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LadyEllen -> RE: Personally im terrified of death and i'll tell you why. (2/8/2007 9:20:39 PM)
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I am not in the least bit afraid of death, though I do not look forward to the pain of dying, and nor do I wish to die any time soon.
As for the fear of the unknown, this is bizarre to me. What is there to fear? It would seem that there are only three possibilities; one is that all will slowly fade to nothing - a peculiar nothing where you do not actually perceive it - death as an end. The second is that in someway you will maintain awareness and ego integration according to a Christian model of afterlife; in that case it would be better to have lived well. The third is that you will cease to be as in the first case, but that awareness will survive at its most basic level, prior to a rebirth scenario; again, best to have the right karma. We are all to die, according to every piece of evidence we have available to us, so to fear it is strange, since fear as a tool of flight is misplaced in this instance; we have only one way to go, no escape.
There is also no reason to fear the loss of all we are, our families, our friends, our tastes and so on. We must understand, that we take this journey, wherever it leads, alone, and just as we cannot take our material possessions, neither can we be helped by others. We will not miss anything we leave behind, or anyone, whichever of the three outcomes to death happen to be true. We are on our own, with only our karma to help us, should we find options two or three to be the case.
The cause of the fear of death is attachment. Attachment to our possessions, our families, our friends, and ultimately attachment to ourselves. Overcome that attachment to yourself, and you will find that your fear of death is gone. This is not easy to achieve in our western culture of course, which stresses just how important we are and how important our material lives are. Yet, it remains the key.
E
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