The Connundrum of the Instinct to Survive

 We have one instinct; that is to survive. Yet we have one guarantee and that is that we wont. This survival instinct disables us from adequately dealing with the burden of death. So much so that I believe we have created entire, multiple, religions attempting to quell the anxiety we possess about death. The idea that we continue in some way after this life quells the anxiety we have about death but at the same time disables us from properly dealing with the fact that we will eventually no longer exist. Our drive for survival has led to multiple religious beliefs. Some posit a sort of paradise that our souls go to after death. Some posit the idea of reincarnation with the idea of escaping the cycle of birth and death. The major problem is that a "soul" is not easily definable and is yet to be proven. In fact many ideas in religion are yet unproven. They are merely attempts to satisfy our lust for survival which is apparently so strong that we cannot conceive of not existing upon our death. All the data we currently have points towards the fact that we merely cease to exist, but this is not satisfactory to billions of human beings. In their estimation there has to be something after this life. Why does there have to be anything at all? There must be a concept of life after death to contend with the overwhelming anxiety of death. There has to be something to curb mourning and loss of loved ones. Yet billions of people have become so overwhelmed with religion that we forget we live here and now and are currently on a path of self destruction. However many pay no mind to this as it does not matter since the after life is far superior to this one. How does one even know that there is an afterlife or that it is better than this current life? There is literally no way of knowing. This is something that many merely believe. Belief is not good enough, we must know as there is an element of doubt in belief. For instance you know your name, you don't say "I believe my name is..." You simply know it. We know the earth is spherical, and have for some time. To say you believe it is spherical is inviting doubt into the conversation. It is to say you are not positive, you do not know, that thing. For instance one can believe God exists, but one cannot know God exists. One can believe that we continue living after death, but one cannot in any capacity know this. It would be better for humans to process the idea of death and come to terms with its reality and work to make the here and now better, and if there is life after this one, then I guess thats a bonus. Though we should not bank on this idea as it benefits nobody.