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Term Paper Outline:
Necrophobia: The Fear of Death –The Root of All Human Fears
I. Background of the Topic
II. Death Defined
III. Necrophobia: The Fear of Death
A. The Desire to Live Longer
B. The Pain of Experiencing Death
C. Unfinished Obligations
D. Uncertainty of What Lies Next After Death
VI. Bibliography
The life that we have here on Earth is very uncertain. Because of this uncertainty, we humans react the natural way by fearing the things that we are uncertain of. Man has a lot of fear in his life that is why modern medicine and technology have been developed in order for individuals to overcome these fears.
Man has a lot of phobias. Indeed Psychology has a lot of phobias to mention. But phobias can be summarized into a certain fear. An individual who has fear of heights or acrophobia fears heights because he is afraid to die. An individual who has triskaidekatriaphobia is someone who fears the occurrence of Friday 13th; in which the root of this fear however is the fear of death. In the same way, an individual having phobias of animals fear animals because of the close-to-death or traumatic experiences they already encountered with them. Nosophobia which is the fear of contracting a disease also pertains to the worst effect that diseases can bring which is death. Hoplophobia or the fear of firearms stems from the fear that fire arms might cause death. The root of almost all phobias is the fear of death. Almost all the phobias can be summarized to what is called “necrophobia” or the fear of death.
It is noticeable that suicide and suicidal tendencies are so rampant in our society nowadays. This event views death as the last choice in order to end their problems. Individuals who commit suicide want to end their lives because they are tired of living in a very problematic society. This is a view about death that contradicts to man’s philosophy of valuing life. Some people view death as the ultimate solution of their struggles in life. While other people are afraid to die, individuals who have suicidal tendencies want to end their life by committing suicide. While other people resist death, these individuals want to die earlier.
Technology and medicine have provided ways to resist or avoid death. Diseases are now easily cured through the latest and more effective discoveries in medicine. Technology is also going with the flow of discovering medical equipments in order to prolong the lives of the patients in the hospital. It is but an irony that some people fear to die but are doing things that could lead them to death. Some individuals still are not prepared to die but they keep on engaging in their vices that gives them an easier one-way ticket to death. It is an oddity that someone is afraid to die yet he is putting in nicotine and alcohol to himself. No matter how we resist and avoid death, the fear of death will still be in the human psyche.
The author knows for sure that some of the readers of this paper might be having this kind of fear. Living a life here on Earth is full of uncertainties. We are not sure whether we would die right here, right now. What if you, the reader would die right now? Are you ready for it? Are you ready for what awaits you after death?
Do not worry nor be troubled, the author was once on your situation and he has overcome it. The author once experienced this fear of death and it is his noble intention to share to other people what he has learned in order to overcome this fear.
II. Death Defined
If there would be one event that, historically and universally, binds mankind together, it would be no other than death. Death is something we all must face—no diet control and no amount of money can avoid it. The fact is undeniable that sooner or latter in the end of this life journey here on Earth, the time would come when the funeral curtains closes and death visits us.
According to http://www.medterms.com (2007) Death is the event when our physical body stops its operation of giving us life.
This is the event when our vital organs stop its vital functions. Death occurs to humans when the absence of spontaneous respiratory and cardiac functions occurs. There are so many ways that a person could die; there are so many ways that we can avoid death but this is a fact that we humans should not ignore: that we are all destined to die.
When I was still in my high school days I had this very traumatic experience that made me realize how real death could be. When we had our high school Christmas party at an inland resort in my hometown, I had this almost close encounter with death that has given me a realization to ponder on the reality of death. I was the first to arrive at the resort for our Christmas party. I got excited of enjoying the cold waters so after having a shower, I hurried and jumped into the pool. I was unaware that the area where I jumped was 6.5 feet deep. Being a flat five-footer, back in high school, I don’t know the basics of swimming, it was such a foolish thing for me to be jumping into a pool 6.5 feet deep.
It was a very traumatic struggle in order to live. I tried to yell for help at the same time trying my very best to reach the perimeter of the pool. After a few seconds of struggling for life, one of my classmates came to my rescue and took me out of the cold waters. That time I got speechless and I realize how close I was to death and how real death can be.
Just when I was in my sophomore years of being a college student, I witnessed a road accident that really awakened my senses. It was late in the evening. While I was with some of my friends taking a walk going to my dormitory, we heard a group of noisy motorcycle drivers. They were all having a good time of cheerful laughter when unexpectedly, one of the motorcycle clashed to another motorcycle parking in a near Thai Massage Spa. I witnessed the road accident with my two eyes including the poor drivers of the said motorcycles being rushed to the hospital.
That was an unexpected event that took place that night. We are not sure of when, where and how each one of us will personally die but one thing is indeed sure, we are all going to die. Death can seldom be expected and sometimes it is unexpected. Because of this uncertainty about the time of our personal deaths, death can be very near in our personal lives.
Death is inevitable and often unexpected. You could unexpectedly die when the car you are driving clashes to another car or when a car accidentally gets out of control and you were side swept while you are walking. The point here is that we could die right here, right now without even expecting it. To make the bad news even worse, we are not that ready to die- now that’s where fear of death comes.
