“Therefore death is nothing to us and does not concern us in the least.”Lucretius · Despre natura lucrurilor · -55 · Cartea III, versul 830
Death cannot affect us because we never coexist with it.
Lucretius, following Epicurus, argues that death is not an experience we can undergo. While we exist, death is absent; when death arrives, we cease to be. Therefore, it makes no sense to fear something we will never feel. The fear of death stems from a confusion: we imagine ourselves present as spectators of our own disappearance.
Why it matters Today, this idea can free us from existential anxiety and help us focus on the life we live, not on its end.