death, fear of the unknown

Death is ok at the ripe age of eighty plus. Nothing to complain. But it can arrive at the most inconvenient or awkward moment as in the case of the famous Malayalam writer M.N.Vijayan who was very much younger. Death came to him in the full glare of cameras and microphones as he was on the stage facing an audience, in the process of talking. Discomfort embarrassed him first. Then panic reflected in his face. Later, struggle and collapse happened in quick succession.
Once you know that it is coming, perhaps there can be nothing much to bother or panic, unless one has pain. Death is inevitable and one has to be ready. My father’s youngest brother Raghava Menon, a retired Headmaster, sensed his end, asked his wife to spread a mat on the floor in the exact position he knew was proper for a dead body, laid himself on it, and passed away peacefully in a few moments!
Fear of the unknown creates panic. If I have a cold I don’t panic. I put up with the discomfort for a couple of days with the full knowledge that it will go away. If it persists and becomes painful, then I start panicking, not knowing what exactly could be its nature. The pain is then exaggerated and aggravated by the panic. And if the doctor told me it was not cold but something more serious like the onslaught of cancer, there will be sudden panic and shock at first. Yet one may be prepared to face the ultimate, and suffer the inevitable pain without further anguish increasing the suffering.
Fear of the unknown has to be tackled only as pure fear, a physical discomfort.