KevinReads
New Member
Is it that they are not quite sure of their faith for that do they not know what their faith tells them?
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Why are people of faith afraid of death?
- Thread starter KevinReads
- Start date
Storm
ThrUU the Looking Glass
ManTimeForgot
Temporally Challenged
If this question is in general I'm not sure why this thread does not belong on the philosophy forum. If this question is meant to be posed as a query for those who believe in an afterlife, then it might belong here but the answer is not all that different merely more nuanced.
People are afraid of death for a number of reasons. Primal fear of death is encoded into genetic instructions to avoid death as much as possible. This is the "natural" reason. Death is an unknown. Intellect which is not highly rational (a highly disciplined mind trained to deal with probabilities and accepting unknowns) assigns arbitrary and often excessive urgency and danger values to unknowns. We can't know what might hurt us so we subconsciously worry about the worst possible thing we can imagine (bloodthirsty alien pirate ninja cyborgs from the future leap out of nowhere and attack you). This is the "mental" reason. Death severs emotional connections. Those connections are extremely important to humans as a social animal. Without human contact we go insane, and insanity is a very clear negative exigency for pleasure (reduces pleasure). This is the "emotional" reason.
Humans have historically, whether this is right or wrong, created institutions and ideas in order to alleviate fear. Being afraid all the time sucks. Existential angst combined with sudden onset panic attacks every time a family member dies is not a wholesome and altogether productive way to live your life. As such we evolved institutions to deal with this to some extent. Create larger families so that you have a more diffuse reaction to the emotional impact (your fellow church members are your family). Make a known quantity out of death by assuring the members that what happens after death is known and pleasant. Assure people that they are not alone in the afterlife and that contact will be re-established at some point.
So in its way religion does much to ameliorate the fear(s) of death. But with that in mind; fear is not a rational process. You can be utterly convinced (you believe it is 99.99% probable that something will happen) and still be afraid. The human brain is really lousy when it comes to dealing with large (and by extension very very small) numbers. The difference between 10,000 and 100,000 is almost nothing to our brains; similarly 99.99% and 99.999% seem almost exactly the same to our brains. So our brains are not designed to assign strictly correct values to how probable something us, and as such we are usually unable to assign proper threat values since we don't know how likely something is to affect us. This is why emotional guidance is what most people use when trying to understand how they should react to something. So a calm and collected person when discussing death and how they "know" that they will be taken care of and meet their loved ones after death when faced with immanent demise is still quite likely to be afraid.
MTF
People are afraid of death for a number of reasons. Primal fear of death is encoded into genetic instructions to avoid death as much as possible. This is the "natural" reason. Death is an unknown. Intellect which is not highly rational (a highly disciplined mind trained to deal with probabilities and accepting unknowns) assigns arbitrary and often excessive urgency and danger values to unknowns. We can't know what might hurt us so we subconsciously worry about the worst possible thing we can imagine (bloodthirsty alien pirate ninja cyborgs from the future leap out of nowhere and attack you). This is the "mental" reason. Death severs emotional connections. Those connections are extremely important to humans as a social animal. Without human contact we go insane, and insanity is a very clear negative exigency for pleasure (reduces pleasure). This is the "emotional" reason.
Humans have historically, whether this is right or wrong, created institutions and ideas in order to alleviate fear. Being afraid all the time sucks. Existential angst combined with sudden onset panic attacks every time a family member dies is not a wholesome and altogether productive way to live your life. As such we evolved institutions to deal with this to some extent. Create larger families so that you have a more diffuse reaction to the emotional impact (your fellow church members are your family). Make a known quantity out of death by assuring the members that what happens after death is known and pleasant. Assure people that they are not alone in the afterlife and that contact will be re-established at some point.
So in its way religion does much to ameliorate the fear(s) of death. But with that in mind; fear is not a rational process. You can be utterly convinced (you believe it is 99.99% probable that something will happen) and still be afraid. The human brain is really lousy when it comes to dealing with large (and by extension very very small) numbers. The difference between 10,000 and 100,000 is almost nothing to our brains; similarly 99.99% and 99.999% seem almost exactly the same to our brains. So our brains are not designed to assign strictly correct values to how probable something us, and as such we are usually unable to assign proper threat values since we don't know how likely something is to affect us. This is why emotional guidance is what most people use when trying to understand how they should react to something. So a calm and collected person when discussing death and how they "know" that they will be taken care of and meet their loved ones after death when faced with immanent demise is still quite likely to be afraid.
MTF
In my opinion it is because 'faith' is not something that can be very strong. Fear arises out of ignorance, and faith implies belief without knowledge. People are called to 'trust' that God exists. But if you have no actual knowledge of an afterlife, then faith is such an illusion.
That is one reason why I am attracted to Dharmic religions, because they don't call us to faith- they call us to acquire knowledge and come to realise truth. Only with knowledge can we overcome fear of the 'unknown'.
Pegg
Jehovah our God is One
well thats not quite true.
Jesus promoted a resurrection...that means to bring a person back from death...to restore them to physical life. Jesus resurrected people to show that it is possible to be brought back to life in physical form.
