Sleep, the little death

Why it is that we fear death and seek out sleep? Someone, can’t recall who, once described sleep as the “little death” and when you think about it that is a pretty apt description. So we routinely lose consciousness and find it pleasant but resist mightily the idea or fact of death.

As we age many of us find death far less intimidating than we did while young though. I went through a period of a couple of years when five members of my immediate family died from one cause or another. The whole thing left me reeling (and the oldest member of my family save one) but, in the end, it was a period of growth and realization and certain experiences after those deaths convinced me that death is indeed a gateway and not an end. Someday I may write about those experiences if they turn out to be of interest to anyone but me.