Do We Fear Death Or Dying Essay

It doesn’t take too much careful observation in our everyday lives to see something about death. Just watch the news and it will likely be littered with stories about death or dying. If not the news perhaps simply just watch a movie, very seldom do they not feature death or the fear of dying in them, but why? Why is death so prevalent around us today? What is it that makes us cling to it and compels us to keep asking questions about it, talking about it, and thinking of it constantly? Simply put, it is the fear of the unknown. It’s because as humans we fear what we don’t know, or can’t explain. As the old saying goes, it isn’t the darkness that scares us, it’s the fear of what could be lurking in the darkness that scares us. This parallels death nicely because it’s not the fear of dying necessarily but it’s the fear of what will happen to us afterwards, is there …show more content…
We fear not knowing what will happen to us after we die, be it an afterlife where we are judged based on our actions when we were alive or be it absolute nothingness and we only live on in the memories of those who are still alive. This phenomenon of death keeps us always asking questions about, wondering about it, and thinking about it. It will always consume our lives because it is a verifiable fact that it is one of the few things all life has in common. The vast majority of people’s views on death can be put up into two categories. One that they belief in an afterlife and that their life has meaning when they die, or two that there is no afterlife and the only meaning their life will have, is from what happens when they are alive. My personal view is to live virtuously, and hope for life after death, but if it doesn’t exist that’s okay too. Nonetheless, we will never know for sure until we are deader than a doornail, and don’t take this issue so seriously, we will all find out