The fear of death is what historically has driven people to religion. Most of us seek an answer to the age-old question, “what happens when we die?” I believe for many of us are fear is twofold. We wonder what happens to us when we die and what happens to our loved ones once we are gone.

I will address the former question in an attempt to allay the first basic fear. Now, I don’t claim to be Lazarus nor am I Dante. I have not been to hell and back. However, I have the good fortune of being a dreamer. Loved ones come to me in my dreams. They guide me; they cajole me; and yes sometimes they chastise me. I know I am not alone. In fact, I’m sure there are far more powerful dreamers than  I out there. I invite you to share your dreams with me so that I can share them with others. Excuse my digression, this essay is meant to address the fear of death so I will get back to the subject.

Early December, 1967 was a particularly traumatic time for me. My grandfather, who we called Papa and  my musical Idol, Otis Redding died within days of each other. My family was living in Europe at the time, so only my mother returned to the United States for Papa’s services.   I was almost apoplectic with fear. I did not understand death and was afraid to go to sleep because darkness reminded me of death. Papa came to my rescue. For three consecutive nights he came to me in my dreams. He talked to me and he told me that he was fine and that death was just another part of the cycle of life. On his last night, he touched me and told me, “This is what death feels like.”

As a child, I was eight at the time, I can only describe the feeling as a “th” sound. Many years later, I was able to more fully understand and describe the feeling. When one makes the “TH” diagraph using the voiceless  dental fricative,it is a feeling of thickness. Is is a very full feeling like one is filled completely and a part of everything –  or a  oneness with all things. Papa was showing me that when one dies they become one with everything.

I no longer have a fear of death in terms of what will happen to me when I die. I don’t have all of the answers regarding the process and probably never will. However, I do believe that I will be one with the universe and at that moment past, present and future will merge and I will be one with all that exists. One with everything in this glorious awesome universe beyond time and in all space.