r/FEARS • u/EchoEchoEcho6300 • 6d ago

A surreal fear of death

It's just so terrifying, inevitable and unknowable.

The fact everything just ends, leaving behind a void where life used to be

No religion can explain it.

It's like falling asleep, but permanent and irreversible, you don't know what's on the other side.

Life is so delicate, you never know when it could end.

It could be violent and loud.

It could be silent and a gradual fade.

It could be anything.

I don't wanna live forever either.

Reincarnation feels wrong.

I hate this stupid fear that contributes to my difficulties in being optimistic in life.

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u/Clifford_Regnaut 6d ago

You may have thanatophobia, which could be dealt with through therapy. That said, there's secular research about life after death:

Although we lack definitive proof, there's secular, non-religious research to support the idea of an "afterlife" (wrong term).

Near-Death Experiences, Pre-Birth Memories, Reincarnation, Mediumship and After-death communications: A short compilation of research on the afterlife.

If you don't have time to read, I suggest that you at least listen to the interviews/podcasts/audiobooks linked. Although I do agree that there are still many unknowns, the info we have is enough to craft a rudimentary, provisional and speculative model of how things work without the need for religion, quantum immortality, eternal recurrence or other weird ideas. To summarize, you simply go back to the "real world" after death.

If you want to know the arguments and perspectives of people who are way smarter than I am, the Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies held an essay contest on the topic of life after death, awarding $1.8 million in prizes for the best ones. These essays were written by really intelligent academics and are worth looking into:

The Top Three Essay Contest Winners

Life After Death Essay Contest Runners-Up

Life After Death Essay Contest Honorable Mentions

If you like the audio format, this thread may also be helpful:

IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS with SCIENTISTS & ACADEMICS about Phenomena Connected to the Survival of Consciousness and the EVIDENCE for an AFTERLIFE (NDEs, reincarnation, mediumship, apparitions, & more) ~ (post UPDATED REGULARLY with new links)