I don't fear death as much as I embrace and philosophically observe it.
Life is a vast neighborhood , where literally anyone's door can get knocked on at any moment, through either completely random, or predetermined events. You have no control, over death...only chance, probability, coincidence...The thought alone about how fragile and uncontrollable your mortality is, is something truly fascinating if you take the time to think about it...Sometimes I'll be driving, and pass a car or tractor trailer thats moving fast in the the opposite lane of traffic next to me, and the brief, seemingly-unconscious feeling of "damn...life could be over THAT quick, through no doing of my own..." washes over me for a moment, and the Lloyd Banks line, "Nobody dead knew they would die before they woke..." hits me. It starts out as a small fear, then the more I ponder and unravel the KNOWN FACTS about the aftermath of death, there's an eerie sense of calm and detatched acceptance I gain, as well as perspective.
When you start to observe the fragility and order in nature that death exposes, (animals eating animals, plants wilting, the reckless abandon which insects are killed without thought), you apply that to human life and start to see the parralells. We live thoughtful, personally meaningful lives, where everything in OUR world makes us the starring actor among a backdrop of changing scenery and suporting cast members...whom we develop diffeerent levels of bonding and experiences with. Ultimately, "our" universe is EVERYTHING TO US. It's all we know. But to The Universe...to the grand scale of time, space, and existence, our entire life is almost nothing. To The Universe, we are but bugs soon to fall victim to the laws of nature just as the insects we so thoughtlessly get rid of.
When you remove emotion and pessimism from thoughts like those, all that is left is peace.
Until then, I'll enjoy the ride.