what does it mean that you are scared of death?

Question

are we talking about...

a). fear of the unknown
b). pain that we associate with death
c). not being there to enjoy life anymore i.e. regret
d). irrational fear that has developed due to conditioning
e). all of above
f). oh you aint scared of death... in which case- why?

i'd like serious articulate answers that describe your fear (or lack thereof) of death please... do fight the urge to simply answer this as a multiple choice question.

Answer 1

Death is a phenomenon that is deeply inscribed in our human destiny: everyone will die someday. On the philosophical level, death could be described as a deprivation, a cessation of life. Life is good and the thought of being denied of such good scares us. More so, man is inherently afraid of the unknown. Except for Jesus Christ, no one ever died and rose up again (The bible gives us some accounts of people that were raised from death and Lazarus comes easily to mind), to narrate their death experience to us; to tell us what it was like; the manner of existence that is obtainable beyond this life we are used to, etc. I will return to this at the end of this essay.

Another reason why we are afraid of death is that in many cases, the passage from life to death is painful and violent. Think of the many victims of homicide, of wars be they just or not, of murder, terminal illnesses, to mention but some.

Again, dread of death is itself an agonizing experience. Fear is usually defined as an awareness of a real threat to one's well being and the resultant feelings of great distress thereof. Imagine one who is about to face capital punishment,for instance. No matter how warped the individual might be, just at the time of death, he/she is usually overwhelmed by a great sense of anihilation, of facing non-existense, if you like. This is a great threat to one and is always very difficult to live with at the moment.

Furthermore, we have experienced the death of loved ones, and in some way, we shared in their deaths. Not only do we realize that they can no longer be present to us as they used to be, but we also have to live with the vacuum created by their absence in our lives. More to that, their death reminds us of ours that will come someday and we usually shudder at such thoughts.

Having spoken briefly on some of the reasons why we fear death, I would love to end this essay by offering some remedy for the fear of death. In spite of the fear death evokes in us, there is hope of life beyond. Jesus Christ died and resurrected, and because we are the body of Christ (see Col 1:18) we too will rise one day with him after our death if we keep faith in and with him. In the fifteenth chapter of St Paul's letter to the Corinthians, he spoke about the hope of Christians when it comes to death: thus, Christians are not to mourn like pagans - "unbelievers" - do for there is hope of life immortal in Christ (see I Cor 15: 1 to end). Christ swallowed death in victory; He took death captivity and gave gifts to men.

Such faith convictions enunciated in the preceding paragraphs give me remedies to the fear of death. so, do not let the fear of death stiffle you; let it make you wise instead. Finally, death is not the call of God who is good and gracious but of the Evil One, who is envious of man (See Wisdom 1:1 and ff). Christ comes so that we might have life, life to the fullest (John 10:10).

Answer 2

My twenty year old brother has had a major fear of dying since he was a boy. It is always present but every couple of months he'll have a really bad episode (for want of a better word) in which he'll become extremely emotional and upset for a day or night (usually night) due to this irrational fear of death. I have asked him what exactly he is scared of and he always says he's scared of never seeing anyone or anything again, of just being 'gone'. I cannot understand his fears though I do sympathise because of how upset he gets. He also gets angry.My dad is exactly the same. I myself am not scared of death or dying. If I think about it deeply I do hate the thought of not being there for my three year old as he grows up but the fear is not for me or what I might miss, but for my son. I am not religious. Sometimes though I wonder if I am not scared because I have sub-consciously made myself believe that when my time does come it will be the right time and a pain free death, therefore I have unwittingly conditioned myself to think of my death as a well timed peaceful parting from this life- nothing at all to be feared. Why am I not scared of dying? Good bloody question!!

Answer 3

I'm 41 so the meaning to me is dying young and not being around for my kids which are 21 and 14. I want to be around long enough to see they are settled and happy with their own families so I know they won't ever feel alone. Double dose of fear since their father died 2 years ago. So right now I would never say I was not scared of death. Ask the me question in another 40 years and I'm sure I will have a different answer for you. My Grandma is 86 I wonder if death is something she thinks about or is worried about.

Answer 4

"To die would be a truly great adventure"

As someone once said without the dark, there can be no light. I see death as the thing that gives meaning and balance to my life. I am not scared of it (like I was when I was younger), but as it's unknown, neither do I welcome it. At worst I will cease to exist, in which case "I" won't be aware of a damn thing - nothing to be frightened of there. At best, some sort of continued individual spiritual existence (I don't believe in Hell) that is both unknowable and indescribable.

I hope for the latter and expect the former, but either way I don't believe in wasting my life worrying about what happens afterwards.

