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 w

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.

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.

As Socrates once said, "Death is one of two things. Either it is annihilation, and the dead have no consciousness of anything;

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Approximate Word count = 955
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)