According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 68% of Americans have a fear of death. I wonder if what they fear the most is the actual event when they die or what happens after their death? And what about the 32% of Americans that don’t fear death. What do they know that everybody else doesn’t?
I understand the fear of how you will die. I mean, there aren’t too many ways to die that seem pleasant. Drowning, Disembowelment or being eaten by a shark all rank up there as ways I don’t want to die. Dying in your sleep would probably be the way to go. Or something that is instantaneous where you would feel no pain would be a good option if you had to choose from a death menu.
But what about the fear of what happens to you after your death? Is this where those 32% have some secret knowledge about the afterlife that keeps them from being afraid of death itself. Is it a spiritual belief that gives them confidence to stare death in the face and not be afraid? Let’s take a look at what some factions believe about life after death:
Buddhism: Buddhism teaches that when a person dies they are reborn and that this process of death and rebirth will continue until Nirvana is attained. This raises the question : “What is the person?” Most religions believe that the core of the person, the real person, is the soul, a non-material and eternal entity that survives in the afterlife. Buddhism on the other hand says that the person is made up of thoughts, feelings and perceptions interacting with the body in a dynamic and constantly changing way. At death this stream of mental energy is re-established in a new body. Thus Buddhism is able to explain the continuity of the individual without recourse to the belief in an “eternal soul”, an idea which contradicts the universal truth of impermanence.
Christianity: Christians believe there is an afterlife. Although the body dies and is buried or cremated, they believe that their unique soul lives on and is raised to new life by God. Christian beliefs about the afterlife vary between denominations and individual Christians, but the vast majority of Christians believe in some kind of heaven, in which the deceased enjoy the presence of God and loved ones for eternity.
Islam: According to the tenets of the Muslim faith, death is the complete end of physical life and the beginning of a period of rest until the day of resurrection when Allah judges the living and the dead. Many Muslims believe that the righteous are able to see visions of God after death and that the wicked see visions of hell. Except for these possible visions of heaven or hell, Muslims believe the soul remains in a kind of “soul sleep” until Judgment Day. When the Day of Judgment arrives, everyone is judged according to their deeds in life.
Hinduism: Hinduism believes in the rebirth and reincarnation of souls. The souls are immortal and imperishable. A soul is part of a jiva, the limited being, who is subject to the impurities of attachment, delusion and laws of karma. Death is therefore not a great calamity, not an end of all, but a natural process in the existence of a jiva (being) as a separate entity.
Atheist: Most Atheists believe in the simple fact that all life-forms end in death and the elements of which they are composed return to the air and the earth to be taken up and recycled in some new organism. Nothing more or nothing less.
So this begs the question. Is there life after death? Would knowing this alleviate your fear of death? If you knew for certain there was a heaven waiting for you or you would be reborn again, would this change anything? Would you stare the grim reaper in the face and not be afraid?
Might want to give it some thought. Because one thing is for certain, death is inevitable. But is it only the beginning? That’s for you to decide!