about death we really fear. Is it that previously mentioned nothingness, if indeed there is nothingness after death there was nothingness "before death" and up to the moment of our birth we resided in that eternal dark nothingness and it gives us no problems when we look back on it?

Death is necessary or people would reproduce like bacteria, Existentialists like Sartre, Camus and others claim that when you face ultimate inevitability of death, life becomes meaningless. I believe this is nonsense and exactly the opposite is true. Accepting death can make life more meaningful, more rewarding, this does not mean that life is not precious, we must live in and saviour each moment of life we have.

Life is not about how many breaths we take, "but how many moments take away our breath"

All of us, without exception are on this strange road we call life, with the possibility of something amazing, beautiful and enduring happening in the very next moment.

Alan

Good post, Alan.

Yeah, the fear of death. Certainly a heavy topic. Everyone is afraid, whether they realize it or not. I still am. That could not have been made more clear than recently when I lived through a really bad bout of the flu, possibly swine flu.

At the worst of it, I felt like I was becoming a prisoner inside of my sick body, and losing the coherentness of my mind, and when you can't think like you normally do, it gets scary. It really makes me wonder what terminally ill people go through before they die. God, it must be so confusing and terrifying. The body is so strong, but at the same time so fragile.

I find it more scary to lose the coherency of your mind while you die. It's like not having any control even of your own brain.

But, I don't worry, anymore, because a good friend of mine told me that when you die, it's like jumping into a pool of very cold water. Right at the moment when it happens, you get a shock, but then, after, you feel just fine. So, perhaps it's more shocking going through the process of the death of the body rather than death itself.

birth and death - a piece of cake but the bit in between...

Here is a poem I wrote about death and what comes after

THE BIG SLEEP

As I approach the infinite long dark night
If you can resonate with the poem below by me below my account into life after life and mysteries of the universe and beyond will greatly interest you

I resist it with all my might
I try and try to comprehend this end
To which all men must descend

Is it a sleep that all must take?
Or is it an eternal end that all must make?
I like to dream of awakening in light not dark
In a beautiful place to which all righteous men depart

Do we sleep the sleep of forever?
Or do we awake some other place together?
Does the answer to this ultimate question
Remain forever a process of eternal redemption?

On one glorious day from timeless sleep I awoke
And heard a beautiful and kind voice that sweetly spoke
My faithful son at last you have became to understand
Exactly your place in this troubled land

You my beloved have truly never ceased to seek
The infinite destiny that in eternity for you I keep
So for you and your family no eternal death awaits
Because of your zeal to know your fate

Soon I will bring you all to this most Holy Place
And there I will you never forsake
Very soon you shall hear a sweet call in the dark of night
Come, come into the Holy Glory of the Father Spirit of Mighty Might

I walk in the cool of evening along sweet meadows I have never seen
I smell the beauty of grasses that have never been
Strange golden streams of crystal water flows
As blue glory of mighty skies above glows

I search the long forgotten memories in the attic of my mind
Along the twisted channels the very depth soul that I could not find
I see before me things so wonderful I knew from long long ago
I puzzle over the enigma of knowing what I do not know

Out there far beyond the knowledge of any man is revealed
Something of such great mystery to it my heart had appealed
Why have I on this one thing so many years stalled?
Is this most infinite knowledge from many man would be appalled?

Walking on through the shade of great trees that give eternal life
I hear the sweet forgotten voice that comes to free all from everlasting strife

High green new grasses in this new do land grow
As transparent waters chuckle dance and sparkle and flow

ALAN MCDOUGALL (COMPOSED 16/2/2007)

I am glad you are feeling better now, Ally.

I, too, have gone through a bout with illness lately. It does, for me, cause an immense amount of gratitude for the simple things in life, as I grow back into full health again, with a new perspective.


Ally wrote on Oct 8^th, 2009 at 1:57am:

Yeah, the fear of death. Certainly a heavy topic. Everyone is afraid, whether they realize it or not. I still am. That could not have been made more clear than recently when I lived through a really bad bout of the flu, possibly swine flu. At the worst of it, I felt like I was becoming a prisoner inside of my sick body, and losing the coherentness of my mind, and when you can't think like you normally do, it gets scary. It really makes me wonder what terminally ill people go through before they die. God, it must be so confusing and terrifying. The body is so strong, but at the same time so fragile. I find it more scary to lose the coherency of your mind while you die. It's like not having any control even of your own brain. But, I don't worry, anymore, because a good friend of mine told me that when you die, it's like jumping into a pool of very cold water. Right at the moment when it happens, you get a shock, but then, after, you feel just fine. So, perhaps it's more shocking going through the process of the death of the body rather than death itself.

After all the people I have seen after they died,and even the ones I met in broad daylight,I am still afraid to die.Than I read about a man who asked a master about death.the answer was,can a man keep from going to sleep.and can a man keep from waking up.no.George

Thanks, George,

That's a neat way of summing up the truth of the matter!

Bets

I have faced death, and before this experience, just like most people, I was afraid of dying.

But you know when the time comes God gives you the strength to die peacefully.

Death in its final stage is much like going under anaesthetic in the operating ward and waking up in the recovery ward.

For the majority of people the afterlife is a much more glorious and love filled place than this earthly existence.

I admit the process of dying can be frightening, but it is usually the observer that is more badly traumatised by the suffering than the dying person in the process of passing over into the afterlife of eternal light

Alan

http://alansmysticalmind.ning.com/