Philosophy
Can We Ever Escape the Fear of Death?
Death is ever-looming over each one of our lives. Although many of us place it at the back of our minds, it drives us to live our lives to the fullest. After all, without it, life would be pointless.
Over the past year and a half, I have become desensitized to death. COVID-19 has made deaths become mere statistics and numbers on a graph. Hearing things like, “200 people died of COVID” does not make me jump anymore.
It appears I have forgotten that each one of those people had a family, a home and were special to someone.
Over the last three years, I had come to fear death more. A big part of this is because I had so much to live for. I recently found my passion in writing, and my relationships have improved.
On top of all of that, life is going pretty well despite a pandemic. I have achieved much this year, especially with beginning to grow some wealth. With my life going so well, I fear the possibility of it ending.
Even as a Christian who believes there is more after death, I still fear it a little. After much thought, I only see three ways we can escape this fear of death.
The first is being satisfied enough with the life we have lived. Secondly, to believe that to die is a benefit to us. And thirdly, a combination of both.
The Power of Ultimate Fulfillment
Philosophers have been debating for centuries what a fulfilled life is. Many of the early philosophers held to the view that eudaimonia was the sign of a fulfilled life. Eudaimonia is a state of over flourishing happiness.
It is the ideal state in which we all want to be. Although it can sometimes seem impossible to obtain, psychology suggests that we can do daily activities to get it.
Nevertheless, eudaimonia is a self-sufficient end. In other words, we decide when we have obtained enough flourishing of happiness to believe we can leave the world with complete joy.
The only problem with that is, we often struggle to make good decisions for our happiness. Many of us start doing one thing and realise it is something we want to run from instead. We are not great decision-makers, and if our happiness depends on it, we could be on shaky ground.
However, as we mature and learn more about the world and ourselves, we get better. And I have found it tends to be old individuals that get close to ultimate fulfillment.
Not too long ago, my great-grandmother said to me:
“To want anymore would be greed.”
Now she is not rich and does not have much, but she believes she is satisfied. It was wonderful to hear that she thinks she has reached a point of ultimate fulfillment. And its superpower is not desiring anymore.
That is the first step to not fearing death. If we still want things in this world, then we will never want to leave it. Obtaining a point of ultimate fulfillment means you want for nothing because you have everything.
Having Something to Hope For
In the book of Philippians in the Bible, Paul states something that confuses his listeners. He says this:
“For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Now in most cases, death is not great for anyone. However, we do find extreme cases. For example, those who are in immense pain and are on extended life support. Even people who commit suicide believe that ending their life will leave them better off.
As you can see, each of these things come from suffering. The person is experiencing so much pain in this world that they feel that dying makes them better off.
In Apostle Paul’s case, he is saying something very similar. To put it simply, he is saying that the same way Christ suffered on this world for the lives of many, he is called to do the same. And it does indeed bring about much pain.
So, for Paul, dying was a better option because he hoped that one day he would be reunited with God once he had died. Paul believed that there was something greater than his calling and work on Earth. And that was heaven, an eternal place of joy.
Now, if anyone should be fulfilled it was Apostle Paul. He loved his work and believed that he was directly chosen by God. Not to mention, he knew he was guaranteed a spot in heaven thanks to God’s calling on his life.
But ultimate fulfillment from his work was not enough to escape the fear of death. He also needed an assurance that his death would bring about a positive end to himself.
This is the second piece we all need to escape, the fear of death. The ability to know that our death will lead to the betterment of ourselves. But how do we obtain both?
How to Escape the Fear of Death
As highlighted, we need both ultimate fulfillment and something to hope for in our death. Obtaining both of these is tough, and I believe it takes a lifetime to get close.
Although I disagree with Nietzsche a lot, I do think Paul and him agree on one thing. And that is that life is all about suffering. They both expressed in their writings how hard life can be.
In life, we often see this suffering as a block to our fulfillment. We try to avoid it for as long as possible to ensure we can increase our happiness. But suffering has a role to play in our fulfillment.
The only way we can rid our suffering is by finding meaning in it. Life will always throw negative experiences at us, so we can not spend a lifetime trying to avoid them. Instead, we must seek a deeper meaning in our suffering so that it fuels us to become stronger.
Finally, finding something to hope for in death is simply having something to live for. The Apostle Paul lived for Christ, so his hope was to be reunited with him in heaven.
For many, we need something greater than ourselves to live for. That may be children or a vision we have for a better world. Our reasons to die do not often come from a selfcentred place but instead a selfless one.
To embrace death, we must find something worthwhile to sacrifice our lives for.
If we have these two things, we can escape the fear of death.
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