What is Death?

In biology: Noun. Death: the irreversible cessation of all vital functions, especially as indicated by the permanent stoppage of the heart, respiration, and brain activity; the end of life. See brain death. The cause or occasion of the loss of life.

What is death in life? Death marks the moment when your vital organs stop working to keep you alive. The actual moment of death is often just one part of a more involved process (dying) where your body slowly shuts down.

Is death a part of life? Death is a normal part of life. It is the normal cycle of nature, of all living things. The duality of living must have dying.

What is death according to philosophy? Typically, philosophers interpret this question as a call for an analysis or definition of the concept of death. Plato, for example, proposed to define death as the separation of the soul from the body. However, this definition is not acceptable to those who think that there are no souls.

What is death in psychology? Psychological death occurs when the dying person begins to accept death and withdraws from others, regressing into the self. This can take place long before physiological death (or even social death if others are still supporting and visiting the dying person) and can even bring physiological death closer.

Why is death important in life? Death is just as important and necessary as BIRTH. If you've been given a life, it'll eventually be taken from you. You can have it for some time, but it's not yours to keep. It's a luxury that you can use according to your wants and needs, but it must be returned when the TIME COMES.

Why must we return our human body suit? Organisms are made up of organic matter such as water, ether, earth, air, and one inorganic matter: fire. All matters of nature carry a permanence, a borrowed period, with an expiry, no exceptions. This is for renewal and rebirth with different component options; to facilitate CHANGES.

What is the process to return the human body after death takes place? Decomposition, the separation of physical matter from the Soul; then Fire separates Soul from ether. The bacterium Candida is the component that starts and finishes the breaking down of molecular structures of organic matter.

What happens to the body after death?

• 24-72 hours after death — the internal organs decompose.
• 3-5 days after death — the body starts to bloat, and blood-containing foam leaks from the mouth and nose.
• 8-10 days after death — the body turns from green to red as the blood decomposes and the organs in the abdomen accumulate gas.

Is there life after death? It's pretty natural to want to know whether there's life after death and to actually want there to be life after death. That's because many of us assume that death is a bad thing - something to be feared; everything is finite. But not everyone. Some philosophers have argued that death isn't such a big deal after all.

Isn't it a good thing that there is nothing after death? If there is NO more anything after death; this provides an escape route for those evil doers, that they can escape punishment for their bad deeds and no next life to repay and no consequences whatsoever, so there is no detriment to any wrongdoing.

So why is there so much fear associated with death? Dying, the process that leads to death, can be unpleasant; often it is associated with pain and trauma, sometimes horrendous pain, and much suffering. When philosophers say that death is no harm to the one who dies, they aren't denying the suffering that some people face. Instead, what they're suggesting is that the state of being dead isn't actually a bad one. There is no pain the minute you let go of your last breath and crosses over.

So who would say such a thing? And why? The idea that death isn't bad is associated with the Greek philosopher Epicurus (341-272 B.C.E) and his followers. He realized that many of us fear death, but he thought this fear was irrational. He offered arguments for this conclusion, which he hoped would put people's minds at ease.

The first one goes like this... If death is bad, for whom is it bad? Well, it's hard for those left behind, but we aren't worrying about them in this instance. We're talking primarily about it being bad for the one who is dead. But, Epicurus says, that doesn't make sense. Death is annihilation (the ultimate end of everything). At a minimum, for something to be bad for someone, the person has to exist. Think of it like this: Epicurus has been dead for a long time. It wouldn't be very nice to step outside and shout, "Epicurus was a crazy old philosopher!" But would this comment be bad for Epicurus himself? It's hard to see how it would be as he isn't around to have his feelings hurt. And so if death really is the end of everything you can experience, this suggests that when you're dead you aren't around to feel anything unpleasant. So being dead isn't bad.

However, not everyone is convinced by Epicurus' reasoning. Some philosophers argue that Epicurus was wrong because he had a mistaken picture of what it is for something to be bad for someone. He assumes that something is bad for someone only if they have a negative experience similar to how if a bee stings you, you're very likely to feel discomfort. But is there another way for things to be bad, another way that a person can be harmed?

The American philosopher, Thomas Nagel argued that there is. For example, suppose that all of your friends throw a party but they don't invite you. And somehow they manage to keep it a complete secret from you. Was it bad for you that you weren't invited?

You never find out about the party, so you don't have any negative feelings or pain because of it, so in this sense, some would say this isn't necessarily a bad situation. But others would suggest that you were harmed by not being invited because you missed out on all the good things that come with a party (e.g. having fun, meeting new people, etc.)

And Nagel thinks that this can explain why we think that death is bad. It's not because we think that it will be unpleasant to be dead, but because death deprives us of the good things that we would be able to do and enjoy if we hadn't died. Lost Opportunities.

So, why is our time of death not known to most of us? Not knowing when you will die is for you to have a chance in life to not worry about your expiry date. If once you know; most will push forward with the "why bother" mentality instead of living fully until then; that is human nature... to take the negative path.

What is that you ask... seeing that... is your feeling hurt? Are you happy? No to either as you have no idea what that is... so you have no positive or negative associations to it... except perhaps curiosity only.

Life before birth: Epicurus' follower, Lucretius (99-55 B.C.E.), a Roman philosopher and poet, offered a different argument known as "the Asymmetry argument". This can be best explained by thinking about the time before you were born... You were born at one particular time, and not earlier. If you had been born earlier, then you could've enjoyed things during that earlier time. But not many people believe that it's a bad thing that they were deprived of the time before their birth. Yet, in all the relevant respects, the time before your birth and the time after your death are the same. Both extend out toward infinity and neither includes you. So if you don't mind having missed out on one, surely you shouldn't mind missing out on the other?

What mattered most to Epicurus and Lucretius was convincing people to let go of their fear of death. If death causes you no pain when you're dead, then it's a mistake to let it cause you pain when you're alive. Instead, they were hedonists, who thought what mattered in life was pleasure. Rather than worrying about our death we should "eat, drink, and be merry", as the saying goes. Stop putting the cart before the horse; death will happen, don't die worrying about dying, don't borrow from the future and forsake to live now... live wide and deep!!!

Should we welcome death? This helps us to become a bit kinder and gentler with one another. We can harness the awareness of death to appreciate the fact that we are alive, to encourage self-exploration, to clarify our values, to find meaning in everything we do and don't do, and to generate positive action. It is the impermanence of life that gives us perspective and relativity.

So what exactly is death? Transition from one place to another.

Tags: death, greek philosophy, cultural views