Should we be afraid of death? Or even dying?

Death one of the great mysteries of our world. When you reach a certain age in life, we begin to realize and dread our mortality. But is this a rational fear? I'm here to do my best to make you comfortable with your mortality. Whether you're older or younger the thought has crossed your mind at one point or another. “When am I going to die?” “Is it going to hurt?” “Is there something after we die?” No need to fear death it is something that simply gives life balance.

Can you remember the time before you were born? “Me either” If we discount the possibility of any religion-based afterlife. We can see that death would be like before you were even born. We as human beings never get to experience what life was like before we were born this means we will most likely not be able to experience life after death as well. Some people, for example, have a fear of needles because they have experienced the pain of getting stabbed by one before. I ask you then have you experienced death before? “I haven't either” So why fear something we won't ever experience barring any religious or afterlife beliefs.

One day we all are going to wake up and wonder where our life went. Whether you're younger and haven't had the just wondrous opportunity to experience this don’t worry you will! Or if this is currently the situation, you're in, worrying about your imminent mortality is not how you want to spend your remaining years. We should appreciate life for everything it brings and all the wonderful things we get to experience rather than spending our time moping about the fact we will one day die. And discounting the idea that there is an afterlife this is our one opportunity to perceive and consciously experience life. No other species has been gifted the ability to rationalize as we do. So, get out of your funk and utilize this amazing gift that the universe has gifted us. It's an amazing thing that we have become so conscious in such a vast universe.

Previously we have ignored religious beliefs but now let's take a closer look. Religious people have some sort of afterlife to look forward too when they die. Christianity has Heaven they can anticipate going too as long as they don’t commit an insane number of sins and get sent to hell. In the western world, Christianity may be the most popular religion but others also have a form of the afterlife. Whatever your beliefs may be I do suggest if you have a problem coping with death, religion could give you a better outlook on your mortality. However, don’t run right to the most popular religion. My recommendations lie in taking a religions course and viewing all aspects of multiple religions and deciding what appeals to you the most. Or even doing some private research yourself. But religion is another very reliable source in helping death with our imminent death.

If you have ever been in a fight, then you very much know that physical pain isn't fun. A reason many people fear death is the actual act of dying because we as humans can die in very painful ways and no one wants to experience that. Considering that most of us in our lifetimes have experienced some sort of physical pain in one aspect or another, how do we know that the physical pain we feel is so much intensely worse when we die than for example breaking a bone or something. There is a valid chance we can even die peacefully. Why then fear something that isn't guaranteed extreme physical pain? The odds we die painfully are greater than dying peacefully but I'm not a statistics guy anyways.

Philosopher Epicurus once said that we shouldn’t fear death because we don’t consciously perceive it. The quote being “Death is nothing to us. When we exist, death is not; and when death exists, we are not. All sensation and consciousness ends with death and therefore in death, there is neither pleasure nor pain. The fear of death arises from the belief that in death, there is awareness.” This to put in simpler terms means that we will never actively perceive and experience death because when were dead then we can't perceive it because we're in a state of death. Epicurus is saying here that when we die we believe that we will have an awareness of the fact that we are dead but in the contrary, he thinks that there is no active awareness when we die because when we die its only death that consumes us and there is no experience or awareness of the fact that we indeed experienced death at all.

If you ask many parents about the activities that their children do, they’ll probably say they're wasting their time playing video games or whatever it is that their doing. So, if we ponder for a second about the idea of wasting time, we see that any and everyone is capable of doing so. Then why must we insist on wasting our life pondering and moping on the idea of death and dying? We simply must use this as motivation to not waste any time in our short-lived life on earth and spend it only doing things, we love with the people we love. Go traveling, explore, feed your curiosity and remember that because time is fleeting the only thing, we can do is experience life.

Death ultimately gives life balance and it isn't something we should rationally fear. Next time you talk to someone about dying and death make sure you tell them the good news! The good news being we shouldn’t fear death and make them aware that it isn't just them that fears their mortality most humans do and help them overcome this fear not only for them but for you alike.