Why Do We Have to Die&;#063;

ON DEATH AND DYING

Whatever we believe about death and what happens after death, one
concept that remains for many people of all religious backgrounds and
persuasions is that death is a universal requirement which does not end
our existence, it only pushes our need to understand what life is all
about and what its purpose is, to the front of our minds.

I think the purpose in understanding and accepting life after death is
many in its characteristics for in the presence of death, we are
challenged to have faith that there is something beyond the reality of
our five senses and that in itself can promote within us a sense of
hope.

The idea that life is eternal and that death is just a doorway leading
to the next stage of existence has always been a part of my thought
process, but when one is involved in the death of a loved one, you
cannot help but be grief stricken in the moment, leading you to think
about death and dying constantly. I can relate to this after
experiencing the death of my father. I became involved in my mind with
death, making much of the death of someone, who I really did not get
along with in this life. I became more and more worried, the only time
I can remember having to sleep with the lights on, my fear was that he
would come back and hurt me.

Even having a relative understanding of the concepts surrounding death
and life after death did not shield me from the emotional trauma that
the passing of my father caused. Understanding and accepting the
possibility of life after death can bring some sort of comfort to the
living, who may wish to meet up with those departed spirits, who in
this lifetime may have been mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers
etc.

The fear attached to dying and death to some extent can be alleviated
when there is an understanding of the concept of "life after
death".

Communications from the dead: A popular saying has it that no one has
ever returned to tell what happened after death does not take into
consideration the millions of communications said to have been received
by the survivors directly, via dreamstate, or by means of a psychically
gifted person - a medium. This contact with the dead has been reported
to us from the beginning of mankind. Thousands of books have been
filled with descriptions of the afterlife. Messages have revealed facts
no one alive could have ever known another reason for accepting life
after death, if not for the personal connection to that of the deceased
but also for scientific research and discovery.