The Fear of Death Obstacle
Death is like a shadow that follows every soul, until it is removed by the Light.
Let us place death on the table and in the light. Let us look at it from all angles. Let us see it and expose its illusion. Then you can conquer it and experience life in its fullness. You will no longer walk in its shadow, or feel its sting.
There have been times in my life where I considered how long I had been in the world, and how long I had left. Such thoughts come to everyone from time to time, and usually they bring with them a great fear.
For some it creates an image of darkness, of non-existence. It is as if the Self can see itself in a space where nothing exists; it can do nothing and is completely alone.
For some the prospect of simply not existing, and death being an end to awareness creates a fear so powerful that it cannot be faced, and so consideration of death is returned swiftly to the subconscious and labelled; ‘to be dealt with only when absolutely necessary’.
Many religions are dependent on the fear of death, or at least what happens after death according to their doctrines. This is why I have said that religion is an obstacle, especially when it takes advantage of the fear of death. Along with the prospect of eternal suffering, or subservience to a tyrannical, vain god in the afterlife. Behaviour control through the creation of fear and dependence has resulted in power and wealth for the few, and suffering for the rest of mankind.
There were times in my life when I considered death as an end to awareness to be a blessing. I had lost my faith in the god I was conditioned to fear. As for the afterlife, I preferred to believe that there wasn’t one. Little did I know that I was in the process of being transformed. That I would eventually transcend my life of ignorance, and would be given what I no longer searched for.
First of all let us consider the prospect of death as being an end to awareness. If this were so then death would be something that could never be experienced; do you realize what that would mean? First of all, all thoughts and feelings would stop, and nothing would be known. If awareness ended then how could you even be aware that it had ended?
Dreamless Sleep
If death were the cessation of awareness, would it mean that the Self no longer exists? Would it mean that the Self as a spiritual being no longer exists? If the Self depended on awareness for its existence, then how would it be possible to awaken from dreamless sleep. Dreamless sleep is a period absent of awareness, when nothing is experienced, known, or felt, not even peace.
So what is really feared by those who consider death to be an end to awareness, and end to their existence?
They fear the illusion that they have created in their mind of what it will like when they die. They imagine themselves experiencing a state of awareness after life has ended, in other words, they fear an illusion.
It is also the fear of complete detachment from things in the world that creates the fear of death. There is the fear of losing material things, and there is the fear of losing the connections between the Self and loved ones.
The stronger that our attachment is to material things the weaker the bonds of Love become. Yet when a life journey is ended, we lose all of our material attachments. But what of the bonds of Love that we have made with others?
What happens to one soul after a life journey also happens to every other soul.
There is no doubt that all material attachments are broken at the end of a life journey, the physical body is the first thing to go.
Material things are created from material things, and they all begin dissolving into their root as soon as they are created. This may be slow but it is inevitable. But the Self and the mind are not material things, and they do not dissolve into a material root.
How long have you been in the world? Has your mind or your Self dissolved in any way? Are you less aware than the day you were born?
Do you not see that the Self is unbreakable, and that the only difference between you and I is what has been stored in the mind? This is why I wrote; ‘When we are all equal in knowledge, it will be realized that we were always equal’.
Some that we have loved are still in the world, and some have left the world, but all exist and all will continue to exist. How then can we ever permanently lose each other? This is why it was written; ‘Store your treasure in Heaven and not in the world’.
The Afterlife
Some people fear death because they fear what they may have to experience in the afterlife, but they didn’t come into this world with such fears. As for hell, well that is a condition found in the mind, and many that are in the world know all too well that the mind can become like a lake of fire. One full of fear, anxiety and uncertainty. A place of terrible suffering and torment. It is caused by those who create the problem, observe the reaction, and then offer the solution, in pursuit of gathering servants to themselves; servants from which they gain wealth and power.
It is not death that you should fear, but rather those who believe that they are mortal and have one short life, that death is an end to awareness. To such people, might is right, all things are permissible, to them the lives of others are expendable; they have no empathy.
You have nothing to fear from death, because it is something that you will never experience, look through the eyes of Love, and all will be revealed.