By Steve Mutua.
There are many fears we humans face- fear of life, fear of death, fear of pleasure, fear of giving up control, fear of feelings — fear of being, as such. It takes considerable self-confrontation, as you know, to be aware of these fears.
Fear of death particularly casts a very dark shadow into everyone’s life. If you predominantly identify with your ego, your fear of death is quite justified, for the ego dies indeed.
This may sound like a frightening statement for those who have not experienced yet the truth and reality of their inner being. It is frightening precisely for the reason that a sense of being, of existing, a sense of self, exists for so many by identifying only with the ego.
EGO IDENTITY MEANS FEAR BASED LIVING
This is why no human being who has activated his real self and experiences it as a daily reality is ever afraid of death. One feels and knows one’s immortal nature, one is filled with its eternal quality; it can only be a continuum, for this is its inherent nature. This cannot be explained by the logic the ego is used to; such logic is much too limited to comprehend this.
A vicious circle comes into existence when the ego is given undue importance in one’s sense of being alive. If one cannot conceive of any other reality of thinking, feeling, and being in oneself but the reality of the ego, one cannot, of course, experience the higher faculties and the greater reality of the real self.
Therefore, hearing that the ego-faculties, which one considers the only real ones, cease to exist must seem frightening. But for those who have experienced the stark reality of the real self, this statement can never be frightening.
You then know perfectly well how inferior, fleeting, and insufficient the ego is as compared to the reality of the inner eternal being, which you will experience as eternal whenever you encounter it.
Therefore, fear of death must exist only when one’s sense of self is exclusively attached to the ego-self.