ABSTRACT
I wanted to feel the same way-to accept the inevi tabi l i ty of death and not to fear i t . Having become disenchanted w i t h religion as an adult, I have tended to look for na tura l rather than supernatural explanations. I would l ike to be as rigorously logical as A r t h u r Schopenhauer, who said, "After your death you w i l l be what you were before your b i r th , " but I cannot yet accept this idea. I t is not simply a fear of death that prevents me, but my personal sense of t r u t h . I have always trusted my in tu i t ive reactions to statements or arguments from others. Schopenhauer's statement seems possible, even probable, but my in tu i t ive sense of t r u t h has never affirmed i t . What I am left w i t h instead is a question: What are human beings supposed to do w i t h the knowledge that we are going to die? I have continued to read philosophers, poets, theologians, and even scientists
w i l l happen after we die.
