Life and Death (Part 1)
If you ask most spiritually-minded people if they believe that we survive our physical death and continue to exist eternally in some way, the overwhelming majority would answer YES, and without hesitation.
Most would not only say they believe in the everlasting life of the spirit – they would also say that they expect to live in peace and joy, following the death of the human body.
For those who believe that they will in fact live in everlasting peace and joy following their death, I have one more question to ask you:
“Are you afraid to die?”
Well, are you?
Answer honestly from your heart.
It is my guess that a considerable number of people would admit they ARE afraid to die.
What happened to the belief in an afterlife of peace and joy? Why would anyone be afraid of entering everlasting peace and joy? Most of us would say we don’t have complete joy and peace in THIS life. Yet we’re afraid to enter a state of bliss?
Something doesn’t make sense here.
How do you reconcile these two responses – that people claim to believe in everlasting peace and joy – and yet they are afraid to die?
I invite you to submit your views on this subject. I’ll offer a few thoughts of my own here.
As I see it, there is no logical way to explain these responses. One possibility is that people claim to believe in an everlasting life of peace and joy, yet they have considerable doubt that this is in fact the case. They want to believe it, but they really aren’t sure.
Another possible explanation: it is simply human nature to fear death and we can’t help ourselves from having that fear. In other words, we are powerless to get rid of this fear, regardless of what we attempt to believe about life after death. I’m not convinced by this explanation, as I have known people who do NOT seem to fear death. Such people are rare, but I have come across them. Thus, I feel it is not impossible for humans to overcome the fear of death.
Well, I guess I’m back to my first explanation. Those who say they believe in everlasting life, yet fear death, have doubt. They just don’t have faith in what they claim to believe. Perhaps I am missing something here and there are other explanations.
Feel free to offer your perspective on this subject by sending an email to jeff@YourSpiritualJourney.net . If some or all of your comments are published in an upcoming issue, your name and email address will NOT be published. Thus, your privacy will be protected.
If someone sees you typing your response on your computer and asks what you are doing, you can say that you are addressing a matter of life and death.
–Jeff Keller
© 2009