Why do humans fear death?

Question

Is it fear of the unknown? The unknown is all around us

Fear of suffering? Suicidal people enbrass death as a relief from suffering


You shouldn't fear the inevitable.

Answer 1

I don't fear death, and I'm not suicidal

Answer 2

Well I personally don't fear death. In fact I believe in life after death and whatever is going to happen just happens. Put I also believe that most people fear the unknown and are afraid of death because of tragedy their family & friends may have suffered through.

Answer 3

I believe it is not so much about fearing the inevitable, but fearing what subconsciously we all know we must do at that moment of death: We must face the truth of our soul. This is called the "Bardo."

Watch the movie "Flatliners" (Kiefer Sutherland; Julia Roberts) -- they brought their Bardo back with them . . . and were forced to forgive themselves so they could move forward in peace.

This is the inevitable that is truly feared.

The only reason someone should fear anything is because it is unknown. Once we are knowledgeable about something, we can take action to avoid it or embrace it, depending upon what knowledge we receive. The secret to releasing this fear is to face our Bardo here, in our conscious aware state. Not necessarily an easy task, but definitely not impossible.

Answer 4

there are so many reasons, each person has their own.

one cause is religion, the fear of whether they will be going to heaven or hell.

another is the ego, to truly believe that we will no longer exist is scary.

some fear it because they don't know whether there IS another side or not and that is a compliation of religion AND ego.

Yet, another has to do with whether you've done what you're here to do. We all have that feeling that we are here for a purpose, we have a calling. many of us don't know what that purpose is OR just have yet to embrace it. Because we feel we have a purpose here on this earth and we have not yet satisfied that yearning, we feel our lives are not yet fufilled and we feel an emptiness, an unfinished business so death would not allow us to achieve that purpose.

I once feared death...more because of ego, another because I still feel an unfulfilled purpose....but after I read some Sylvia Browne about the afterlife, most of those fears evaporated. There still is some egotistical feeling..once again, how will the world get along without me....but now I can't wait till I pass thru. Not that I'm suicidal but I feel that there is a beautiful eternity awaiting me. I don't believe in heaven or hell so I'm not worried about that, I don't believe in the angry wrathful god of the bible because anger and wrath are faulty HUMAN emotions. If there is a god, I believe in an ALL LOVING FORGIVING god who loves us no matter what and forgives us anything. Even Jesus tried to teach that but somehow it gets lost in translation to the convenience of humans....so, I believe we ALL go to the same place because we are all basically good people just trying to live our lives. Yes, we make mistakes along the way, but that's what makes us human and not gods.

***DISCLAIMER***
I know some people will judge me because of Sylvia Browne, it's not that I worship her or anything and there are many things she says I can't absorb, but, the word "psychic" aside......alot of what she says about life, the afterlife, our purpose here makes a lot of sense to me and has alleviated many fears and painful emotions (like the recent loss of my dog, or fears of family members getting old and passing, my own eventual death). She helped my friend believe in god again who had lost all hope and belief in god (both her parents died within 5 weeks of each other and they were her life even her husband took a backseat). Me, I'm more UU (Unitarian Universalism though I leave room for science) because I believe that the basic message of ALL beliefs is LOVE, plain and simple. Even those with NO beliefs in a higher power believe in LOVE. Love is the message, love is the belief, love is the religion, love is what we follow.

Answer 5

I believe we fear death because it is an unknown thing. It is something you have no control over and death doesnt make any differences in race, sex, religion or any of the other things.

YOu start to die the day you are born, it's all the stuff along the way you have to remember.

Answer 6

For those who fear death, I believe it stems from the illusion of losing everything they have now... their possession, family, friends, etc...

Think about it, say you enjoy a good meal and fine wine.... when you die... no more.

Note that I say illusion.... because the true "I" will never die.... Life and death are really one and the same.

You will never find a magnet having only a south end, or just a north end.... in fact when you break a magnet in two, you don't get a south and a north of a magnet, you get two smaller magnets, each having a south and a north end....

North and South are explicitly different, but implicitly one. So go life and death.... you only know you are alive because you were once dead.... we only know what's good in contrast of what is bad....

Mind you, it is perfectly fine to be fear of death... because fear is a feeling that can only be experienced when you are alive.

Answer 7

Not as much as the ego fears 'existential death.' If we are unable to OBSERVE the ego's little learned identity and thought system, and overly identify with its fears and attachments, we are at its mercy. It will often die physically rather than face what it MISPERCEIVES as worse than death - public shame, abandonment, loss of face, etc.

If we do not grasp that we are NOT these learned thoughts and feelings, but the OBSERVER of them, the ego can destroy us before authentic being can be remembered and reality can synchronize with purpose.

Answer 8

I don,t fear death because I know where I,m going[Heaven ] I guess I just hate to leave my loved one,s and this life.

Answer 9

Dying is part of living and the unknown factor scares people .

Answer 10

I don't fear death