Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other.

Some of the fear is the plain fact, and much of it is everything that has been said about the fact. A child in a dark room is frightened of the room, then far more frightened by stories of what the room contains. It is worth knowing which part of the dread is the thing itself and which part is the telling.

Nothing here needs conquering. If it presses on you, it can help to separate what you actually fear, the pain, the leaving of people, the not knowing, since those are different things and some of them can be said aloud to someone.