This is a scary story! Don't read it if you are superstitious and believe that dreams are more than just dreams.

I have no fear of death, but I also have no wish to rush through the remainder of my life or to leave the party while the band is still playing and I am still able to dance.

I recently had a very vivid dream where I was about to be executed by some militant extremists by beheading. I was told that my death was required to further their cause, whatever that was, even though I had not actually committed any wrongdoing that should warrant the termination of my life. It was simply expedient that it be done.

He was holding a very long sword that was somewhat like the Japanese Samurai although the person was rough and bearded like a Middle Eastern rebel soldier so elements of the surreal were in place. I felt that I was doomed to my fate when I suddenly thought it was better to fight since I had nothing to lose anyway. I was able to fend off the executioner and actually injure him with his own sword, the one that he was going to behead me with, and make an escape.

The thing that really made me pay attention to this particular dream was that I did not wake up with a feeling of fear and dread of what could have happened. At the time of my apparent imminent demise, I felt no fear at all; none! The feeling was disappointment that this would be the manner of my death which seemed to be so pointless, and also disappointment that I would not get more time to see how other aspects of my life worked out and that I was looking forward to knowing.

On the other hand, I was intrigued, and even perhaps a little excited with the prospect that I was about to find out, at first hand, just exactly what this death thing was really all about, and if there actually was a soul. For me, stories of there being an afterlife are just that, stories rising up out of the inherent fear of death that most of mankind is afflicted with and that I do not believe in at all. There simply is no even vague evidence for an afterlife and no soul to march off into eternity. There is no need for "salvation" since there is no hell fire waiting to punish for transgressions. If you apply Occam's razor, which for me has proved to be very reliable for settling arguments and proving to be right, there is nothing at all “waiting” for us once we are dead. As much as such notions as after life and heaven can give comfort to those left behind when a dearly loved companion or family member dies, there simply is no reason for such notions other than fear and ignorance.

When my time comes, I won't be sad to go, and I am certainly not fearful of what comes next. Simply put, death is either the same place we were before we were born - nowhere at all (yeah yeah, I have indeed heard all the stories of pre-existence and spirit creations and souls living in some limbo place waiting for a body ... blah, blah) or death is the next fantastic adventure, so let’s get on with it.

Either way, there is no reason to be concerned about death or what happens next. Certainly I’m not too worried about the old god in the sky with a particular penchant for violent mood swings and a taste for retribution.

The original dream recollection text

Last night, I had a dream, and I have had the dream stick in my mind all day today. This is most unusual since I very rarely have any dreams that I remember at all, let alone one that sticks with me for any length of time.

This dream should have actually been a nightmare, since I was experiencing the real threat of my own very imminent and violent death. The story line is as follows:

The scene is fuzzy (typical recollection of a dream state), but it is outdoors, and there are not many features that I noted in the dream. It seemed to be somewhat arid area and not a lot of vegetation anywhere; a generally quite open place with few houses, streets, or people around. It was quiet and there was no other action going on and no other people around. However, the dream seemed to start in the middle of the story, with myself and another man being held captive by two other men. I have no idea who the other person was who was sharing my fate, nor who the two captors were, or why we were being held captive.

By being held captive, that is to say that we had apparently only just now been apprehended by these other two men, and we were now about to face punishment for some crime that we were accused of having committed. We were not bound or otherwise contained from movement, but I was being held firmly by one of the men, and in his other hand he was holding a very long Japanese style sword. He was not Japanese and not in any uniform, and spoke apparently quite good English so I have no idea who he was or why the other man and I were being dealt with in this way.

I was told by the man holding me that I was sentenced to death, and he was going to carry out the sentence immediately by cutting off my head with the sword.

What was so amazing about the dream was that I felt absolutely no fear of dying even though it seemed that I was about to be executed right then and there. The first thought that I had was that this was a terrible injustice being dealt to me for unknown reasons and that I was a good person who had done no terrible deeds that should warrant the supreme punishment.

With the news that it seemed certain that I was about to die, the most noticeable emotion that I felt was a kind of disappointment, rather like enjoying myself at a great party that was going to carry on but I was being told that I will not be allowed to stay and enjoy myself nor would I be able to be part of any further events.

My next thought, after accepting that I was going to die right now was that I was about to find out what this whole death mystery is all about. It sort of intrigued me that I was about to die and right here and now, I would certainly find out what happens after death.

What has intrigued me so much about the recollections of the dream is that I had felt absolutely no fear whatsoever. It was all kind of matter of fact, oh well, that's it then, let’s get on with it and see where this takes me. Thinking on it now it would seem that there should have been something more. Not only was I going to die within minutes, but I was going to be killed by this foreign person in a brutal violent manner. Further to those circumstances, there was the underlying fact that my life was totally expendable as long as there was a small gain to be had for some unspoken cause that apparently was none of my business.

Back to the dream - just at the moment when the guy holding me was about raise the sword and cut my head off, the other guy who was apparently going to share my fate right after me, jumped up and ran at the guy with the sword, snatched the sword from his hand, and slashed at him rendering him helpless. There was blood everywhere. He then took the sword and slashed at the other captor person and seriously wounded him also.

The two of us then ran away and as we did so I looked back and saw the two guys, not dead, but writhing around and clearly not in any state to chase us or do us any further harm. So it seemed that we were going to make good our escape. As we continued to run away without any idea of where we may have been running to, the emotion that I remember at that point was not so much of relief, but just happy that I was not going to miss out on the opportunity to live out the rest of my life and presumably go on to die a more dignified death when it was more my time to go.

As we were running away from the situation, the dream ended.