Confronting Mortality: Accepting the Inevitable Makes Life Beautiful
Eventually, we all die
We are all going to die. It is not a question of if, but a question of when.
That’s a line I used to use as an insurance advisor when I would try to convince someone they need to buy insurance.
Lame, I know.
Having parents in the insurance industry, I understood from a young that we were going to die. It’s unavoidable and often predictable.
If it is unavoidable though, why is it that you fear it?
The fear of death
You tend to fear what you do not understand. The truth is, no one fully understands death and that is why most people fear it.
No one has died and come back to talk to you about that experience (those few-minute death experiences don’t count). Because of that, no one knows what happens next.
Additionally, death is often painful – physically and emotionally.
As you die, you must say goodbye to your loved ones and this experience as you know it.
Additionally, to die, often something unfortunate has to happen. An unexpected disease or an accident that makes you die painfully.
Only those who are lucky die peacefully, painlessly, with their families all around them.
Your fear of death comes down to a fear of:
The unknown
Pain
Trying to understand death
To try and understand death, we should first try to understand life. Oddly enough, few do.
For us to be alive, we had to have a beginning. No one remembers how their life started though.
The beginning is then also unknown. We barely even remember what happened yesterday.
Each day is a new experience and we rarely fear tomorrow. It’s just… another day.
But, for some reason, we fear the end. The inevitable end that could happen any day.
Life is this experience we are currently having. This experience is only ever happening at the moment. It’s not happening yesterday or tomorrow.
Life is now, and only ever now.
And funny enough, our memories are close to 80% inaccurate. That means we rarely remember the past and have no idea how this all started.
The only thing we ever know is this present experience – now.
Death is the end of this experience, the now, in the same way that our birth, which we do not remember, meant the beginning.
Things work in cycles
What has an end, must have had a beginning. Before the beginning, it was the end of something else.
That means that what has an end continues into something else.
Does it make more sense that death leads to absolutely nothing?
Or, that death is the end of this experience and the beginning of a new one?
After all, you don’t remember what happened before you were born. Maybe there was another experience similar to the one you are having now, but that you simply don’t remember it.
We may not understand death, but we do understand that your dead body is still comprised of the same atoms. There is little physical change.
These atoms eventually will separate from your body, become one with the earth, and continue to be part of the universe in the same way they are now.
“Your” atoms return to the earth, the ocean and everything else around us. That means that in time, another human could eat those same atoms that are your body (weird thought, I know).
What was once your body, will eventually become the body of another.
Those atoms went through a cycle, the same way that “you” do.
That begs the question… What is “you”?
You are more than your body
When you die, the atoms that together made your body are still there.
So, what died? What happened?
Some religions will tell you your soul left your body, and others will say that your “self” is separated from your body.
Either way, this insinuates that your body is separate from “you”.
Your body and “you” were together for this experience, and the process of death is simply the parting of the two.
Your body served you well, but like all cycles, it eventually ends.
So, now what?
The truth is that we don’t know, and that is what creates your fear.
We can only speculate what happens and everything else is just belief. Belief which you, or someone else has created to comfort from this fear.
But, we have already concluded that your body and “you” are two separate entities and death is when the two separate from each other. The atoms continue, so why would “you” not continue as well?
Whether you believe that you go to heaven, are reincarnated into a new body or fly around the universe having a grand old time, that’s up to you.
After all, belief is created by you and believing is all you can do when it comes to what is next.
If you think about it though, it seems illogical if “you” somehow turned into nothing while everything else around you stays.
There are no things in this universe that turn into nothing.
Accepting the inevitable
You can choose to approach your unknown inevitable death and fear it, or you can approach it with the mentality that it is the end of this current experience and the start of a new one.
For all you know, this experience may be the “hell” that you hear about, a tortuous experience and the next one could be a heavenly experience of sorts.
The fact that what is next is unknown leaves it open to any interpretation – what is next could be an experience more beautiful than you could imagine.
In the meantime though, this means your life is on a time limit, and this inevitably means you should appreciate the experience you are having even more.
This moment is the only thing that is certain. So, make the best of what you do know, and stop fearing what you don’t.
Thanks for reading