Is death painful?

Posted By Jane on September 26, 2001

Q. Is death painful? (I mean, even if you are brutally murdered, does it hurt after your heart stops and everything becomes pitch black?)
- Muriel

A. Pain only exists if someone is there to feel it. When you die (heart stops-pitch black) you stop existing- so there is nothing/no one there to feel the pain of death. No pain, no pleasure, nothing. Death can be painful if it happens slowly, like cancer or being tortured to death. In those situations you are there watching yourself disappear; that is painful. But once you are gone, there is no more pain. This question is similar to the famous “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it- does it make a sound?” No, the tree doesn’t make a sound- because sound, like pain, requires 2 things in order to exist. They need to be both inflicted and received. The impulse to cause sound or pain can be sent out- but if nothing is there to receive the impulse the sound or pain never actually come into existence. When you die you cease to exist; the impulse of pain may be sent out but by the time it reaches you- you are already gone.


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