Why are you afraid of death?

Death and Anxiety:

Confronting the Ultimate Unknown

Death is a topic that often invokes fear and is seldom discussed openly, despite being central to every individual's life. This subject could be explored more in conversations with family, friends, or even in a professional setting. However, historically, talking about death has been avoided due to the anxiety it generates. Death, one of the most mysterious and indefinable phenomena in the universe (second perhaps only to dark matter), evokes fear primarily because of its unknown nature. Instead of distancing ourselves from this mystery, let's approach it to understand what death is and why it frightens so many.

The Imagination Serving the Concept of Death

Death is frightening mainly because it is fundamentally unknown. The unknown has historically been a source of fear for humans, leading to wars, invasions, and many unfounded fears based on misconceptions about unfamiliar populations. In Western cultures, this unknown aspect of death is often symbolized by the "Grim Reaper." Humans could have imagined a gentler figure, like a new stork retrieving the initial wicker basket. Instead, the Grim Reaper was conceived as a terrifying, skeletal or faceless creature, draped in a black cloak with a hood, wielding a scythe. This foreboding figure first emerged during the Middle Ages amid the Black Death epidemics and has since been etched into Western popular culture as the entity that comes for you at your last hour. The expression "cut down in one's prime" reinforces the unpredictable, imperceptible, and insidious nature of death.

Death: A Depressing Subject?

 Many perceive death as a source of depression. Yet, why should death be seen as depressing when it is an integral part of life? The topic of death often generates immediate rejection in Western populations, influenced by cultural practices surrounding death management. The color black, associated with death, could symbolize festivity but instead signifies the night, the end, emptiness, the universe, and infinity. Phrases like "arriving at the twilight of one's life" link black with lifelessness and depression.

A Predominantly Western Negative View

Associating death with depression is primarily a Western and cultural viewpoint. Without delving into the diverse global representations and celebrations of death, there are many countries, cultures, and tribes with views diametrically opposed to ours. For those familiar with the animated film "Coco," the portrayal of death is joyful, vibrant, and colorful, bridging generations. Mexican traditions depicted in the film even allow for continued contact with the afterlife and transmission of values and advice across space and time. This view is far from the dreary, morbid imagery of traditional Western funerals and mourning rituals. Death could be viewed positively, as a transition to another realm, but Western societies tend to evoke sadness and more.

Death as Punishment

In Western cultures, death is often catastrophically portrayed as the final stage of life. Beyond suggesting an end, it also prompts a reflection on the deceased's life and those around them. This ultimate passage is synonymous with suffering and guilt, prompting introspection about whether one has been good or bad. In contrast, some cultures hold the deceased in high regard, integrating them into family and community life without interruption. In the West, the deceased remind us of their absence, an indefinable elsewhere, and imply that good behavior is required to prolong our time on Earth. This guilt-inducing, discriminating notion of before and after spreads visions of suffering, repentance, and sometimes disproportionate servitude in Western cultures, with known historical and contemporary deviations. 

Veiling Death

 Choosing to veil the topic of death has become a simpler option than addressing it and facing the myriad ensuing questions. Mysterious, guilt-inducing, and deceptive, even though discussing lost loved ones might be healing and beneficial for our mental health, it is often easier to avoid the subject. Far from just addressing absence, discussing death or the existence of lost loved ones is seen as potentially harmful, possibly resurrecting guilt, a missed action, an oversight, or suffering. In some beliefs, even speaking too much of the departed might attract bad luck or a morbid curse upon oneself or one's family. 

In the meantime, until that day comes, whether for you or a loved one, I can only advise living each moment as if it were your last and nurturing love every day of your existence on this Earth. Carpe Diem.