Allan Watts shares his wisdom on Acceptance of Death
If you are afraid of death, be afraid. The point is to get with it, to let it take over - fear, ghosts, pains, transience, dissolution, and all. And then comes the hitherto unbelievable surprise; you don't die because you were never born. You had just forgotten who you are.
What makes you the special separate snowflake from the universe that doesn't change forms but can consume other living things? Do you not realize other aspects of nature changed, died, and dissolved for you to be? Where is your misery for the cells replaced in your body, and the old ones dissolved? Why the fuck must this process stop with you? Because your ego is too strong, failing to realize the natural interconnectedness of nature? Even if we could stop it, that does not change the fact the entire universe will eventually become uninhabitable for life such as ourselves. What's the solution then, make a universe? We can't even make a decent fuckin' society, where do you think we'll make a new cosmos?
By defining yourself as a standalone "me" the idea of death becomes daunting. My fire is going to die out. The problem here isn't death, but the illusion of self, soul, or ego with free will you've defined yourself as. Your problem is this neurological, psychological, social illusion. Alan was one of the pioneers of the West using philosophy and experience to show the illusion of self for what it is, and it's not even new age mysticism; his core claims about it have since been verified by the scientific community regarding processes of the brain. The ones who get that do not fear death. When Sri Ramana Maharshi was dying, he asked "who dies?" It's often our ideas about ourselves that are the problem, not the actual goings on. Naturally at least
The illusion of a separate, solidified, standalone "me" dissolving is what makes people scared. The alarming paradox here is that idea of "me" is just an idea; it's not even real. You don't think your thoughts, feel your feelings, do your deeds or have any actual control in life, but it's the illusion you do that makes dissolution the problem. That happens to a doer, but if one realizes there is no doer, it's just what happens. Not good, nor bad, but just what is.
Curiosity is the single most important attribute with which humans are born. More than a simple desire to discover or know things, curiosity is a powerful tool, like a scalpel or a searchlight. Curiosity changes us. It is also a way to effect change, perhaps even on a global level.