Thanatophobia: An Illusion Of Thantophobia

As the title goes Thanatophobia is the intense and an irrational fear of death.

We are all mortal beings. Death is
a sure thing for all of us and we know this for a fact. But the question here
is do we accept it readily? All of us fear death: some of us accept it, some of
us deny it.

Has anyone ever thought why we
have this fear?

I personally feel that there is no
something called Thanatophobia. It is just an extension of Thantophobia i.e.,
the fear of losing someone or something we love. When we are born on this earth
we fear the life ahead and hence begin the journey with a cry but when we start
living life we fear the death that is ahead.

We all have a strong reason for
our existence. I mean we all hold on to something in life which motivates us to
live. It can be a person whom we love, a thing which means a lot to us, a goal
that we are running behind or we live, at least to search for that reason for
which we live.

Fear of death arises only when we
fear leaving this reason behind and going to an entirely unknown world. We fear
leaving the people we have been attached to. We fear leaving behind the things
which we are attached to. We fear leaving behind something unaccomplished. We
fear dying without knowing the reason for our existence.

So the fear of death is not about the fear of having the breath stopped. It’s about the fear of thinking how the people who are attached to us will breathe after we have stopped breathing.

There are a few ways in which we could perhaps try to overcome this fear. First of all try to feel that this is not a destination but it is a halt in your journey. Secondly, be attached to yourself more than others. This would also mean that be happy in the company of others but do not be sad when you are not accompanied by others cause some places are meant to be visited alone.

Another perspective is that we fear the death of others, not ours. But the reason for this fear is also the same; attachment.

At the end, I have to confess that life is a synonym for attachment. The moment we are ready to detach ourselves we are freed from the cages of both thanatophobia and thantophobia. Until then our life in this world is like a bird in an open cage.