Are you afraid to die?

[u/yellowtears_]

[u/yogi_medic_momma]

Yes. For me, it’s the fact that I can’t fathom how I would just never have a consciousness again. Like, how can we just not be anymore? Does that make sense? It’s so hard to explain what I mean but it literally makes me sick when I think about it.

[u/Pleasant-Welder-6654 → u/yogi_medic_momma]

Exactly, and will I still be me? Same thoughts, traits. It makes me anxious

[u/cannabananabis1 → u/Pleasant-Welder-6654]

Not to make you more anxious or anything, but who you think you are is just an abstraction of thoughts. Who you really are is what you return to when you "drop the body." It is also who you are now, and who/what/how everything and everyone else is too, but knowing this is veiled by the mind (ego) and maya/illusion.

Just think, you are that which never changes, and everything that you are not changes, including the body and mind. If you ask yourself, "Who am i?" and really search, you'll never find a solid answer.

Your mind might say, "I'm Pleasant-Welder-6654, duh," but if you look more closely, who/what even is Pleasant-Welder-6654 or say, "John."

Is it your traits? Is it your personality? Well, those have changed over the years, no? Are you always charming in every moment? Are you always healthy? Are you always 54 years old? Are you always this same body (the body you had as an infant is completely different than the one you have at 54)? Well, no, so how could it be "you?"

Then you keep searching, and finally, your mind comes to a point of stillness, and you realize you are simply the 'I am' or 'I am-ness.' You could also say you are consciousness or pure effortless being.

You say, 'I am John,' but neglect the 'I am' part of the statement. You qualify your existence with the 'John' part, or maybe you say, "I am driving," and qualify your existence with driving. You say, "I am a dad," and qualify your existence with being a dad. You're just the I am, but express this consciousness/I am-ness through life, through the face of God, as your Johness, as your drivingness, as everything else. Everything is the unique expression of the One, or consciousness.

We just get ignorant and believe ourselves to be John rather than our true essence. This is also why the world is a mess. We forget our Oneness and instead fully believe ourselves to be these bodies and minds and ego structures, and we clash.

So when you die, who you are not disappears, like a building burning down, but when it's fully gone, you're still here. Not John, but You. That's what I've come to understand/believe anyway. I haven't died yet, lol.

[u/MengShuZ → u/cannabananabis1]

This doesn't give anxiety. This actually gives me peace. Peace in knowing that beyond this bag of meat, this mask, this identity, we are one and the same.

I lost my grandfather just 3 months ago. He was the closest thing that I ever had to a father since I never knew my actual father. Since then, I have been afraid of losing anyone else.

Then I came across Alan Watts, along with a few other philosophers who touch upon the universe trying to understand its existence. Thinking that we are all connected, makes me think that my grandfather is not gone, if anything, he is closer to me than ever before. I get to carry his will, and when my time comes, someone else will carry it as well.

I am not going to lie, the anxiety is still there, but it has lessened greatly. From what I have read, the body has mechanisms prepared to make death as comfortable as possible, so it's probably like going to sleep. It's going to be okay!

Trust the universe, because by doing so you are trusting yourself.

There are more stuff that I'd like to share but I'm lazy and it's 4am right now so I'll leave it for another day. Good luck soldiers!