There's an old joke from, I want to say, Jerry Seinfeld. He's riffing on fear, specifically a then-new study that had come out that showed most people listed a fear of public speaking as their number one phobie. And a fear of death was number two.
Which means that most people, if they were at a funeral, would rather be the guy in the casket than the guy giving the eulogy.
I always thought that was a great joke, and like a lot of folks, I too have a fear of public speaking. But quite honestly, i have a greater fear of death.
Where does that stem from? I'm a fairly rational, pragmatic, scientifically-minded person, and can honestly say that death is a natural part of life. While it's the end of my life, it will be the beginning of life and nourishment for many thousands of organisms that will then go on to be a larger part of nature. It's simple a thing that occurs - a thing that happens to every living thing - and therefore is not something to be feared.
Yet my fear of death is very real, as it is for most people. And that very fear of death has been around for millennia and has given rise to numerous pathologies, including organized religion. Because what is religion - any religion - other than an effort to reconcile our fear of death with our hope for life beyond death?
Almost all religions promise something beyond death if you are a 'true believer.' For Christians, it is immortality and perfect bliss in heaven in the presence of their lord and savior, jesus christ. For muslim men, it is eternity as a sultan, surrounded by seventy two young virgins who will do you every bidding. (I admit I'm not sure what life after death is supposed to be for muslim women, though I'd wager it's not to be surrounded by seventy two horny virgin teenagers in perpetuity).
For buddhists it's the chance to be born again and live a more perfect and complete life, eventually becoming so in tune wiht nature and one's self that you achieve Nirvana - a perfect bliss similar to what christians preach except without the jesus christ part. And for Hindus, it's reincarnation - the hope that your actions in this lifetime will lead to you being reborn in a higher position in your next life. So any good that you do now is sort of a down-payment on your next life's happiness.