why do people fear death?

Question

why?

Answer 1

Haven't figured that one out yet. Personally, I'm not scared to die. When it happens, it happens. There's nothing i can do to stop it. Slow it down, sure. Stop? No.

Answer 2

Most of us are born into a 'religion' that teaches us about the 'other side' which is used to answer the reason of our existence. However, whether it be a scary place like hell, or some better place which implies that the world as we know is the hell, it is just some 'imagination' passed on to us by our elders. It is not real, it is a tale..When you ask the question: 'Do we know where we go after death?', you suggest that there is a time and place after death.... 'Where do you go when you sleep?' You are not ' there = on your bed, when= you are sleeping', right??? So, are you afraid of sleeping??? No! Even if you do not know "where you are going"... And you did not learn this by observing other 'sleeping' people, you were doing it by the moment you were born... It is instinct... So omit all explanations that tell you about an other time+place... The real fear must be hidden in the imagination of the 'pain' that we will be suffering while we are dying...

Answer 3

I think people fear dying, the anticipation of it, the pain of it...
Death in itself , if properly understood is not something to fear. Although you might fear "not being" anymore, in death, there is nothing to fear because you are NO MORE.
Analogy: a car is 4 wheels, axles, engine, gas tank, seat, etc.
No one component is the car. The car is in a sense a *configuration* of parts. It is NOT the parts; it is a complex assemblage of parts. Let's note that assemblage is not a physical thing; it is a mental object; an abstraction.
Likewise, what is a human being: a physical body which returns to the earth it's coming from; a human being is also emotions, thought, feeling, awareness. None of those are physical although they depend on the physical. What else? Consciousness: what is that: it is one of those concepts which cannot quite be defined. I take consciousness to be awareness of self. Self is that "feeling" that I AM. But this also depends on mind, which depends on brain.
All these components TOGETHER is what a human being is.
As far as we can rationally understand those things, when we die, the whole configuration called human being is NO MORE.
In death, we cannot feel anything, think, wish, suffer, or anything,
BECAUSE there is nothing left - NO THING left.
So we can fear dying, but it is quite delusional to fear the STATE of death.
People get quite caught up in various religious doctrines which don't really make sense. The only honest way to deal with such questions is to realize that we DON'T KNOW. 'Would be nice to know but we don't.
People should have the guts to say to the Universe: I don't know, but still I refuse to accept on faith stories which are more like fairy tales than serious attempts at understanding.
Maybe one day, humankind will understand. Maybe not. Nowhere does it say that we are intelligent enough to understand ALL. Actually it is quite presumptuous and most likeky WRONG.
And for those who will say that my views are "meaningless" and that I reject any purpose to LIFE, I say,
If your life has no meaning, what are you waiting for? It is for you to provide meaning to your life! Are you so lazy that you expect someone else to do it for you? God maybe? God is probably the greatest delusion ever devised by the human mind. But you could argue that one forever and ever without getting anywhere.
So I'll stop here.

Answer 4

I guess for some people, they fear to leave material wealth behind since they enjoyed life in a materialistic way; some don't want to leave loved ones behind; some fear where their spirits might lead them to; and those who have done sinful things on earth would certainly fear facing the Judgement day. But for some, I think they fear the thought of suffering and undergoing the pains of death.

Answer 5

Sometimes its not the fear of death but the fear of the pain leading into death...

Answer 6

Because they don't really understand it and since no one except in bible times has ever died and come back no one knows whats really out there and people are all ways afraid of what they don't know or understand. I lost my fear of death after studying the book What does the Bible really Teach published by Jehovah's Witnesses it really explains what lies for us after death and serves as a privilege removing that fear that lies there when you spend time thinking about it and not really knowing

Answer 7

People fear the unknown. You can prepare when you "know" what's to come. What comes after death is the only thing that nothing can prepare you for. and why...Because no one will ever know what to expect after death.

Answer 8

Thats a good question. Its A or B. Fear of the unknown or the finality!

Answer 9

no, not everyone fears death. many people believe that this life is temporary and that their real home is in heaven. look at the amish schoolhouse shootings. i live in lancaster and when they show the funerals that always report that "the amish are celebrating the life of the children, not the death" and how "they are in a better place"

Answer 10

Because it is the ultimate non reversable event. Because it is not the end of something, it is the end of everything for the person who dies.

If you don't fear death then your life must not be as good as it should be or you would care more about losing it.

Answer 11

Fear of the unknown...leaving loved ones