Why Death is So Fascinating

Bruce McGraw
5 min readNov 25, 2022
Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

In my last article, I summarized the introduction of the book, Mind Beyond Death by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche (linked here Death) A few months ago, I wrote an article entitled “The Eight Stages of Death” about the eight stages of death talked about in The Tibetan Book of the Dead (linked here Eight Stages). In my next article I want to go over the first chapter in Mind Beyond Death, giving an overview of the bardos.

We hear that term tossed around a lot, but it’s not always clear if we understand what it actually means. So, I want to clarify that topic.

In this article I will explain briefly why I find death fascinating. It wasn’t until I read The Tibetan Book of the Dead that I became so intrigued. It was the part in the book that discussed what happens to the contents of our unconscious when we die, that got my attention.

Death Reveals the Unconscious

The Tibetan Book of the Dead said that when we die all the contents of our unconscious become conscious because we no longer have a body to hold them down. In the after death state whatever we think or feel immediately comes to consciousness, and it does so with ten times the intensity it would if we still had a body. Also, in the after death state, we no longer have any means to escape the onslaught.

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Bruce McGraw

I am a college professor who taught, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Humanities and Mythology. I wrote a book: The Magical Universe. https://www.amazon.com/Magic