I can't seem to overcome my fear of death

[Phil]

4 hours ago, Someone here said:

No matter how much I try to accept my own beliefs. I can't. Even if beliefs are a portal to a different dimension. I'm still funding inside of me tons of fear from the smell of beliefs .

Belief is the ultimate fear of the finite mind.  I know that Spiritual awakening is the solution, there's no another way around it.

The kicker is of course.. You have not the first clue what's going to happen after beliefs.. The body seems to believe. What goes on after that?.?? Nobody knows.

it depends of course on how does one believes. Suffocating beliefs doesn't sound like a pleasant experience. Although you can believe without any melodrama (like believing while sleeping). 

But the moment of beliving...that one final moment is when the levels of fear reach infinity. This moment is what I'm terrified from to an unimaginable degree .

 

Appreciate any thoughts or perspectives on the subject .

If it’s helpful. 

🤍

[Aware Wolf]

Most people fear death at least a little. 

 

But how debalitating is this fear for you? Does it affect your life and relationships?

 

You mention you have panic attacks. 

 

 

 

[Someone here]

@Phil dude..death is not a belief .who are we kidding?  What happens if you jump off a cliff or shoot yourself in the head?  Can you answer this question for me? 

 

The scientific approach to death is that when you die, the machinery that generates those memories of who you were, those ideas of who you might be, and your awareness of those thoughts and of the world currently around you now and how you feel about it, that machinery stops working. So those thoughts cease to be. Sadly, then, I fear that when you die, that is a permanent end to present awareness.

Is it true that after you die.. It will be just like before you were born? Completely lights out?  Or am I going to pop up out of nowhere again  mysteriously just like my previous birth?  And why do I find myself anxious about both possibilities? 

I hope that you can provide a sufficient answer to this without dismissing all that as thought activity or whatever. 

[Phil]

11 hours ago, Someone here said:

dude..death is not a belief .who are we kidding? 

It is, and it’s verified via only the inspection of direct experience. In direct experience there are your beliefs, and never that of / beliefs of a we. 

11 hours ago, Someone here said:

What happens if you jump off a cliff or shoot yourself in the head?  Can you answer this question for me? 

You are yourself. (Not two). You = me. (Not two). 

But that can’t be realized presently, because focus is on the (highly discordant) opposite - the “separate self” (of thought). 

 

Yes. Nothing happens. Nothing’s happening presently. Notice the contingency of the separate self there. 

No. You must inspect direct experience (now) for yourself.  The truth is so great, it is literally unbelievable. 

 

Notice thoughts about a separate self and death - notice duality - inspect the thoughts.

Inspecting thoughts / what’s said is not like ‘overcoming’. It’s looking at what is… not averting and attempting to overcome what is. 

 

In direct experience death is a thought which feels very discordant, that discordant feeling is being called fear. 

Listen to that discordant feeling… ‘reach’ for a better feeling, clearer, more aligned thought. When you do, you are feeling truth, yourself, 🤍rather than the belief / thought. 

 

Humbly consider the terms ‘thought attachment’ & ‘suffering’ do actually point to what you’re really lookin for being daily meditation, expression journaling, a dreamboard and aligning thoughts with feeling. 

 

Take just a few minutes to read this. 

Watch the videos I mentioned. Utilize expressive journaling to transmute - instead of continuing transference. 

[Faith]

7 hours ago, Someone here said:

death is the ultimate fear of the finite mind. 

Well, yes, and what really is the finite mind, but a "sense of self" that identifies as the "I-thought" aka "little me". It's this fictitious character that thinks, "I was born, I will die, I'm afraid". 

 

Nonduality tells us that we aren't who we think we are, we are actually, awareness, under the spell of Maya. We are ignorant of our true nature and think we are a limited, finite, self that was born and will die. 

 

The problem isn't that you will die, it's that you believe you are a finite self that CAN die. Yep, the finite self will die, but thank heavens that ain't you. 

 

Now, speaking from the world of names and forms, sure, the finite self may have some pain regarding the bodies death and no one wants to experience a scary or painful death, even if its not ultimately "real", but you have no choice in the matter. What happens here really isn't up to you. So, why worry about it. 

 

You are awareness/consciousness and you are unborn, unchanging and you will never die. 

