The nature of death, to let go

[jafar]

Nice thread! I really enjoyed reading all that was shared so far.

Adding another perspective to this interesting conversation: I have been studying Socrates' teachings because of the powerful messages he shared. On fear he taught something like: True wisdom is knowing what should and should not be feared. To fear death is a sign of attachment to the body in lieu of attachment to the soul (or the pure consciousness/mind). The body is changing and temporary whereas the soul carries on forever in its essential core. Socrates felt that the practice of spirituality itself could accurately be described as a practice for dying with grace and peace. And he thought that fear played a really important part in that process when it was directly properly towards things that are worthy of fear. He taught that anything that led us into greater attachment and feelings of importance directed to the body was truly to be feared. For him it was not cowardice to run screaming from those things! He has a list of truly fearful things actually but they can be generalized as things that lead us to act out of attachment to the body and thus to lead to sorrow and grief when the body fails us (as it must).

I tend to agree more with Lao Tse on fear.

"There is no illusion greater than fear."
--Lao Tse

The consciousness love to experience, and among the type of experiences, we need to admit that the consciousness love to experience fear.

All top 10 best selling games of all times, contain certain dose of fear.
Whether it's "fear of death" and/or "fear of losing".

Even originally creative sandbox game like Minecraft had a boost in popularity once it's introduced "Zombie" inside the game.
Such is the 'critical role' that "Zombie" have in Minecraft universe.
In the same manner as villains and monsters played critical role in movies or novels.

Yet just like "fear element" in games or movies, it's nothing but an illusion.
An illusion to make 'the experience' more captivating and interesting.
Games or movies without any 'fear' element will be regarded as a 'boring experience'.
So does 'life' a.k.a incarnating experience.

Thus enjoy the experience and don't forget to say thanks to any role that helps you to experience the 'excitement of fear', albeit it's merely an illusion.