Help in overcoming fear?

Question

I have a serious fear of death. I am not necessarily scared of the death itself, I have told myself that if lucky, it should feel like just going to sleep.

My problem here is I am scared of not living; not being able to be with the people I love anymore or see the world advance.

I am terrified that there is no afterlife. I would love for anyone here to please provide links to scientific proof or any past experiences that verify an afterlife.

PLEASE no preaching or such, I am not looking to switch to religion.

There will be a best answer for the one that provides me the most closure.

Answer 1

I know how you are feeling Anna. I felt the same way till this happened to me. This actually made me forget about religion.

Several years ago I had an unusual experience concerning an uncle, a distant relative who lived over a thousand miles away.

While driving my car I suddenly felt the unmistakable presence of this relative that I hardly even knew. He was more like someone I had heard about than someone I knew. It was very strange; it felt as though I was momentarily lifted right out of my physical body. I seemed to be suspended somehow beyond space and time, bathed in a love so intense It felt like I could have just disappear into it at any moment if It would have let me. It only lasted for a few seconds, but it seemed to last forever at the same time. I realize how crazy this must sound. The experience was so strong that at first I was afraid I was loosing my grip on reality. I finally managed to chalk it up to an over active imagination.

Three days later I got a call from my aunt telling me that this uncle we are talking about had gone into a coma and died the day I had the experience. It felt like ice water had been poured down my back when she told me this. I had lost any real ideas of God or faith and had become somewhat of an atheist. Needless to say this experience caused me to rethink some of the conclusions I had come to.

I feel blessed to now understand that even in our darkest confusion something loves us so much that it went out of its way to assist me and bring me back to a state of absolute certainty about Gods love for us.
During the experience it seemed like there was a vast amount of information that I was somehow allowed access to. One thing that I came away from this experience understanding beyond any shadow of a doubt was that any Idea that God is unhappy with us or would judge or allow us to be punished for any reason is simply impossible.

I can’t explain the love I felt with words. They simply don’t make words big enough or complete enough to do this. The only way I can begin to convey this love to you is to say that there was simply nothing else there. Nothing but love. No hint of judgment, no displeasure of any sort. It is as though God sees us as being as perfect as we were the day we were created. It is only in our confused idea of ourselves that we seem to have changed.

I hope this is of some help to you. Good luck. Love and blessings.

Your brother don

Answer 2

There is no need to be terrified of death. We will all
die one day. Hopefully in a calm manner such as in
our sleep as we approach the age of one hundred.

No one in the world can verify an afterlife, but you can
verify the facts. The facts are that when a human dies,
the body is buried, the loved ones grieve and life goes on
for others. It is truly the cycle of life.

There will be sadness at your parting, but nothing can
bring you back or make you able to once again live.
Your memory will live on for your loved ones. This is
why it is important to focus on having
a good life, making life good for others.

You can choose to believe there will be more if you
feel the need. Or you can wake up tomorrow and realize
that you get one life and living it to the best of your ability
is your option. Eat healthy, exercise, live longer. Do all
that you can. Be all that you can. Learn, experience.

As you grow older you will see how short life truly is,
so spend each day in a positive way. Be kind to others,
breathe in the day and be glad you are alive.

You're young. You have a long life ahead of you.
Quit worrying about what all of us must one day face,
and instead face what is before you. Life.

Now get off the computer and go live it up.

:-)

Answer 3

Well....I don't think love is going to work with a fear of spiders. lol I would say that fear can be overcome through understanding, and reason. I used to be afraid of the dark as a kid. The usual, demons, ghosts, spirits, boogieman type stuff. It would keep me up almost every night as I had an overactive imagination. Then as I began to get older, I looked into the subject, and found that it was all in my head. There is no such thing as any of these, and the only thing that says they are true are myths, and folklore. I even got myself to believe the bible was/is a lie. There is no one "watching me", my dead ancestors do not live around me. demons don't lurk the earth, and the Devil really isn't that bad of guy. The biggest fact I found is that no one has ever proved that any of these things exist. So, I guess intelligence conquers fear. After I had tossed out my fear of the dark, I came to embrace it. Now I spend most of my day in the dark. :)

Answer 4

Well, logically the answer lies in the problem. It dictates what must be done, By stopping yourself from getting so wrapped up in a temporary plane of existence and start focusing on the spirit realm. Nothing but death is certain on this plane of existence so why worry about the inevitable and work on the way to which you view it, seems to be a far better approach to your dilemma.
Does it make sense to build a igloo in let's say Wisconsin in the winter and buy all kinds of expensive furniture for it and spend your life savings on it knowing it will melt in the spring?

Even though I know for 100% that there is indeed an afterlife, to you my personal experience would be like sharing a UFO sighting, so you'll have do do your own research.

Answer 5

We can't really know what happens after we die. There are a lot of theories, but they're all just theories. I've done some work studying NDEs from various cultures myself. I'm entirely convinced there is an afterlife - and that what happens is what we think happens. I highly recommend reading "Johnny and the Dead" by Terry Pratchett, it sure made me feel a lot better.

I have felt like you do, so I understand... I recommend that you trust the way things are, that it will come out to your satisfaction in the end.


Each separate being in the universe
returns to the common source.
Returning to the source is serenity.
--Tao Te Ching

Answer 6

Allot of people struggle with this anna, so what you are feeling is normal.

Life is an incredible thing. We are all given a small amount of time to live, love and interact with other people. It is easy to fall into the trap of worrying so much about losing this time, that we waist it trying to stop the inevitable, or trying to find a way past death.

The truth is that none of us really know what is beyond death. Some believe that uneducated nomads had the answer 2000 years ago, others believe that uneducated Asians had it right 6000 years ago with reincarnation....and so on.

The only thing we do know for sure is that we are alive right now. That makes living life to its fullest, of utmost importance, everything else is just a bet.

Enjoy your family and friends now, spend every minute of your life, cherishing it, worry about death after it happens.

Answer 7

Being a Christian the only Scientific proof I could point you to would be the study that Michael Cohen did. I believe that after you research his study into what happens at the point of death you will want to study the Holy Bible and see that they both in agreement. To believe and follow the Holy Word of God will be the only way to get passed your fear of Death. Even Darwin admitted on his death bed that he was wrong, and accepted Jesus as his Lord and Saviour. Christians don't fear death because we don't die we just enter into the Kingdom of our Lord God. Not knowing the Lord Jesus as your personal saviour will always leave one empty and fearful.

Answer 8

There is not scientific proof confirming an afterlife. People have to believe by faith. As long as science is all you believe in there is no comfort for you. It was only after I became a Christian that death stopped scaring me.

Answer 9

Yes, but --

Your fear isn't irrational, but you aren't going to find comfort in scientific "proofs." They are mostly pretty phony, and easy to explain away, at the best. Most people who don't believe in God, also don't believe in an afterlife. They just make up their mind that there isn't one, and build their lives on what Bertrand Russell called "a firm foundation of unyielding despair."

Answer 10

You have nothing to fear if you die in Christ. We are assured in the scriptures that our souls will be taken to be with Christ.
KJV 1 Corinthians 15:55 O death, where [is] thy sting? O grave, where [is] thy victory?
KJV Romans 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
2 CORINTHIANS v. 3.--We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord
Death is just the passage into eternity.