III. Necrophobia: The Fear of Death
There are a lot of fears according to http://www.wikipedia.org/:
The root of the phobias mentioned is the fear of death. The phobias on the list above are all related to death. The truth about death, added with the uncertainty of an afterlife, for many causes fear. As a reaction to this fear, we humans find numerous ways of how we can extend our lives but the fear still remains.
Normally, we fear the things that we are not sure of. The fear of death takes no exception to that fact. It’s like taking an examination; you can’t have fear for as long as you have prepared for the said examination. The same is also true with death; people fear this five-letter word because they haven’t prepared on it. People fear death because they don’t know what is ahead of death. People fear death because they are uncertain of the events that follow after death.
The fear of death is psychologically known as Necrophobia. According to http://www.wikipedia.org/ (2007), “Necrophobia or thanatophobia is fear of death or dead things, e.g, corpses, as well as things associated with death, e.g., coffins, etc. The former term is derived from Greek nekros for "corpse" and suffix -phob- for "fear". The latter term is derivied from Thanatos (θάνατος: "death") is the personification of death. The usage differs, although in common speech the terms are used interchangeably. Thanatophobia does include but is not limited to the fear of personal death or dying.”
The fear of death is a very common fear to us humans. This is manifested most by the film industry by making horror and thriller films that shows numerable ways of death. Especially among the Filipinos, the fear of death is proved by our reactions on ancient ghost stories that relate stories of death and dying. Because this fear has been so common, this fear becomes unnoticed along the way; this is over familiarized by many, this fear is something that people fear but they just ignore and disregard it. This fear is something that people kept denying to themselves. I have enlisted some of the possible symptoms of Necrophobia according to http://www.phobia-fear-release.com/ (2007)
Symptoms of necrophobia:
These symptoms are not always evident in someone’s way of life. These symptoms are momentary manifestations after experiencing a close to death experience or witnessing someone in a close to death experience. Our mind records the experience with death and because of this the human reacts on the above symptoms. Necrophobia is not just a fear of death as an event. Someone who has necrophobia also fears things that relates to death. The human psyche fears the things that relates to death because it equates those things as reasons or results of death. So these symptoms mentioned are also momentary manifestations after discussing things that relates to death. The author would like to state some examples of these things that relates to death. These are coffins, graveyard, diseases, pain, blood and etc.
I used to remember the night after my traumatic experience at the pool; I couldn’t sleep peacefully knowing that there’s a question that is left unanswered deep within my heart. The uncertainty is there. What if I died that time; there was no certainty what’s ahead. The trauma then came. Anything that relates to death disturbs me much. Later did I recognize that is was necrophobia.
IV. Reasons of Necrophobia
There are so many different reasons why different people fear to die but the author would just like to emphasize most common reasons why Filipinos are afraid to die.
A. The Desire to Live Longer
Everyone wants to live a long life. This is the primary reason why the field of healing and medicine exists. The desire to live a long life is one of the primary reasons why people from different age brackets fear to die. Almost everyone does not want his or her life to simply end without enjoying it. The discontentment of a short life is frustrating that is why people do not want to die. Other people also fear death because they still have not achieved their ambitions and their dreams in their lives. Almost every individual wants to live life to the fullest. Someone who has this desire fears and avoids death because death is the only event that will stop someone from living.
B. The Pain of Experiencing Death
There is this confusion among people how painful it is to die. Some people are afraid to die because they do not want to experience the pain of experiencing death. Different people die in different instances. Some people peacefully die while sleeping. Others die in a car accident. People do not usually die instantly. Sadly, some people have to suffer before they die.
Someone cannot help but wonder the pain of loosing a breath and the pain struggling in order to breath.
Some people still takes years of suffering before they die. For instance, people who have lung cancer and diabetes. They will be experiencing an instant death. Slowly by slowly they will die.
C. Unfinished Obligations
Filipino culture gives importance on valuing the physical family in which an individual belongs. A mother or father cannot afford to die while their children are still young. It is their obligation to take good care of them. Because of this obligation, some Filipinos fear to die because they have an obligation that is still unfinished. It also becomes a culture that the older sibling would help his or her younger brothers and sisters finish schooling. Without fulfilling this social obligation the older sibling fear to die.
Some people especially among the Filipinos fear to the die because of unfinished obligations. People fear to die because they still have unfulfilled responsibilities among their families, friends and their loved ones.
D. Uncertainty of What Lies After Death
This is a fear that is universally true. People fear to die because there is uncertainty of what is their eternal destiny after dying. There is this significant question that has been totally disregarded by almost everyone; “What’s next after death?” on the contrary, there have been many speculations about life after death, thus the concept of heaven and hell.
Before, this was the primary reason why I fear death the most. I came to the point of my thinking that if ever I would die today I am not certain of where I would be going. I want to go to heaven but I am not sure that I am qualified to go to heaven. If ever GOD would ask me, “Why would I let you enter my heaven?” I don’t know what to answer. There is this uncertainty of what’s the eternal destiny after death
