Every Fear Is a Fear of Death

“It kills me sometimes, how people die.”
― The Book Thief

Fear is functional. Like all things still standing after time’s tests, it has earned its right to be here. To be without it is an often lauded desire, a liberation from the deepest of restrictions. But fear is our cautious friend, paranoid at faces through the woods and leaves that rustle with intent.

Fear and Death. Now that’s a duo I’d pay to see play at the local pub. Let’s make it a triumvirate worthy of any night out and bring in Sex too. I have heard many people, including those close to me, express the desire to have children. It’s a real thing, of course. But the bigger driver of reproduction is pleasure through the act itself. In this way, evolution crafts desirable means without always burdening us with the knowledge of what ends they serve. That, however, is where things get profoundly weird.

Let’s start off simply. A fear of heights is clearly a means by which to stop us from splatting ourselves out of existence. If your boat is thoroughly un-floated by the creepiest of crawlies, then that makes sense too. There are some funky creatures out there, many of which like to dish out death just because they can. Public speaking — now that’s a weird one. Many cite it as their main fear in life. But why?

In our evolutionary past, nothing was more damning than the unfavourable judgement of our peers. Ostracisation by the tribe was tantamount to death. So, when we stand on stage in front of strangers, colleagues, or friends and the heart races, it does so under the looming threat of oblivion.

This gets especially sinister and confusing in the modern age, where ancient circuitry is triggered by the smallest spark. An unpleasant comment on social media or a wayward word at your expense among friendly banter can make us feel like the reaper is cleaning his scythe.

Because evolution so often focuses on the incentive, or in this case, the deterrent, sometimes the end itself is not served. It's a watchdog that bites its own tail. One profoundly dark example we see in the present day is suicide. People, sometimes out of fear, take their own lives. Surely that fear can’t be of death, since death is the chosen method of escaping it? I submit that, in fact, it is.

Evolution crafts the means — crippling anxiety, a deep unease, or a sense of dread — designed to dissuade us from an action deemed dangerous. These emotions are the brain's emergency brake, sometimes so strong they derail the train. They can be so unbearable that we want to escape them — using the same end they were designed to avoid. It doesn’t make sense intuitively, but when you walk back through the logical steps, ultimately, every fear is a fear of death.

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