We fear death, said Francis Bacon, as children fear to go into the dark.
Death is the unknown that breaks the continuity of our lives.
Its threat is great because we do not know what lies beyond it. But death, after all, is as natural as birth, just as the falling of leaves in autumn is as natural as their unfolding in spring. Every form of life perishes and yields place to the new. We can minimize death's threatening aspect if we know how to prepare for it, what the process is like, and what may come after it. A great deal of information and guidance, both ancient and modern, is available for us to learn about coping with death, if we will only take advantage of it.