Seeking, I feel a lot more comfortable about thoughts of dying than speaking to big groups of people. Though willingly accepting a challenge a couple of years ago about being a trainer for over 250 people split into groups of 15 I still don't like that at all. What could go wrong did on so many levels, haha, with no way out other than for the one-man-band to try to play all the instruments, at once. But the more I've dealt with fears the more they have lessened. Haven't found any universal keys to unlock fears but rather personal ones that were and are right for me, by trial and error. Keys as in the right way to deal with different fears. That's what I find difficult about these subjects; it's been said many times before and still rings true, what works for you doesn't have to work for me. You're here and that could mean that you've determined knowledge about the subject you fear can help you understand it and thus not fearing it at some point?

I am afraid to fly, and I was a military pilot for many years! That one kind of snuck up on me, but it has been hard to put to rest. Death seems simple, compared to the complexities of the sub-conscious mind sometimes.

  I sometimes have a similar concern Crossbow (i wouldn't necessarily call it a fear per se, as that brings to mind visceral and strong emotions). 

  An occasional concern with whether or not i will live up to my potential and what i came here to accomplish.  Part of it is just typical, "ego", selfishness stuff, but part of it is also related to a concern with impacting the Whole in the most positive way i can, in order to be part of the solution rather than the stuckness. 

  Either way, i'm sure things will be fine whether or not i do live up to that potential and the goals my Disk set up for us for this life.  There is always others that have that potential.  (while I acknowledge that, for whatever reason I still feel something akin to a sense of urgency).

  Every birth is a chance, a possibility for the ultimate purpose of life to fulfill itself within a person and individuality, like it did an age ago.  Yet, sometimes I wonder why it's been so, so rare within a physical lifetime.

My number one fear is simply the afterlife not existing. It's is a completely logical widely accepted conclusion that the body is directly related to thoughts and proving that the body and mind are separate has not been scientifically accomplished, thus, the afterlife has not been scientifically proven to exist.

Therefore, theoretically, it is likely that death is the end of your existence.

seeking, I am not trying to say I need every little nuance and tidbit in regard to the afterlife explained, far from it...

I am simply stating that a "faith" based belief in the afterlife based on data and evidence which are insufficient to prove nothing... except humanities willingness to accept all sorts of unproven things.

Let us say for instance, you are able to close your eyes and enter different focus levels and speak with beings and "guides" as is being claimed. The simple bottom line REQUIREMENT of accepting such wild claims as FACT is simple verification. I mean, this could just as easily be all imagination. It's so simple really, if these beings and guides cannot give or produce a way to verify they're existence with testing, such as getting information they did not have naturally ( such as spiritual mediums. ) OR being able to read a word, sentence, or number which is in a different room and for testing purposes the guides "tell" you the information....

Without a test performed adequately and completely like this, I can naturally reiterate my main claim and theory which is that the entire concept is imaginary. Does this make me happy? No. I WANT the afterlife to be science fact, not science fiction. But until I see results and real tests, it's all just delusional imagination... Therefore justifying a general fear of the afterlife even though the obvious fact remains that once you are dead it won't bother you. 

EDIT: I quoted TWO possible tests. The first one which involves getting information the person being tested does not know is a questionable test in general. In fact, the second test involving a controlled word, number, or sentence structure is the only test that could be scientifically accepted.

Oh yeah the silver cord connecting oneself to ones body when you go OBE. Some pro-afterlifers don't think that cord even exists, but I can't quote where I read that from. I have read so much.

I love Dave Allen so much, Crossbow. Thanks for posting it, man.

I did a retrieval on Jeremy and he was really great just sitting on a rock with his father behind him. His father had passed from a car accident when Jeremy was just 3 years old. I got a great feeling from it. I don't do many retrievals but that experience gave me a real respect for them. I don't do them because I feel if you are trapped you are learning something that only the experience can teach you, but I suppose if I was trapped I'd like to be retrieved 

The silver cord is an illusion. We are not actually in our bodies so there is no need to have an actual attachment to them via the cord. Tom Campbell supports this view as well. Not that his world is the be all and end all, but since we talk about him a lot here I thought I'd mention him.

Love this thread. Thanks for the info on choking. Much appreciated, Seek.