For some reason, I have been fascinated with the concept of death for a very long time. I never knew why we feared death. When I was a young child, I had the fear of death. In a sense, we were taught to fear death for no apparent reason. I never knew why. However I have learned that there are possibly fates far worse than death. In those scenarios, perhaps death is a sweet release. Regardless, we still fear death. Technically I do fear death and at the same time I do not fear death. The reasons we tend to fear death can be infinite.
There is only one reason I would fear death. Right now, I have a lot on my plate. There are plenty of things I am trying to accomplish. It is not just for my sake. It is for the sake of other people. Right now, I cannot afford to die. I cannot die just yet. Until I finish what needs to be done, I will be attached to this life. There are things that I need to finish. Perhaps this is why I have the fear of death. If I die, I would not be able to carry on with what I was doing.
How I see it, life is like some role-playing game. There many paths to take, there are many people to meet, and there are many thing to see. We are players in the game. Perhaps life is more of an MMORPG. Unlike such games, there is no reset button. In real life “Game Over” actually means game over.
Perhaps this is the only reason I would fear death. However, I am not the only one that has that fear. Many other people probably share the same fears. But, this is my only fear of death.
However, I do have this other fear. It is not about death itself. I do have this fear on the method in which I am going to die. Perhaps we tend to fear the method of death rather than death itself.
There are many ways to die. There are some that are quick and painless, but there are many methods that can be extremely painful. We tend to fear the very painful methods of death. However, we tend to fear certain painless methods of death. This is primary the first reason we as people tend to fear death. However, we probably will not know how we are going to die.
The second reason we tend to fear death is because it is unknown. Nobody really knows what lies beyond the world of the living. Just about anything is possible. There has been nobody that had come back from the dead.
We have absolutely no idea what lies ahead after our lives have passed. Each religious faith has its own interpretation of the afterlife.
Overall, we fear the unknown.
Since we do not have information, we are afraid to explore.
The afterlife in Catholicism could be different from the afterlife in Protestantism. The afterlife in Hinduism could be different from the afterlife in Islam. The afterlife in Shinto could be different from the afterlife in Buddhism. We do not know what really lies beyond the world of the living.
We tend to become uncomfortable with what we do not know. In that respect, we become comfortable with what we do know. There are many people that are afraid to leave their comfort zones.
This next reason is usually reserved for those that care very much about their families. A parent could fear death because s/he would end up leaving the children behind. There are fears of what would become of the children afterwards. That is a legitimate fear. If I had a child, I probably would feel the same way. I would not trust any of my family members to look after my child if something had happened to me.
When you look at these reasons, one can understand why we fear death. Death is considered to be the end. We have no idea what will happen to us once we leave the realm of the living. Will we reincarnate? Will we remain in the afterlife for all eternity? Nobody really knows for sure.
