When I was still a very young child and first became aware of death, my reaction was not one of fear, but one of curiosity with a sense of looking forward to one day when I die and finding out what it’s all about, what happens after we die. It would be a new adventure for me, and I was sure a new enthralling discovery would await me!
I was excited at the thought that I would find out what happens!
No religion involved even then in my mind. No heaven and no hell existed in my thoughts because I had not yet been exposed to outside influences that would come with growing up. I would eventually learn about man’s thoughts on the subject of death and be exposed to all the fears and hopes other people believed to be true.
Fears are learned.
Like most people, I eventually learned to fear death when I grew older. The bases of those fears are those thoughts of not wanting to let go of earthly ties that everyone has. It is also the finality of it, and for a long time I regarded death as something to fear and avoid as much as possible. Then also, there is the perceived trauma associated with death and while I accept the inevitability of it , I still just do not want to be there when it happens!
With time and life, I have seen the aged and the dying and discovered that other than sudden, unexpected deaths, most people naturally, during the process of dying start letting go of those ties that bind them to this life. Earthly matters and possessions, the cherished and loved ones are slowly relinquished as the dying person moves further into the process of his departure from this existence.
Very few people are fortunate enough to die a natural death. Dying from a disease is not a natural death, so most people die unnaturally. Some not yet having completed the 'letting go' phase of dying.
A natural death is to die of advanced age only without the involvement of any disease. To die free of disease.
These days, I have come to a place that still holds a tiny glimmer of that initial excitement about finding out if there is something to discover after death. My inclinations are that energy never dies and the energy that is life in us all may change form and direction but I think that along with that change, there will be no consciousness as we know it or if there is, it will not be linked to earthly consciousness and completely unrecognizable from ‘thinking’ and emotions. There will be no wistful gazing down on those left behind and no eventual reunion with the earthly bonds.
All my thoughts on what happens after death are conjecture of course, as is everyone's because no one alive can claim with certainty to know what happens after death, if anything at all.
Perhaps all of our thoughts each holds a speck of the whole truth? Who can know what knowing each mind brings to this life when they are born into existence?
Who knows?