It is perhaps, our one true universal experience. If you are reading this, you haven’t had that experience yet. But your time is coming. Each of us, in our turn, will have that experience. It is, of course, death.

There is nothing in human experience that is more impactful than death. Religions, ceremonies, superstitions, and cultural traditions all have their roots firmly planted in the reality of death. It is probably the only thing that is universally feared while simultaneously acknowledged as inevitable.

It is also the one event we struggle to avoid, despite the knowledge that we would inevitably fail.

Strangely, it is something that we find more painful when our loved ones die than when facing our own death. Why?

If we were to analyze our own emotional reflex, we would recognize that when a loved one dies, we mourn our loss, more than we mourn the fate of the deceased. We feel the pain of losing the emotional connection we once had. We mourn the fact that we can no longer exchange those warm hugs or one-on-one conversations. Memories, once shared, are now held only by the survivor. Mutually shared future plans will remain unfulfulled.

When facing our own demise, most of us will have more concern for thse we leave behind than for ourselves. Perhaps we feel that way because we have had the experience of being the survivor. We have felt the pain of being the one left behind, and we regret that we cannot spare our loved ones that pain.

Perhaps there is an instinct that tells us that death is not the end. While spiritual leaders may propose variations on life after death, the universal agreement seems to be that existence of the human spririt or soul, continues after the body ceases to function. If that is the case, the only pain is the temporary separation between loved ones.

An interesting side note is the observation that many older humans begin to lose their fear of death as they approach the end of their lifespan.

Perhaps with age comes wisdom – the wisdom to recognize that what we call death is actually a transition, a release from the constraints of the human form. Like taking the blinders off, we become aware of sensory inputs that we were not even aware existed. We gain access to knowledge that our physical form could not comprehend.

For each of us, it is our final journey. It is a journey from a restrictive existence to an existence of unbounded understanding and love.

Fear of death is fear of the unknown. Once we begin to grasp the riches of the next dimension of existence, we may be ready to take that final journey without fear.