Death Is Nothing To Us- Epicurus

Era of ancient philosopher of Epicurus was seen is as significant era which influenced mankind in a major way to attain salvation and become fearless of Death. He felt that one of the obstacles to enjoying the peace and tranquil mind is the fear of death. This fear is increased by the religious belief that if you incur the wrath of Gods, you will be severely punished in the afterlife.

But rather than countering this fear by proposing an alternatives state of immortality, Epicurus tries to explain the nature of death itself. He starts by proposing that when we die, we are unaware of our death, since our consciousness (our soul) ceases to exist at the point of death. To explain this Epicurus takes the view that the entire universe consist of either atoms of empty space as argued by the atomist philosophers.

Epicurus then reasons that their soul could not be empty space, because it operates dynamically with the body, so it is must be made up of atoms. He describes these atoms of the soul as being distributed around the body, but as being so fragile that they dissolve when we die and so we are no longer capable of sensing anything. If you are unable to feel anything, mentally or physically, when you die, it is foolish to let the fear of death cause you pain while you are still alive.

Epicurus attracted a small but devoted following in his lifetime but he was perceived as being dismissive of religion, which made him unpopular . His thinking was largely ignored by mainstream philosophy for centuries, but it resurfaced in the 18th centurion the ideas of Jermy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. In revolutionary politics, the tenets of Epicureanism are echoed in the words of the United States Declaration of Independence , Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.