Death Teach Us About Life? The Concept

¶ … death teach us about life?

The concept of death teaches us a tremendous amount about life. First, our awareness of death teaches us that life is finite in duration. That may seem obvious, but it is not necessarily a perspective that we would appreciate without noticing that the lives of others are ended by death. After all, all we have ever known firsthand is living; if not for the fact that other people and animals die, we would have no realization that our lives are also of finite duration. Second, the concept of death teaches us how delicate we are, especially in relation to the physical laws of the universe. If not for the fact that we are aware that we can be killed, we would not realize how fragile we are as biological organisms.

Death teaches us to appreciate our lives, precisely because they are finite in duration. Without that awareness, we might fail to make the most of our lives because we would have unlimited time at our disposal. Similarly, because we are aware that we will inevitably die, that awareness also motivates us to accomplish something with our lives that might survive our own demise. To a large extent, that is why many people work hard to create a life for their families and their children and other future generations. They realize that if they live only for themselves, there may be very little actually worth accomplishing since our lives always end. By contrast, when we dedicate ourselves to bettering the lives of our families, our work and our efforts survive much longer than we live.

The same realization about our own temporary existence motivates many people to dedicate themselves to bettering society for, essentially, the same reason that they work to achieve something for their own families beyond themselves. In that respect, our realization of death also motivates us to work to help others in less fortunate positions to avoid earlier death than necessary, such as by helping to cure diseases and other causes of premature death. It motivates many people to choose careers in medicine and scientific research because their awareness of human death imposes a perceived moral obligation to try to help others in need.