The fear of death is an inauthentic fear. It’s inauthentic because everyone knows they’re going to die, sooner or later, but nevertheless certainly. So why is it people are afraid of dying? It is not the death itself but what’s ahead and behind death.
Ahead of death for most is a mystery and at best, a speculation. However, the scriptures clearly mention life after death, so it’s an individual’s choice to believe or not believe in life after death. But belief has never been a foundation stone and nor will it ever be, thus experience of life after death is the only way to create a certainty about it. Life after death experiences are rare occurrences and although there are ways to induce this experience through deep meditation, people may be afraid to try it.
Behind death is what an individual leaves behind. Fear is caused through attachment, because when one is attached there is a fear it will one day end and cause pain. Attachment includes family, friends, relationships, circumstances, material possessions and even the body. Therefore, herein lies a key to escape the fear of death – to become non-attached.
Although non-attachment is arguably not an easy feat to accomplish, it is something which is available to everyone. When a person can honestly say they are not afraid tomorrow, or even today, they have let go of all their attachments and the fear of death is vanquished – even without experiencing life after death. This is called liberation.
However, even after this state has been achieved, one fear of death will still remain and that is the fear of dying in unforeseen circumstances. If a person knows they will certainly die one day and accepts this, it is only part of the solution to conquering the fear of death. What a person must also know is how they will die.
In order to know how you will die you must know the future, in order to know the future you need intuition, in order to develop intuition you must learn to listen, in order to learn to listen you must meditate regularly, in to meditate regularly you must be disciplined, in order to be disciplined you need a teacher to discipline you, in order to find a teacher you need to be fortunate, in order to be fortunate you need to pray for it. And so from one simple prayer lies the final key in conquering the fear of death. Once the intuition is fully developed and a person can learn to use their intuition during unforeseen circumstances – the fear of death shall be no more. Then one becomes fearless and courageous.