Why I'm Not Afraid to Die

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Why I'm Not Afraid to Die

An initiative by Suzanne Taylor

One person. One story. A growing collection of perspectives on mortality from people who’ve found peace with the inevitable.

When death comes

Mary Oliver

When death comeslike the hungry bear in autumn;when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse

to buy me, and snaps the purse shut;when death comeslike the measle-pox

when death comeslike an iceberg between the shoulder blades,

I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering:what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?

And therefore I look upon everythingas a brotherhood and a sisterhood,and I look upon time as no more than an idea,and I consider eternity as another possibility,

and I think of each life as a flower, as commonas a field daisy, and as singular,

and each name a comfortable music in the mouth,tending, as all music does, toward silence,

and each body a lion of courage, and somethingprecious to the earth.

When it’s over, I want to say all my lifeI was a bride married to amazement.I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it’s over, I don’t want to wonderif I have made of my life something particular, and real.

I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,or full of argument.

I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.

When death comeslike the hungry bear in autumn;when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse

to buy me, and snaps the purse shut;when death comeslike the measle-pox

when death comeslike an iceberg between the shoulder blades,

I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering:what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?

And therefore I look upon everythingas a brotherhood and a sisterhood,and I look upon time as no more than an idea,and I consider eternity as another possibility,

and I think of each life as a flower, as commonas a field daisy, and as singular,

and each name a comfortable music in the mouth,tending, as all music does, toward silence,

and each body a lion of courage, and somethingprecious to the earth.

When it’s over, I want to say all my lifeI was a bride married to amazement.I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it’s over, I don’t want to wonderif I have made of my life something particular, and real.

I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,or full of argument.

I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.

When death comeslike the hungry bear in autumn;when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse

to buy me, and snaps the purse shut;when death comeslike the measle-pox

when death comeslike an iceberg between the shoulder blades,

I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering:what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?

And therefore I look upon everythingas a brotherhood and a sisterhood,and I look upon time as no more than an idea,and I consider eternity as another possibility,

and I think of each life as a flower, as commonas a field daisy, and as singular,

and each name a comfortable music in the mouth,tending, as all music does, toward silence,

and each body a lion of courage, and somethingprecious to the earth.

When it’s over, I want to say all my lifeI was a bride married to amazement.I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it’s over, I don’t want to wonderif I have made of my life something particular, and real.

I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,or full of argument.

I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.

Why this site exists

When we’re young most of us don’t think much about death, but the older we get the more real it gets for us and the more concerned we become. That’s except for some people, who, for one reason or another, aren’t afraid — and they could help the rest of us with our anxiety.

For whatever methodologies there are that have alleviated people’s fear, or whatever comforting observations there are about the other side from those who have peered into death’s door and not gone through it, those are the stories we’re looking for here, either in videos or in written pieces. Let this be a comfort zone, turning dread into acceptance. Most of us could use that — so please, the rest of you, help us out.

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bapak bangsa · 8d ago

The Universe Was Here Before Me

I spent thirty years fearing death until I sat with my grandmother as she passed. She wasn't afraid. She smiled, looked at something I couldn't see, and whispered: "Oh, it's beautiful." That moment rewired me completely. Death isn't an ending — it's a returning. Every atom in my body was forged in a dying star. I've already been dead for 13.8 billion years before I was born, and it didn't inconvenience me one bit. What I fear isn't death. It's an unlived life. So I live loudly, love recklessly, and trust that whatever my grandmother saw — I'll see it too.

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