by Austin Moore

Created on: June 01, 2009

Well, I'm not sure how other people with the same ideas about religion and an afterlife cope with death, but I can at least pass on my knowledge on the subject. Simply put, I view death as an end of our conscious mind. Essentially, just as our consiousness is created when we are born, the reverse is true when we die. I never quite understood why this was such a difficult concept to understand, but as I aged, and observed people in general, I realized the truth.

People want hope. They don't want to believe that when we die, that's the end of it. They want to believe that they'll have a chance to clear up any unfinished business, or do the things they always regretted not doing. By believing that an afterlife exists, they are more at ease with leaving the world, confident in their knowledge that this isn't the end. It's basically tricking your mind into going along with an idea it's not quite so fond with, referring to death. But...Death isn't something we have to be afraid of.

Some people can't cope with the concept of death, because they can't understand it. There are so many different ideas on the subject of what happens after you die, with some giving you hope, and some providing pretty morbid thoughts. However, the main similarity is the end of our physical bodies, and if you don't believe in an afterlife, it's just the end, period. So how would they cope with the inevitable end? Acceptance. That seems to work pretty well for me anyway. I know I'm going to die, just like everybody else will at one point or another.

However, there are some people that don't believe in an afterlife, yet they don't want to accept death either. These people are in a bit of a bind; they removed any hope from their minds, and then refused the reality they left themselves with. These people will do everything in their power to avoid death, for as long as they can. They will drink health drinks, take several pills each day, make sure they stay in tip-top physical condition; they believe if nothing goes wrong with their bodies, death will never occur for them.

This in itself is a foolish concept, because every single day hundreds, if not thousands of people drop dead for no reason what-so-ever. These are healthy, fit people I'm talking about here, not just the terminally ill people. So, all their efforts are in vain, and all they are left with is fear for the end, and aren't already at peace with it. If you don't believe in an afterlife, the best thing to do in regards to death is to just accept it; it'll make life a whole lot easier, and you'll actually live life, instead of cowering in a corner, afraid to do anything.

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