Epicurean Thoughts Essay, Research Paper

Every man must do two things alone; he must do his own believing and his own dying.

-Martin Luther

Death is the inevitable and permanent cessation of life and everything associated with it. Whenever something is inescapable, it presents a certain apprehension and anxiety, and in order to achieve happiness in life, one must rid the mind of such apprehension and anxiety. Whether the fear of death is long lasting or short-lived, it is almost definitely present among the beliefs of all people, and any fear, regardless of its basis, causes disturbance and stress. Epicurus, however, feels that happiness can be achieved, for this particular fear can be overcome simply by using reason. He argues that it is foolish to fear death, and he feels that the common goal of all should be to rid the mind of not only the fear of death, but rather fear in general. His arguments are logical and reasonable, but the fear of death is incredibly resistant to eradication.

In Epicurus s Letter to Menoeceus , found in The Epicurus Reader, he states, Death, the most frightening of bad things, is nothing to us; since when we exist, death is not yet present, and when death is present, then we do not exist (29). Clearly enough, to anyone who has little or no religious beliefs, having no dread of any supernatural power, this statement makes perfect sense and can be freely accepted; however, this reason alone is not capable of changing beliefs. The fear of death is not something that can just be forgotten in a moment. The aforementioned reference to inevitability causing fear holds true in all situations, especially in this case, since it is unsure what the inevitable is.

As Socrates once said, Death is one of two things. Either it is annihilation, and the dead have no consciousness of anything; or, as we are told, it is really a change: a migration of the soul from one place to another. As defined, fear is the agitated feeling caused by the anticipation or the realization of danger. The danger in this case, is represented by the unknown. Humans honestly do not know what actually occurs once the body dies. If Epicurus is correct, and when death is present, then we do not exist (29), there should be nothing to fear, and so he is justified in his assumption. However, there is ample speculation as to the existence of an afterlife , in which case there is more to life after death. It is this lack of knowledge that leads to a feeling of insecurity; a fear.

If even the smallest amount of doubt is alive in the human mind as to whether or not death is the ultimate end, a fear is guaranteed to exist. Therefore, if it were believed that after life there is more, it would be nearly impossible not to possess apprehension. Whenever a new experience is undertaken, a certain amount of hope, anxiety, and nervousness occurs. An afterlife would definitely be considered something new, never before experienced, and we have no way of determining whether or not it would be a good thing. For all good and bad consists in sense-experience, and death is the privation of sense-experience (29). Therefore, death can be neither good nor bad, and thus, we have no way of gauging whether it will be an experience of pain or pleasure.

Due to human nature, we tend to fear the worst in a situation. These judgements are based on a lifetime of experiences. Sensibly, every fear can be traced back to some pain in the past, for pain is the only thing of its own nature capable of causing anxiety and distress. In order to achieve happiness, however, the Epicurean would have to possess the aim to rid the mind of all fear, thus becoming free from all disturbances, mindless of all pains. According to Epicurus, we should do everything for the sake of being neither in pain nor in terror (30). With fear and apprehension present in the mind, one cannot live a life of happiness, and a life not lived in happiness is arguably not a life at all. A line from the movie Braveheart ultimately exemplifies the idea of living without fear: Every man dies. Not every many really lives.

It is believed that death, while not present, causes unnecessary pain when simply anticipated. Epicurus says that fearing death is foolish and that only he who realizes there is nothing to fear in the absence of life will be able to realize there is nothing to fear in life itself. However, knowing that something such as death is unavoidable and being able to deal with that without fear is unimaginable; as a result, a life of happiness cannot exist unless one can allow for a coexistence of fear and faith.

Fearing death will still occur, even if and when one believes Epicurus s arguments. His arguments are strong, yet lack the ability to alter one s beliefs. Even though the conclusions drawn from Epicurean logic are quite reasonable, a certain apprehension regarding death will still be present. With a little luck, the fear of death will be transformed into more of a suspicion, or curiosity, rather than a fearful anxiety; however, the mystery that is death will continue to create emotions that require conditioning in the human mind, for all eternity.