first off, i was inspired to write this by the "What have you got to loose?" thread. and my response, simply stated, is my life.
another thing, is that i feel somewhat inferior to the people on this board, partly due to my age and education. so please excuse any grammatical errors.
so like the title reads, why does/would one fear death? and is it possible/when does one overcome that fear?
why i fear it.
i fear death mainly because, at the not so ripe age of 17, i have yet to experience all of the things i would like to...education, travel, books, visit family members as much i would like to, love/experience more of it, etc. (poor examples but you get the point)
another thing that influences my opinion, is that i do not believe in an afterlife. since my life is all i have, i think it to be somewhat absurd for me to view death without apprehensiveness or with indifference.
how one would overcome it.
the only way i can imagine that one wouldent fear death is by having a 100% conviction that there is something beyond this life.(the only way i imagine this happening is by having a very persuasive personal experience, most likely with god/mary/jesus etc.) this is the only way that i believe soemone can have absolutly no fear of death. the slightest bit of doubt would be amplified so much, so that the last remaining moments of life(if one has the pleasure or displeasure of having thoes moments) would be spent either praying that there is a afterlife, contemplating that there isent, asking what they did what their life, and if it is complete.
i believe the fear of death may also be escaped by being completely content with everything that one has done. this would entail that the individual has experienced EVERYTHING they have ever wanted to. i see this to be highly unlikely due to the infinite amount of things that one can experience.
so my somewhat grim and very cliche conclusion would to "live life to the fullest. or, have a very persuasive personal experience with god.
"One always dies too soon - or too late. And yet one's whole life is complete at that moment, with a line drawn neatly under it, ready for the summing up. You are - your life, and nothing else."
-sartre