Positive rewards reinforce the behaviors that enhance the quality of life, and you can see that in humans right from the beginning. Our recognition of what we can do to increase fulfillment of needs starts early on, and that in turn starts to form our ideas of what gives us pleasure. For example, a child might take up an interest not because it is intrinsically enjoyable to him, but because it gets attention from and companionship with a parent. In one family, a child will grow up watching sports on TV, but that same child might instead become a chef - depending on whether his parent spent time with him in front of the TV or in the kitchen.

In either of those cases, though, the child learns that this is a way he can control his environment. And that’s where it ties in with your thought - a situation in our lives that we can control, or that can affect what we can control or how we can control it, is going to have much more impact on our daily thoughts. We’re going to speculate changes we might have to make, the different outcomes that might result, all the possibilities that might make difference in the qualities of life we enjoy. When a person is worried about something, from how his appearance is going to get him positive attention, to working out a plan for a long and comfortable retirement, the focus is on controlling something to attain a positive result.

With an issue like death, though, you don’t really have control, so you can’t think of it that way. Yes, you can fear it, or you can change habits in the hope of forestalling it, but you can’t come up with a plan to make it happen a certain way. Except if you know for certain it’s coming - if you were diagnosed with an illness, or were reaching an age where it was becoming more of a reality, your thinking of it would change because it is more concrete. When you talk to someone who is in this situation, you’ll find that they often think of it in the same way that you’re thinking of the economy. There is an end result that isn’t necessarily desirable, but inevitable and now foreseeable. At that point, the focus is on the things that -can- be controlled - relationships with loved ones, material things that will be left behind, plans for care towards the end, etc.

Barring that situation, though, thinking about it is not problem solving. Thinking about the economy and how it will affect you is. IOW, if you have time to worry about death when it’s not imminent, then you’re fortunate not to have bigger problems to think about. Or you should get out more. (Sorry for sounding flip - just had to end on a lighter note!)

How praytell does an animal die well?

Most people over forty that I know have come to terms with their deaths, whether they have hope in some kind of a spiritual existence or not.

Those people however that seek a violent individualistic martrys death that takes the lives of others in the process as a just way to please God and gain promises in the after life are delusional.

Fear of death is not a huge issue for someone who has hope and trust in the reason for why they exist. Islamic zealots are somehow convinced they will be rewarded for killing others by convoluted logic. However if they are really judged on the basis of what they believe they are really religious.

The death of someone who accepts the public mission of Jesus Christ by confessing him as their Lord and Savior may seem delusional to you, but to those who believe it really is a hope filled approach to life and even though they realize they make mistakes, they don’t in any way believe that ongoing decisions to lower expectations are what the public mission of Jesus was all about.

I guess I am forced to assume that it is not a religion when a human animal says there is no reason to fear death because all it is, is a cessation of existence. This means to me that you have come to terms with the reason(s) for your existence. To me it is a religion, to you it is just the basic facts of life and death as a human animal.

I think I undertand why you have questions as to why you think other people may fear death.

It only matters that you question your “mission” from time to time.