 

 

 

[Blessed2]

Fear of death is actually allure of death

 

Could it be, that sometimes you feel unworthiness, shame, quilt, despair, and in general hard and shit about your beliefs and perspectives on life (discordant conditions), that you somehow come to think death has some sort of answers, that it somehow serves some function, that it is somehow needed?

 

Why are you thinking about death and fear of death, instead of blue sky, puppies, humour, music, friendship and lighthearted enjoyment? Why do you think death / fear of death needs solving and requires your time and energy?

[Loop]

Nothing,
In less then a blink of an eye,

Infinity,

All of why,

In one sigh, 
In one breath,

Contracted,

Big crunch,

Expanded,

Into a bunch. 
 

Feel it through,

Express it out,

Into a shout,

”It’s nothing!”

”It’s me!” 

“It’s everywhere I see!” 

 

@Someone here

Who would be there to experience a permanent end to present awareness?
 

An infinite amount of time with no one to experience it would go by in less then a blink. 
Resting for eternity, breath exhaled, life inhaled again.

Back here, realizing it was just a thought. 

What is aware of the “machinery”? 

& What is it? 
 

Also from a scientific perspective, all of your matter gets replaced constantly, yet you are still here. What dies? 
 

All is impermanent, yet you are still here. 
What dies?

 

Life is here for Nothingness to appreciate itself. Emotions are guiding finite you towards that appreciation. Guiding finite you to Infinite You. 

[nurthur11]

I found out that if I perceive the apparent reality as hyper real I feel the fear of death in every passing moment. For example, you are passing the road, and the car's the building that moment all feel like it is your absolute reality and in every moment it can stop. In this case the fear of death is in the foreground so to speak I try to be much more careful on my behaviors. Even if it is in the foreground of experience or not noticeable, I believe it still impact's my behavior and there are articles about this. But it is not like is affecting my conscious experience. 

 

@Someone hereI suspect it has to do something with the perception of your reality. My brother has the same fear and have had it for a long time to the point that he became hypochondriac. Also, he is someone who needs to objectify the experience of reality and define it. I.e I am alive and no dead person reported what it is to be dead, so if those are cars crushed me I will be dead, now I have to pass the road with this in my mind. But there is also the experience of reality which is not perceived or known - you know that is reality intuitively but you don't know how you know that, in this case fear of death is not consciously known.

 

To put it simply, imagine thinking if I don't drink that glass of water, eat healthy or get 8 hours of sleep, I might die in the spot. 

Edited June 5, 2022 by nurthur11

[Mandy]

@Someone here Can you go spend some time in a cemetery? 

[Someone here]

10 hours ago, Faith said:

Well, yes, and what really is the finite mind, but a "sense of self" that identifies as the "I-thought" aka "little me". It's this fictitious character that thinks, "I was born, I will die, I'm afraid". 

 

Nonduality tells us that we aren't who we think we are, we are actually, awareness, under the spell of Maya. We are ignorant of our true nature and think we are a limited, finite, self that was born and will die. 

 

The problem isn't that you will die, it's that you believe you are a finite self that CAN die. Yep, the finite self will die, but thank heavens that ain't you. 

 

Now, speaking from the world of names and forms, sure, the finite self may have some pain regarding the bodies death and no one wants to experience a scary or painful death, even if its not ultimately "real", but you have no choice in the matter. What happens here really isn't up to you. So, why worry about it. 

 

You are awareness/consciousness and you are unborn, unchanging and you will never die. 

 

 

 

Im familiar with spirituality and nondual teachings and I know  that the sense of individuality or separation is false or illusory. That there isn't an actual separate self inside the organism. Who you think you are is not who you actually are. Who you think are - the ego is literally just a thought. An arising sensation that says "im me here inside this body ".   When this thought disappear.. What is left is pure awareness of various perceptions and sensations without any personal relationship to them. Without "my perception and my sensation" identification. 

You can grasp in direct experience that "you" is false identification with thought.. It is not real. Yet it is the most real thing for you. After all what is more real and important to you in your life then yourself? Right? 

So what exactly is grounding this sense of self? Why does the "I" thought keep arising throughout your whole life even after seeing through the misidentification?  And what is the personality ?  What makes this body-mind here to have a different personality than that body-mind over there even tho there is no "person" to begin with?  What role do memories play in grounding your sense of self?  What is the difference between a memory and a thought? 

