Death is not an experience

You can’t be dead and experience being dead; you can only be alive and perceive or contemplate death, or have experienced the process of dying. Having said that, I am sure you have heard expressions of how people view death as an experience. You have also seen how some lawmakers and Hollywood filmmakers depict death as some righteous punishment. Logically, to punish someone, keep them alive and let them feel pain – that is a real experience.

There are also a couple common cultural expressions that people constantly repeat.They include:

Until we meet again: This phrase expresses the hope of a future reunion in an afterlife, suggesting the separation is temporary and death is some kind of transition experience.

See you on the other side: Similarly, this expresses the thought that there is a better “other” side that the dead person is waiting for the living to be re-united. It also expresses some hope or knowledge that the dead person lived a good life to be given access to that “other side” when he/she transitioned.

Death isn’t an experience because experiencing requires consciousness, and death is the cessation of consciousness, making it impossible for the deceased to have any perception or memory of it, meaning it’s only an event for the living to observe or conceptualize, not something a person undergoes firsthand as a state of being. It’s a state of non-existence, a boundary of life, not a phase within it, making it inherently unknowable from the perspective of the dead.

Key Reasons Death Isn’t Experienced:

Lack of Consciousness: Experience requires a conscious subject; when you die, consciousness ends, so there’s no “you” left to perceive anything.

The “Nothing” Paradox: We can’t conceive of true nothingness because our brains are built to process something; death is the ultimate absence of something, making it beyond our capacity to grasp.

A Concept for the Living: Death is a concept defined by those who live on, a boundary or endpoint for them, not a state the dead can participate in.

No Continuity: The continuity of self, which defines experience, is broken at death, meaning there’s no transition or awareness between life and what follows. 

Philosophical & Scientific Perspectives:

An experience requires an “experiencer”—a subject to receive sensations or thoughts.

A philosopher famously stated, “Death is not an event in life: we do not live to experience death,” highlighting that it’s outside the realm of lived experience.

Near-Death Experiences (NDEs): While NDEs involve altered states and sensations, they occur during the process of dying or resuscitation, not after true, irreversible death, providing glimpses of altered consciousness, not the state of being dead. Research suggests NDEs occur while the brain is still functioning, often under extreme stress or oxygen deprivation. As one doctor puts it: “Death is permanent. You cannot be revived from death. If you are revived then you weren’t actually dead, you were just in cardiac arrest. The actual medical definition of death is an irreversible cessation of cardiac, pulmonary, and neurological function”.

The Epicurean View – Deprivation of Sensation: The ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus argued that death cannot be good or bad for the person who dies because it involves a total absence of sensation. The Void: From the perspective of the individual, death is often likened to the state before birth—a “non-experience” that leaves no memory or sensation because there is no functioning consciousness to record it. Absence of Feeling: Epicurus posited that “death is nothing to us,” because when we exist, death is not present, and when death is present, we no longer exist to feel it.

Science & Consciousness: Research into consciousness suggests that subjective experience ceases with brain death, though theories in physics and medicine explore consciousness beyond typical understanding, these don’t negate the fundamental barrier to experiencing the state of being dead. You can’t be dead and experience being dead; you can only be alive and perceive or contemplate death, or have experienced the process of dying.

People die in various ways, each with differing levels of anticipation:

• Accidents: Sudden and unexpected, often leaving no time to prepare.
  • The seconds before death, in this case, are the last moments of experience for an individual that dies by accident. If we could put back the body parts together and give such a person life again they would not even know they died. Accidents can also occur while a person is asleep so the last experience for some people are the normal things they do before getting into bed and falling asleep.
• Illness: Can provide time to prepare, say goodbyes, and make amends.
  • These last experiences can be very valuable. This is if the illness is known. There are people walking around not knowing they have cancer or heart disease who sometimes just drop dead. An individual in this latter group also die not knowing what was going to happen and his/her last experience is some kind of sensation or pain before nothing. There are persons in the illness group that also die in their sleep.
• Murder: Tragic and unexpected, often leaving loved ones with trauma.
  • Some people in this group know, only seconds before, that they are going to die. Some are murdered in their sleep, poisoned or gassed, having no knowledge of what was about to happened.
• Suicide: A complex issue, often linked to mental health or financial struggles.
  • In this case, such person know what is going to happen and time is spent planning the exit place and time. Death is still not an experience in this case and these individuals are only conscious of the actions they take seconds before nothingness.
• Death Penalty: This is where a government kills in the name of the law and punishment. Individuals here can also prepare and make amends but still death is not an experience – only the minutes before when they are moved to the death location. They can see what will kill them before nothingness.
• Casualty of war: Dying fighting for your country may be the highest sacrifice and patriotism but most soldiers think they will return to their community, wives and kids as heroes. These soldiers also have some time to prepare for their deaths based on probability. It is the just-in-case or what-if preemptive planning.

Dying vs. Being Dead

Distinguishing between the process and the state is crucial for this logical framework:

• Dying is an experience: The physical and mental process leading up to death (dying) is an event that occurs while a person is still alive and conscious, and can therefore be experienced.
• Death is a limit: In this view, death is the “limit” of life rather than an “event” within it. Just as the edge of your visual field is not something you see, but the point at which seeing stops, death is the point at which experiencing stops.

Illnesses like terminal cancer or ALS can give individuals time to prepare, while accidents and murder often don’t. This contrast highlights the importance of living in the present and appreciating the time we have – especially with loved ones.

Death marks the end of our experience, and the seconds before are the last we’ll ever know. While it’s natural to hope for more, understanding death as a natural part of life can help us cherish the limited time we have on earth.