Why do I seem to feel more afraid of life than of death?

Why do I seem to feel more afraid of life than of death?

DEATH IS UNKNOWN. You cannot be really afraid of that with which you are not at all acquainted. Fear is a relationship -- you have to know something to be afraid of it. Nobody really is afraid of death. And whenever somebody says 'I am afraid of death' he is simply saying that he is afraid to lose life. Death is absolutely unknown. So everybody is afraid of life -- it is life that is the problem, not death. It is life that gives you anguish and nights without sleep. And what is the fear of life? There are many fears but they can be reduced to a few basic fears. One is that life is slipping by and you have not lived yet. That's the panic, basic panic -- that life is going out of your hands, every moment you have less and less life. And you have not…

Question: BELOVED MASTER, I AM MORE AFRAID OF LIVING THAN OF DYING. IS IT POSSIBLE? Yogananda, that's why people are afraid of life: life has many dangers. The path of life is full of hazards. One never knows what is going to happen the next moment; everything is possible. You cannot live with expectations because life has no obligation to fulfill your desires. You can live with an open heart, but you cannot live with expectations. The more expectations you have, the more frustrated you will be. And then you can go astray. In death, nobody can go astray; in life you can go astray. In life you can commit errors, mistakes. In fact, if you really want to live you will have to commit many errors and many mistakes. Remember it: never be afraid of committing errors and mistakes; otherwise you will be paralyzed because of the fear.

Osho, to remain awake to life, is the fear of death necessary?

I did not speak of fearing death, because what does fear of death even mean? It is essential to know that death is. The one who does not know this is the one who is afraid. To be afraid means we carry the notion that someday we will die—that what we presently take to be life will be snatched away. So the fear is that death might take away our life. That is what the fear is. But if you come to know that you are already dead, what is there to fear? If you come to see that every day you are dying, that much of you has already died, what is there to fear? As long as what you take to be life appears to you as life, the fear of death appears. And if this very thing begins to be seen as death, what fear of death…

Why are most people so afraid of getting old?

After a few letters the boy said, "Now, arrange a meeting." I said, "That is difficult." He said, "Why?" I said, "You are such a nervous person. I cannot introduce you to the girl because it will be embarrassing for me too." He said, "I will keep my hands in my pockets." I said, "That won't help because I have seen you. Even in your pockets your hands make your whole pants quiver. I'm not going to do it. First you train yourself." He said, "That means I am never going to meet... just love letters?" I said, "To tell you the truth, this girl does not love you. I have been telling her to write letters to you just as a training." He said, "My God. So you have been befooling both of us?" I said, "I was not befooling either, I was just giving you some satisfaction at…

Beloved Osho, I know it is certain that one day I am going to die, but I don't feel any fear -- why?

That's what has happened to the Eastern methods which have proved totally different conclusions about what indicates death. Brahmayogi practiced for thirty years a certain method of breathing which makes you capable of stopping the breath, the pulse and the heartbeat for ten minutes. He exhibited what he attained to almost all the great medical centers in the world, the great universities of the world. In Oxford ten doctors, the topmost, looked in every possible way, and they all certified that the man was dead. But after ten minutes the man was back, and he said, "Now what do you say? You were deciding by symptoms -- symptoms may not be there. Life energy is something else. It is not breathing. Yes, it needs breathing, it uses breathing, breathing is its means; but life energy itself is not breathing. It can exist without breathing." If it can exist for ten…