I think the concept iof death is more frightening when you are younger, after all for most of us it's the greatest tragedy in the world you can imagine. When you get older, you see things more clearly and proportionately, and so the fear recedes.

The best advice I could give anyone is "live till you die and make a handsome corpse so that you don't frighten the horses". (Abridged from Sven Hassel.)

Answer 5

My nan died of a heart attack when i was three. My mother was at work and i was found sitting on my nan's lap. My mother went into denial and to this day will not talk of her mother. No psychologist or psychiatrist has been able to tell me how the experience has affected me in 25 years of trying to get them to explain.
I grew up with a fascination for the stars and the Heavens. I worshipped Hiawatha because he had the ability to go to the other side.
I'm 41 now. It's been a hard life so far. I'm seriously considering joining Humanitas so i can myself euthanised when i really have had enough or when my aching body is causing my mind too much pain.
I'm not scared as such. More apprehensive. Just hope my Spirit will have enough oomph left for it's final journey. And then i can go happy. Amen :-)

Answer 6

I think humans generally fear death because it is unknown--and because they have no control over it. We look at world religions and every one except Christianity teaches that you can work yourself into a better existence after death--thus, you can have control "over your own destiny." I love Christianity because if I go out today and screw up my life--it's forgiven. I can come back to Christ and still know that I'm forgiven. (that doesn't mean I intend to go out and get wasted tonight thinking--I'm forgiven anyway--but I don't have to be paranoid about doing everything right)

I guess the other thing is that it's total trust--we don't know anyone on this earth who's never let us down. So maybe it is conditioning. I've been let down by everyone I ever put my trust in--and that's normal--why would God be any different? Sometimes regardless of how much I can trust with my mind, my heart gets scared.

P.S. A lot of relational experts state that women tend to be scared of death because they fear separation from people but that men tend to be scared because of lack of control. So that's something else to mull over.

Answer 7

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for me personally; i'm scared of death partly because of conditioning(seeing the elderly often in pain), and partly because i'm worried that i'm going to look back on my life(assuming i'm that old) and feel that it wasn't worth it, that i didn't do or see enough, that i wasn't happy. i guess bottom line is, all of the choices play some small part in why i'm not exactly jumping for joy on the topic of death.

i'm not sure how other people perceive it but i think we start to wonder because we see a lot of gruesome movies, and the news beats it into our heads that at any moment we could be brutally ripped from this life. albeit true, we don't need constant reminders. we're innudated with it. don't forget there is no proof to whether there is any sort of afterlife, so people are afraid because we just don't know. not to mention that a lot of people think about what they'll miss, i do. the music, the food, the good times, the landscape, everything.

i really liked this question by the way..

Answer 8

This an excellent question, and my initial reaction was, that, if a person is afraid of dying, it's because they are not content with the life they have lived.

But as I think further on this, and having my own experience with death, when my sister almost suddenly died of liver failure, I remember one thing. I thought, driving to the hospital, that I had one regret. I had not told her, that morning, that I loved her, and if she died, I'd never get the chance to say it again.

So, for me, my fear of death stems from having regrets. I try to live without them, which means, yes, laboring over every decision, but it's worth it.

Since my sister got well, I've not let a day go by, when I've not told the people I love, that I love them. In doing this, I consider my self, ready for death. This, then, takes away my fear of it.

Good question!

Answer 9

i have a theory/////probably get blown out of the water, but hey, here goes.

If you have a fear of death as a child, either you have seen it, had a family member die, been to a funeral, for many years a child will fear this, but as a child matures they then come to terms that not every thing lives for ever. If in fact you have never confronted
or been near it then as an adult you will grow a fear of death / dying.

It can also depend on the religion you have up grown with, if you
believe in the after life then surely you have nothing to be scared of unless you have sinned...alot.

Answer 10

we must never fear of death. in fact death is the name of a new life. after death we are lost from one place and take birth at another place.
death must be welcomed because then we get a brand new shining body.
moreover, why should we get afraid from a event which is to happen a day.
yes, it is very painful and one has to bear it alone. the time when soul leaves the body is a time when one experiences pain experienced never before.
but can we avoid it.
No ! then why to fear.

Answer 11

No, I just think it means you are scared of death.... the unknown, the pain, the fear that Yahoo answers will not exist in the afterlife.....

Belief is meant to make people less scared of death, the belief that this is only one of the plains we exist on and when our body is gone, the soul ascends to a more beautiful and tranquill place than this earthly existence.

Me? I just want to know does Yahoo answers exist in the afterlife? Otherwise, what the hell am I going to spend my time on????