« Superwomen | Main | The Passion Of Spirituality »

Death - Is It the Final Frontier? (Conclusion)

By Anusheh Hussain - 11:45 AM Tuesday 05 September 2006

Death is synonymous with Life.

Death anxiety is actually a very common phenomenon. Many people world over suffer from it and seek help for it. Endless websites host chats on it and offer solace. Known by a number of names - Necrophobia, Fear of Death, and Fear of Dead Things being the most common - the problem often significantly impacts the quality of life. It can result in panic attacks and an inability to form emotional bonds. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, rapid breathing, irregular heartbeat, sweating, nausea, and overall feelings of dread.

Given my own personal experience (read part one)I can safely say that one reason I feared death had to do with the fact that I feared God. In other words your relationship with death is defined by your relationship with God. Since as a child, I had learnt that God was a menacing, unforgiving and punishing being, I really didn’t want to have a relationship with that kind of a God. And if death meant that I would have to deal with him, well then what else could I feel but extreme anxiety. Like all fears and phobias, the fear of death is created by the unconscious mind as a protective mechanism.

The second, central and rather obvious reason is the dissolution of the ego upon death. The ego affirms itself as being alive by the denial of death. If the ego did not constitute itself of this denial it would not be able to exist. Therefore it can be safely said that the fear of death is not what the ego has, rather the ego IS fear of death. There is an irony at play here. With its death fear the ego tries to block out everything that it can to prevent its destruction but even with its boundaries in place and its punching gloves on, it repeatedly fails to obliterate the fear because its own ingredients are the same as what it tries to defend itself from.

It’s really a no win situation. As far as God is concerned, I think we all know that there is no daddy in the sky, either with a stick in hand or a soft warm lap. And as far as the ego goes, it’s so self-defeating that one really can’t go down that road for long. So for myself this is how I’ve resolved death.

The problem is really not about ‘dying’, the problem is that we discriminate between death and life, affirming one and negating the other, failing to understand that they are in fact two sides of the same coin. If death is encoded in life then life too is encoded in death. Old leaves die to be replaced by new ones. There is a continuity in time which absorbs the duality of life and death.

If we can understand that there is no clearly delineated self called the ego which is alive now, then we can penetrate the nature of things to understand that death is actually non-existent. Because that which was never born can never die. The only thing that is consistent, ever flowing and eternal is ‘mrityu’ or transformation. And everything transforms, just as the leaf falls to become one with the earth, we transform to return to our ego-less state, the self which has always been there and will always exist.

Posted By Anusheh Hussain - 11:45 AM Tuesday 05 September 2006

Comments

Anusheh

What a perfect and complete articulation. Like a sigh of fulfillment when breath says it all.

Well Done!

Posted by

Jasjit

on September 6, 2006 05:14 PM

Very True! ; - )

Posted by

Rohit Malik

on September 6, 2006 11:32 PM

Hey Anusheh

I grew up with an atheist dad and a mom who kept her religious leanings to herself,she never imposed them upon us.

The end result, i am an agnostic with strong leanings towards aetheism, thus i honestly have never feared death or to put it aptly, i seldom think about it.

i guess then i can safely conclude from the above post that i have no ego :)

mads

Posted by

mads

on September 18, 2006 09:21 AM

Hey,
finally... after the workshop.. I guess I got motivated enough to visit your blog.
When I was a child I thought everything that has the power to kill, can kill me. But i overcome that fear by not convincing myself that ok! If i die my soul will still live on or anything like that but by just writing about my feelings. I wrote first privately and then even created a blog. So, I feel that sometimes instead of finding reasons jus expressing things help...

Posted by

Manasi

on September 18, 2006 07:29 PM

Hey Manasi

good to see you here. Saw your blog, good going :) You are right, expressing things often helps clarify both for us and others what is really at the bottom of our confusion. Hope to see more of you here and it was wonderful meeting you.

Much love

Posted by

Jasjit

on September 19, 2006 10:44 AM

Hi Manasi!

Good to see you on the blog.

I feel that just expressing feelings is not enough but raising questions through what one feels is important. This leads to a lot of clarity as we start realising for ourself the reasons for our blocks, anxieties etc.

Posted by

Chaitali

on September 19, 2006 10:48 AM

And dear manasi that is a gr8 blog you have got there. I must say you have a wonderful knack of putting down your thoughts. Keep it up!

Posted by

Chaitali

on September 19, 2006 10:50 AM

Dear Mads

Does not thinking about something prove that we are either resolved or comfortable with it? I mean does the absence of death in your thoughts prove an absence of fear? Does your being an aethist/agnostic prove the absence of God? And then does the absence of your ego need an article like mine to prove or disprove its reality? Since you asked :)

Posted by

Anusheh

on September 19, 2006 11:12 AM

Why don't elders teach us to understand and deal with death from childhood onwards. Why do people tell you silly stories like dead people turn into stars? I think the problem is not confronting death as natural, part of the flow of life and something everyone must talk of in detail and as truthfully as possible. It is the only way to end the fear. And who knows we may actually find its beauty and truth quite empowering. IMO

regards

Rajesh

Posted by

Rajesh

on September 29, 2006 03:04 PM

Death - Is It the Final Frontier? (Conclusion)

By Anusheh Hussain - 11:45 AM Tuesday 05 September 2006

Comments

Post a comment

Top 10 posts of all time