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Rea de Miranda's avatar

I don't fear death, with or without an afterlife. 🤍

Mahdi Meshkatee's avatar

When I was younger, whenever I feared something and my father was there, he would say, “Fear is Death’s brother.”

It has stayed with me all these years.

Rea de Miranda's avatar

Wise words from your father, Mahdi.

Josh Datko's avatar

There might be a connection between those who fear death and those who don’t experience it. Some of the most accepting of death people I know work in hospitals.

Mahdi Meshkatee's avatar

The more intimately we stand in the face of death, the more intimately we live. There is no profound life-affirmation without that understanding.

Rea de Miranda's avatar

The more intimately we live. I couldn't have said it better.

Rea de Miranda's avatar

I feared death till my son died.

Mahdi Meshkatee's avatar

Rea, every time I encounter you, that's on my mind. I cannot imagine what you've been through, and I appreciate your presence here, as I'm sure many others do.

S y l v i A 🌞 K a l i n A's avatar

It has been studied and the conclusion is that those who are moderately religious are most afraid of death. Why? Mostly from being trapped in existential uncertainty or out of fear of being punished for not believing in God or a higher being.

In the end, after all, tranquility is a byproduct of presence….

Sending love dearest Mahdi.

Mahdi Meshkatee's avatar

Dear Sylvie,

I'm glad you're here. In other words, your presence is much appreciated.

I didn't know that such research existed. It is fascinating.

Moreover, I've encountered the concept of absence and absencing in several texts, especially recently, and I have also been dissecting binaries more vigorously than ever. I guess what I'm trying to say is I will sit with the last line--as I have been, in a sense--to digest it further.

Love,

Mahdi

S y l v i A 🌞 K a l i n A's avatar

Mahdi, I’m sitting here with yours, too. Your mind is a landscape I always value traversing, even when the terrain gets steep.

Love,

S xx

Rajani Radhakrishnan's avatar

The sun has a way of slanting possibility forward...wow! That line will stay with me...and very interesting correlation between faith and fear of death... I am going to sit with that thought... if one has faith in the afterlife, shouldn't one not fear death - so much to wonder about!!!

Mahdi Meshkatee's avatar

Thank you for reading, my friend. That line is one of my favorites as well, one I go back to from time to time.

It is odd, especially when one confronts the thought that if one believes in an afterlife, not only is death not death in the termination sense, but a transition to a more elevated, if not completely separate, realm of living.

Not only do we believe in more than we care to admit, but also, and perhaps even more, we don't believe in what we claim to believe in.