Cheating Death at a "Death Cafe"

I'm going to a Death Cafe and I'm actually quite scared.

There, I said it!

I have no idea why, but I find my feelings fascinating. We will never escape death, yet across the cultures that I've experienced in my lifetime the topic has never been brought up without a hint of fear. No one outside of a religious context has ever come back from death to tell us what happens. And of course religion requires 'faith' and 'belief' as its non-falsiable.

I'm not sure what to expect, but I'm guessing we will discuss what we think happens when we die and although no one can be sure of their theories, what I do know is that there are multiple things we do, to reassure ourselves of the inevitable.

The first example I heard growing up was that when we die, we are judged. Depending on how good/bad we were (in accordance with the specific religious content we followed) we either go to heaven, which is basically like earth but we just never die (the apparent ideal human experience) or we go to hell where we burn. Another option is that all of our memories are deleted and we are re-incarnated as a better human being (subjective to what 'better means' could be richer, more influential, more humble etc) or we become an animal, as punishment for our bad deeds.

It's ironic that in one theory the ideal is to be on earth and never die, and the other theory, that is the punishment.

To say the least, we are very confused about what happens after we die, and for that reason, there are things that we do to 'cheat death' during our lifetime.

Have you ever thought about why most people desire children in the future before they're even adults? Why is it a natural desire to want to bring a life into the world? Some people believe that children are an implicit subconscious connection to the world, that through our children we remain immortal - through them, a part of us that remains in the world after we die. It is for the same reason that we donate organs and wish to have memorials instead of funerals...

It is for the same reason that we obsess over maintaining healthy lifestyles and crave approval from other humans, as a way of maintaining a long and happy life... But why do we fear the unknown so much?

Did we fear life before we were born? Why do some people wish to take their own lives? And more importantly, why is it that after so many years and so many cycles of life, we still don't know a single thing about death?

I'll keep you posted after the event.