How did you conquer the fear of death?

[Guest guest]

I see life extension as a way to increase the quality and time of service to others. Some may pursue it due to fear of death and I suppose we may not completely overcome that fear regardless of our beliefs.

The fact that Jesus has tasted death for us (Hebrews 2.9), however, is very reassuring (Romans 8.28-39). It gives me a joy and hope that make me want to live. I consider health and life extension on earth as minor matters compared to eternity but I think they are worth pursuing.

It reminds me of the story of the elderly husband and wife who were killed in a car wreck and went to heaven. The husband found the place so delightful that he exclaimed, "We could have been here much sooner if we had not eaten all of that oatmeal!"

What do you think?

----- Original Message -----

From: Gifford

Sent: 1/7/2004 5:53:25 PM

Subject: RE: [ ] Re: What are the Principal Causes of Deathin CR Rodents?

> How did you conquer the fear of death?I doubt anyone does, but there are any number of ways of displacing it orbuffering against it. I'd say find the healthiest worldview that you canand invest yourself in that, but beware of how closely you hold to it --people can get very nasty when they encounter a challenge to their beliefsystems.From a TMT perspective (let me know if you're actually interested & I canpost article references on or off list), reminders of mortality promote aunique increase in derogation of perceive difference, increased liking forperceived sameness, and worldview defence (one's 'brand' of CRON to many whoget too serious, IMHO). Self-esteem plays a role too, and apparently actsas a buffer against mortality salience, but in an Israeli study (not sure ifit has been duplicated yet), reminders of mortality prompted young malesubjects to pursue a self-esteem boost through reckless driving on asimulator... The symbolic defence against death can, therefore, actuallydisplace the defence against death itself, and that would be profoundlyunhealthy in many situations.Cheers,________________________ Gifford3-5 Humanities CentreDepartment of EnglishUniversity of Albertawww.ualberta.ca/~gifford