The fear of death is the fear of the identity of disappearing

Creatures, serenity be with you.
«Yes - you will say - it is easy to wish serenity to those who cannot have it! If it is true that you exist, you have reached your certainties, you are on the other side, you are sure that there is that something that from here we are used to calling the afterlife.
But we, poor people, limited by these bodies similar to chains, harassed by the impact of our sensations and desires, constantly tormented by the devious thoughts of our mind, little helped by our conscience (provided that there is something definable as' conscience ') who obviously suffers from an inability to really give relief, not to mention God because the speech would be too long and - in the end - talking about God is like trying to convince an Eskimo of the existence of an orchid, and then… ».
Enough dear creatures, enough! If only you could hear the almost unanimous chorus rising from the men of the Earth on this subject! Never has a concept in the history of man been more generally controversial and debated: now opposed, now advocated, but almost never lived in serenity.
The first anthropoid, a moment before dying torn by the saber teeth of his contemporary tiger, had a sudden flash in his terrified mind and asked himself in terror: "And then?"
Yeah, and then what? Beyond the threshold of life, as you conceive it, what is there?
And - more importantly - is there really something?
Of course you expect that - as a presumed representative of that unknown universe which is the afterlife - io reassure you on this point, let you reason, show you in all possible and imaginable ways that the afterlife exists ...
But no, dear creatures! I won't do any of this!
First of all because others will already do it; secondly because I know that whatever I and others can tell you (or show) gives you the certainty that, at most, it lasts as long as it can take to melt an ice cube in the sun; thirdly, because there can be no proof that does not leave open, in some way, the way of doubt within those who do not already firmly believe.
Instead, I mean your fear of death. The idea of ​​death, you cannot deny it, scares you!
Even the bravest, most daring man, most contemptuous of danger - however cold-minded he shows courage and claims not to be afraid of death - a moment before dying inevitably feels a moment of absolute terror, so intense as to be a real trauma.
I challenge anyone among you, from the atheist to the dying, to affirm, without fear of denial, not to be afraid of thatshadow unmentionable; always ready to strike, which is the most faithful companion in life, in any place and at any time the phenomenon of life manifests itself.
What is it that scares you so much? It is certainly not the fear of the fires of hell that well-meaning religious have drawn from their imagination to induce their fellowmen to follow a certain code of behavior (possibly favorable to the interests of their corporation), otherwise, around you, they would not see each other. so many dishonest, so much bad faith, so many ugliness.
Perhaps it is something more basic; perhaps it is something that truly concerns the physical plane, the body: perhaps it is simply fear of pain as a sensation that can accompany death. Perhaps this could also be the reason, since physical pain does not please anyone, indeed, I agree with you that, if only it is possible, it is best to avoid it in all ways! [...]
So: fear of death as fear of pain?
Imagine, creatures, that your death takes place this night, unnoticed, in sleep, sudden and immediate, therefore without pain. Imagine it not as a mental hypothesis, but by plunging yourself so deeply into the hypothesis that it becomes certainty, for a moment: tomorrow you will not wake up from sleep, but you will be dead!
What's up? Do you feel uncomfortable? Do you feel an annoying peckishness in the stomach? No, creatures, do not try to convince yourself that it is appetite and face your reality! You are still afraid of death while being sure that you will not feel any physical pain!
“It's a mental reaction, there's nothing strange about it! Despite everything you or anyone else may tell us, death is an unknown and, as such, the mind is afraid of it. It seems normal and right to me! No?"
The mind ... the thoughts ...
Among the strange things that God has enjoyed creating, there are few as strange as the mind! Now rationally absurd, now absurdly irrational!
So you say that the fear of death comes from the fear that the mind feels in the face of the unknown and the unknown. Well, that may be partly true. But the mind - we have said - is a strange thing. Indeed, if the mind were simply afraid of what is unknown to it, you would have to live - continuously and relentlessly - in fear.
Do you ever know for sure what life has in store for you the next moment? What greater unknown than life itself exists? Moreover, after death, there may also be nothing at all, and therefore not even something unknown and terrible for its alienation, while you know that life has a certain duration and that the unknowns that you have to face are even incalculable so that, at the mind, it should be more difficult, in this perspective, to face life than death. Instead, the opposite happens and the mind fears death, but clings to life as if it constitutes materialized certainty itself.
But who is afraid of death and that "and then?", Around which the universe of every man seems to gravitate? Why do so many people approach us and this problem? What are they looking for? Perhaps the lost affections? Maybe the security of a life after death? Perhaps the existence of God?
No, creatures, the search, after all, is much more selfish and is reduced to the search for the answer to the question: "At death, I, as 'I', as 'So-and-so', will I still exist or not?».
This is the main question, what makes the wrists tremble at the idea of ​​death: that is, the loss of the consciousness of existing as "I"; the fear that the "I" has of no longer having the possibility of creating itself due to a lack of sensations, physical perceptions, possession, affections; the fear of no longer having an identity separate from the world around him and which, precisely because of this characteristic, endows him with extraordinary importance in his own eyes.
And how can we help you overcome this fear?
The afterlife exists and every man, in addition to what his "I" induces him to think, has a profound certainty at all levels: from the perceptive, to the emotional, to the strictly rational. If this were not the case, the innumerable mythologies, theogonies, sagas, religious deities, funeral rites would not be justifiable, and even declaring oneself an atheist would become an absurdity.
We can tell you that there is a then, creatures! Make you understand it through the ways that are accessible to you: reason, faith, knowledge and love.
We can do you feel the love we have for you and help you build trust in us and in what we tell you. But we cannot give you the certainty that you, you, "identity", will not cease to exist when the body is abandoned.
We cannot, because it would not be right to delude yourself on a subject that is so important to you. What we can do is try to make you understand that the goal ofevolution it is precisely that of overcoming the "I-identity" which, from time to time, from life to life, you possess; is to make you understand that canceling the "I" does not mean no longer existing but that, on the contrary, the existence beyond the separativeness between "I" and "not-I" is something so beautiful that it remains difficult for us , find the words to explain it and you find the right understanding to accept it and make it yours.
One dies creatures, and at each death the "I" does not dissolve instantly but, at each death, gradually and spontaneously the individual takes a small step forward towards identification, not with his "I", but with God. That God in whom cares do not worry, fears do not frighten, pains do not make you suffer but, simply, exist as a necessary part of the balance of the Whole, as factors that the Absolute, in its goodness, has given you for shake you from the numbness into which, inevitably, you would end up letting yourself slip.
"You die, and then?"
And then that indescribable and unknown phenomenon that is life does not lose continuity, because, as life is death - so much so that, without interruption, a long theory of different yourselves cease to exist from moment to moment - so death is immediately rebirth. to new life. Creatures, serenity to you all. Scifo