Now a whole pack of questions can open up about memory .is the past even real ? No matter where you look you can't find anything but the present and How can we trust our memory if any at all? Etc but I will just stop here. 

For example your entire life story and who you think you are and how you view yourself and your life is just a thought story.. Mostly memories... But those thoughts are not occurring 24/7.. So once they stop occurring even for a second you are left not knowing who you are and how you got there (interesting huh?). And so what prevents you from losing yourself and going Insane is these stories and memories keep arising to ground your sense of self and reality. 

Not sure how to connect all that with death.  If we aren't the separate self ..then who dies?and who was born ? Could it be that the false illusory self Dies and the real Self continue to eternity?  But the question still remains in what form does it exist ? Because you can trick yourself that complete absence of experience forever is still an experience of some kind. 

[Someone here]

3 hours ago, Blessed2 said:

Why are you thinking about death and fear of death, instead of blue sky, puppies, humour, music, friendship and lighthearted enjoyment? Why do you think death / fear of death needs solving and requires your time and energy?

Well there is no reason per se to think of one of those things and not the other .but since you are going to die someday in the future..and that is inevitable..you know that this end is coming..sooner or later you have to say goodbye to your whole existence..doesn't that at the very least create a little bit of anxiety inside of you ? Knowing that in a matter of 10,20,30,40,50,60 years maximum, you will be fucking dead?

[Someone here]

2 hours ago, Loop said:

Who would be there to experience a permanent end to present awareness

No one .

 

[Someone here]

2 hours ago, Mandy said:

@Someone here Can you go spend some time in a cemetery? 

Yes .what's the significance of that in relation to my question? 

[Faith]

@Someone here If you're ready to start getting the answers to some of these questions, then may I suggest this free 16 part series on Advaita Vedanta for beginners by James Swartz? 

 

 

[Someone here]

9 minutes ago, Faith said:

@Someone here If you're ready to start getting the answers to some of these questions, then may I suggest this free 16 part series on Advaita Vedanta for beginners by James Swartz? 

 

 

Sure .I will check it out .thanks 

[Blessed2]

16 minutes ago, Someone here said:

doesn't that at the very least create a little bit of anxiety inside of you ? Knowing that in a matter of 10,20,30,40,50,60 years maximum, you will be fucking dead?

 

Let's say it did create anxiety.

 

But why would I focus on stuff that makes me feel anxious?

[Faith]

11 minutes ago, Someone here said:

Sure .I will check it out .thanks 

Your welcome.

[Someone here]

5 minutes ago, Blessed2 said:

 

Let's say it did create anxiety.

 

But why would I focus on stuff that makes me feel anxious?

Its not your choice. You will inevitably be anxious about death at some point In your life .especially as you get older and closer and closer to your death .the last two decades of your life will be bombarded by death anxiety  .that's just how it is .its not like you can escape death by avoiding thinking about it .

[Mandy]

24 minutes ago, Someone here said:

Yes .what's the significance of that in relation to my question? 

I think that they are a wonderful way to confront our beliefs about death. Spoiler alert, cemeteries are full of nothing but abundant life. 

[Robed Mystic]

19 hours ago, Someone here said:

No matter how much I try to accept my own mortality. I can't. Even if death is a portal to a different dimension. I'm still funding inside of me tons of fear from the smell of death .

 death is the ultimate fear of the finite mind.  I know that Spiritual awakening is the solution, there's no another way around it.

The kicker is of course.. You have not the first clue what's going to happen after death.. The body seems to die. What goes on after that?.?? Nobody knows.

it depends of course on how does one die. Suffocating to death doesn't sound like a pleasant experience. Although you can die without any melodrama (like dying while sleeping). 

But the moment of death..that one final moment is when the levels of fear reach infinity. This moment is what I'm terrified from to an unimaginable degree .

 

Appreciate any thoughts or perspectives on the subject .

I can tell you that death is melting into Infinite Love or Pure Consciousness - aka Infinity.   It's beautiful.   You will merge back into yourself - God.   From the finite to Infinite.  

But when I say that death is Love this is not to glorify death or the ceasing of you being in this body.  Why?  Because Infinite Love is within your grasp now - even as a mortal in human form.  You are in human form now to experience a particular form of infinite Lpve and you can burst into it even in human form.    So do not go chasing death either.  Enjoy the ride!

Edited June 5, 2022 by Robed Mystic