Disembowelment or impalement- so, actually, I fear a car accident! How does faith in God mitigate that? I'm supposed to be all humble-with-the-acceptance if he's decided that's how I go? No, sorry, I'll be howling, whining, cursing, and generally expressing my displeasure for the whole, like, ninety-plus minutes of it...
Yes, once its over, I'll have forgotten the pain- but that doesn't make the fear of it even remotely close to being negated.
Admit it- everybody hopes it's quick.
We all fear death who have seen it- even hospital deaths are ugly, grinding experiences.
And I've seen people treated with therapies that destroy their minds and memories- but at the same time, the process of dying seems to have evolved their understanding of life. So what are they like in heaven, then- does the pain get erased, and the enlightenment with it? Can you hold onto the lesson when the memory of how you learned it is gone? Do you become something you never once were in life- a synthesis of all your best moments? But is that even possible if you leave behind your worst? Would I know my friends in heaven, or would they, their incarnations there, be more like the distilled "products" of my friends' lives?
Maybe you should fear heaven a little, too. You may be lost in translation, or at least, your self-image, your concept of yourself.. Who says your idea about who you are has any relevance or correspondence to God's? Fear is natural, that's why faith is challenging.
Good point- fear of the unknown, right? Of the moment when something dreadful and outside of our understanding manifests itself?
Or, is it more prosaic than that- are you saying your fear is limited to what you reasonably could expect to encounter out there? That would be scary enough, too! But you, know, reading your post reminds me that I've had my most intense fear in similar events- something glimpsed, suggested- and always in those isolated situations. It's at first instinctive, but it also makes me think, afterwards, something, in fact anything, even something deadly which I have NEVER seen or heard of, COULD have been there, or could be here in a moment- I don't know that there isn't something metaphysical and malevolent present everywhere...