Fear is one of the greatest barriers to action and perception - not just to afterlife knowledge.  Some have hypothesized that since love banishes fear, that conquering fear in our lives is one of the main reasons as to why we are incarnate (in the flesh) at all. 

I don't think a fear of death will prevent you from exploring the afterlife.  In my humble opinion, it is more that a restrictive belief system, possibly based on fears will tell you that afterlife exploration is forbidden, or a fantasy.  It is losing these fear based belief systems that frees our consciousness up enough to explore and roam free.  Fears may make us cling to old belief systems.  "I'm not going to really believe in contacting the dead, because the scientific method has not validated this," we might say to ourselves.  We hold on to the scientific method which states that our thoughts are merely the effect of neurochemical signals in our brains and that we are nothing more than that.  Our fear does not let us embrace a more open minded approach. 

In one of my old threads on this board, we explored various techniques at banishing fears.  One is to embrace that which you fear.  Using imagery you can do it.  If you fear swimming, create an ocean in your mind, and swim in it.  A fear of elevators may be dealt with by going over the elevator in detail in your mind, marveling at the mechanics, and taking practice runs and rides in it.  There is a whole school of behavioral therapy known as desensitization based on this.

I would imagine that some of the veterans here will also let you know that for the most part, fear and love can not coexist.  Bruce gives an excellent example in one of his books of banishing a banshee terrifying a person by projecting PUL on the created demon (it just vanished).  One can hold a dear one in one's thoughts (your child, loved one) and refocus your preoccupying fear into love.  Or if you are bold enough, you can embrace the feared object or person itself.  That takes a lot of moxy, but it may be the most direct approach.


Matthew

Are you speaking from your experience of heart surgery, dearRick? Because if you are, I haven't had that experience so perhaps my words won't hold any relevance for you. I don't even suggest this procedure, just the outcome: However, I banished terror once when terrified by a flashback, my third eye popped out and ('Pac-man' style  ) sort of gobbled up the terrifying images.  OK, that sounds silly but the feeling immediately after was what convinced me tht something more is going on. I felt the the  most loving sense of Love, way more than relief, way more than anything I'd felt before. It had to be given by a Greater Source. That Source is what is beyond everything and is happy when we banish fear. (By the way the eye is back in now, ending some headaches, so I don't think it's meant to be out there.  )  Bruce Moen's referrals to PUL Pure Unconditionnal Love come closer to what I experienced than any other way of expressing it and that's why I'm here.
bets

Thanks for all your comments. 

For the last few years I've been having this experience while dreaming that I suddenly become aware that I'm dreaming and I get excited about the possibility of going OOB.  And then a paralysis of some sort takes over my body and I feel completely frozen. It scared me at first and I would struggle against it thinking that if I fought hard I could get "out".  That never worked.  I only managed to force my physical body to sit straight up, which would wake me up.

After having had open heart surgery (and thanks for mentioning that Bets) I noticed that I'm much more relaxed when the paraysis thing hits.  One time I remember doing a 180 degree horizontal rotation and ended up looking at my physical feet before waking up.    A couple of times lately I've been able to be more rational and say to myself, "relax and float upwards" and my secong body seems to obey. 

before the surgery I remember saying to myself, "If it's time to go...  I'm ok with that.  If there is more for me to learn  here then I'm ok with that too".  Perhaps this resignation to fate is what's bringing about this progress.  I don't know for sure.

I used to have a great fear of death..I did not want to die, period.

After doing some exploring though, and reading Bruce and Robert's books, that fear seems to be gone, completely.

The only part that I do still fear is the method.  That is, I don't want to like..fall from a really tall place and go splat..or drown or otherwise suffocate.

Hi Alysia..I keep thinking about my car going over a cliff..however, I don't think its a current "thought" but one from my past..

hi there. I'm going to die in my sleep too, then I'm going to make my eyelids pop wide open and scare my kids for fun...he he he he..

"And then a paralysis of some sort takes over my body and I feel completely frozen. It scared me at first and I would struggle against it thinking that if I fought hard I could get "out".  That never worked."

That happens to me a few times a week, in the morning when I am just waking up and start to drift back to sleep. It's very scary to me, and I also get a buzzing in my ears right before it and often hear... yes I hear... low voices whispering.  I also feel my body start to rock, and hope that it will be an oob experience, but that hasn't happened in years. But the fear gets me most of the time. I try and say to myself.. ok lets do this... but then after sometime it all goes away and I am able to move.
Fear of dying use to bother me, but since my daughter passed away, I look forward to it!