John 6:38 because I have come down from heaven to do, not my will, but the will of him that sent me. 39 This is the will of him that sent me, that I should lose nothing out of all that he has given me but that I should resurrect it at the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone that beholds the Son and exercises faith in him should have everlasting life, and I will resurrect him at the last day.
Breathe
Hostis humani generis
Yeah. This.
I like to think I'm not afraid of death, but we'll see when the time comes, if my actions can keep up with my thoughts.
I think its just the fear of the unknown, not dissimilar to driving into a large city if you're a lousy navigator, or taking that first ride in a plane.
I think its just the fear of the unknown, not dissimilar to driving into a large city if you're a lousy navigator, or taking that first ride in a plane.
St Giordano Bruno
Well-Known Member
That was a "hell" of a good reason why I was far more afraid of death as a believer than a disbeleiver; pardon the pun.
Death is an instinctual fear. For life to flourish it must live and breed, rather than die. Therefore to not die, is among the highest objectives of life, either consciously or unconsciously.
But, imo, fear of death can be overcome by thinking about it more deeply. It's not so scary when one gets past instincts.
But, imo, fear of death can be overcome by thinking about it more deeply. It's not so scary when one gets past instincts.
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Shades-o-Blue
Member
In my case, it took marriage to a loving & faithful woman for me to feel much better about moving into the next phase of my existence.
sandandfoam
Veteran Member
My fear of death relates to those I would leave after me.
When the wheel of life has turned it's fine to die. It is right and proper to fear it when others need you.
When the wheel of life has turned it's fine to die. It is right and proper to fear it when others need you.
If I was driving into the city to pick up my lottery jackpot winnings, I might be a bit nervous about the navigation, but on the whole I'd be feeling very positive, not fearful.
Why bother if its big winnings? Just send some courier guy to pick it up. Then again, maybe you need to sign. Obviously your 'big city' wasn't Delhi or Bengaluru. If you don't understand this just google 'Delhi traffic', and hit videos.
Heck, I'll do it for you... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cdUPOvSXOo&feature=related
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work in progress
Well-Known Member
I'm surprised no one else previously has addressed that simple fact that every animal is programmed for self-preservation, even if it is something too simple to be fully conscious....of course I would make an exception for social insects, like ants, bees, termites etc. that live in large colonies, and willingly sacrifice their lives for the preservation of the queen and the good of the colony.
So, we're hardwired for survival, but we have to consider that modern science also reveals that we have a false sense of mind also. Just as the brain constructs maps of the world around us, it also constructs internal maps of the self. And the map is not necessarily an accurate presentation of the terrain. Consciousness creates a set of self delusions that are being disproven by modern neuroscience. Namely, that we don't have free will....or at least we don't have free will in the sense we imagine it - as a conscious self, in control of a physical body. Experiments measuring intention and volition keep turning up the same results -- first brain activity organizes itself in various regions of the cortex, and then the subject becomes aware of 'having made a decision.'
We also have an illusion of identity and separateness from the world around us. Many philosophers of mind speculate that the purpose of conscious awareness is to generate this sense of unified identity and give such a complex physical organism the ability to make more calculated decisions in the interests of the whole physical body.
So, if we have a physical urge for self preservation, and a brain that creates an illusion of continuous, unified mind, it's not a great leap to the next likelihood, that all religious attempts to achieve immortality - whether through having an immaterial soul that lives on after death of the body, or that the body will be revived by God and emerge from the grave after death - are attempts to rationalize fear of death, with the awareness that everyone else dies and we will too eventually.
There are a lot of creative attempts to achieve this sort of immortality, but I'm still not sure how deep they penetrate the psyche of the believer. Mark Twain observed during his time - a century ago that "everyone wants to go to heaven, but no one is in a hurry to die in order to get there", and I can't help notice that many strong believers in heavenly rewards do not seem to have any less fear of death than those of us who don't believe life after death is real.
I have no interest in taking away the afterlife from those who want it, but it does disturb me a great deal how much human capital, including wars that have been fought, are spent to try to bargain for a heavenly reward through God's intermediaries here on Earth.
Closer to realize that people fear fear. Are afraid of fear. This can translate into sound bite logic of fear of unknown, but that explains nothing, and falls short of simple point.
I don't think people of strong faith (your word) are prone to fear of death, any more than persons of strong atheism are prone to theistic ideas. I believe at times both instincts (unguarded thoughts) and entertaining particular thoughts may lend to notion that person of faith appears to be afraid of death, but many I know are not constantly in state of fear, and in my observations it comes up very infrequently. Though it does come up, and I think is simply fundamental error that fear is, replaying same old song. To which some still like to dance.
Terrywoodenpic
Oldest Heretic
Fear of death is not the same as fear of dieing.
There are many ways to die that I would fear.
There are many ways to die that I would fear.
There is an art to dying. That is, an art to emotionally letting go of things. The religious people you are thinking of -- the religious people who are afraid of death -- have not mastered the art of dying.