Fear of Death

I believe it is the fear of death that spurred the creation of religion... I think maybe if one overcome the fear of death - the fear that one day one might not exist in any way, may not be conscious - then maybe one would not need religion.... just a thought.

 

I'd be intersted to know how you think humans are going to overcome the fear of death in the future. It seems to be hardwired into us as part of our survival mechanism. It is actually necessary for us to be aware of death in order to avoid doing foolish actions which can easily lead to death.

 

I think fear of death is the cause of all our fear. Animals don't fear death like we do, because they don't know ahead of time that they will die someday. We humans worry about our mortality all our lives, animals just live. Sure they run from threats, but that's a different kind of fear, it serves a purpose.

 

I agree, religion was created to placate the ego of humans.

 

Animals don't reflect about death as they don't have our mental capacity. But we think about everything, and as humans we have to it seems. But even thinking about the chances of action leading to death can be a survival mechanism. Because we live in a pretty artificial environment which we've created, we have to be aware of constant risks that in our natural state wouldn't exist.
It may be fear of death, in the last analysis, that stops a person driving wrecklessly for instance.
But also there's the whole question of the mode of death. If I were to fall asleep and just die in my sleep for instance, there's nothing very scary to me about that. The prospect of intense and possibly protracted suffering leading to death though is another matter.
I wonder if it is death or just suffering that we fear and seek to avoid?

 

i've seen gazelle's reactions right when an alligator is about to snap the motherfucker and it looks as human when someone is trying to stab you, your'e like "oh fuk that!- back up!- aaggh*coughs blood*". it seems kind of arrogant to even concieve animals not fearing death. thats why they fight to survive, like they dont see their homie Lions getting stomped by elephants or eaten by hyenas n vice versa. i also believe true preparedness for death is in the heart (obviously symbolic of emotional mentality). You just have to say to yourself ur ready n thats it (mind over matter) so when it comes by, need no worry. at least you had that chance which is more than what i can speak for someone hit by a mack truck from behind. if you cant do that, you'll most likely shit yourself knowing you havent fufilled (4example) your life when the element of a surprise death approaches. eh fukkit :$

 

I think you are right. I am certain that Buddhism and Christianity, and all of the major religions, deal directly with issues concerning the fear of death and its subtle but powerful influence over the human psyche.

It was the sight of a beggar, a sick person, a corpse and a renunciant that sent the young, sheltered prince Siddhartha on the path to find an answer to human suffering. With his answer, he awakened to become the Buddha.

And Jesus' spiritual mastery, his gracious, self-sacrificing love for his fellow humans, especially as he directly confronted unimaginable suffering and death, is the real basis of Christianity.

Of course, all of the major religions are about much more than just the fear of death, but you cannot become fully human and really live your ideal life until you have recognized and mastered, or at least made peace with, your own fear of death. Once you've done this, then religion becomes less an obligatory series of thou shalt nots and more like a library of ideas about the non-physical dimensions of reality and your place in it.

Peace and Love

 

No doubt fear of death has something to do with religion.

I do not fear death at all it is inevitable, when you are born one is celebrated why not when you die?

I think people fear death because of social and cultural conditioning. People from a young age are made to feel like they are going to be in existent forever so death causes fear. You never hear a parent telling their child "life is short, work hard, one day you are going to die".

 

I never said animals don't fear death. I said they don't reflect about it. They can't reflect about it because they don't have a symbolic language to reflect. With animals, fear of death is purely instinctual. In humans, it is thought out, mentalized.

 

If we all fear Death we would never fly in a airplane or even though about building one and flying it.

 

Once you make friends with Death he's not so scary.


Death has a beautiful smile. Once you look into it it's hard to take anything seriously.

Once I got to know him, he let me in on the joke;
"Look at them,
These frantic little souls,
They dig holes in the ground,
to hide from me,
because they're afraid if I find them,
they'll wind up in a hole in the ground".
-----Conversations with Death

He's with you all the time anyway, might as well learn to get along.

 

i wont say i fear death, i rather say i accept it as a part of life and always have done it. on the same time i'm not saying that i don't care if wake up tommorow, because a lot of people will be sorrow then and i don't have done all the things there is my karma i think..
so the fear of death is a mysterius thing is you ask me, you can't deny it and accept it on the same time..

 

Not at all!

 

not at all what?

 

do you mean

not at all what? or
Not what at all?

Two different meanings

 

What?

 

animals are afriad of dying every day. they dont pray to god. its our intellect!! were thinking ourselves insane!!

 

My bad let me clear death is not at all scary once you get to know it.

 

It's the duality thing that's screws us; Life/Death, Good/Bad, Paper/Plastic...

 

I believe that people do not so much fear death but rather that they fear leaving behind regrets when they do die. Inevitably we will do things we regret. Through intent, accident or passion, everyone will at some point in time, acquire regret. And I believe that it is this regret that we fear. We are afraid of being remembered when we leave as the person who committed evil and never repented.

Now, a simple option in this case would be to mind your actions carefully. Exist as a person you can be proud of. Now, the tricky part of this approach is that everyone makes mistakes. And if you do, you need to own up and make ammends. These reperations are what trip people up. The vast majority of people are very pride-filled. It's painful to go and ask forgiveness. And so, many people simply don't. They will either avoid blame, pretend it never happened or argue their point until they have convinced themselves they never did wrong. But unless dealt with, the regret will always remain.

Here's where religion comes in. Christianity, being the one I am most familiar with, is what I will use for an example. (I don't know enough about other religions to attribute this fear of death or fear of regret to their foundation, and I fully allow for other reasons for other religions.) Christianity, by and large, allows redemption after death. This is particularly true in the case of Catholicism, and the rest of Christianity (being offshoots of Catholicism) generally follow this trend.

If it is truly regret which people fear instead of death, then religion provides a handy backup plan. Religion is the easy way out. It's far easier to procrastinate and tell yourself that you won't apologize now than it is to own up and make good of your wrongs. And it really is quite easy for people to convince themselves that they will repent when faced with an all-mighty being who offers them the choice between eternal damnation and repentance.

Having a god who can put you on the spot and humble you with his presence makes it easy to be a coward before such a judgement would take place.