Yeah ... great question, yet no definitive answer. Personally, I am a Christian, yet with strong influences from the pagan past of my people. I have strong ties with my Wiccan friends, as I see The Greatest One in every ounce of creation. I don't, for example, see my "religion" as the be all, and end all, where it comes to the answers with regard to living and dying. I believe, as I have been taught, that what most people call "conscience" is really the voices of those that have gone on, speaking to us in a very real way. So when someone asks the question posed by this thread, I guess I hope and pray fervently that in their quest, they will see that death isn't an end. Rather, it is the peak of life. It is the final climactic moment as we move from this to the next experience. Some have referred to it as the light going out. But I heard a description somewhere that made much more sense to me. Someone described it as "the candle being blown out, at the dawn of the new day".

Why should we die, when viewed in that context, becomes "Why shouldn't we die?". To me it doesn't matter what ones spiritual practices are. And what is inevitable, to me, must not be seen as a bad thing, because if that is where we are at, then what hope is there? But if we view it as the climax of life, then we approach the world with hope, and committment to making this world a better place.

All the best,

Big Mick