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The more you fail to
experience your life fully, the more you will fear death. Nietzsche expressed this idea forcefully in two short epigrams: "Consummate your life" and "Die at the right time" -as did Zorba the Greek in urging, "Leave death nothing but a burned out castle," and Sartre, in his autobiography: "I was going quietly to my end... certain that the last burst of my heart would be inscribed on the last page of my work and that death would be taking only a dead man."
The frightening thought of inevitable death, Epicurus insisted, interferes with our enjoyment of life and leaves no pleasure undisturbed. Because no activity can satisfy our craving for eternal life, all activities are intrinsically unrewarding. He wrote that many individuals develop a hatred of life-even, ironically, to the point of suicide; others engage in frenetic and aimless activity that has no point other than the avoidance of the pain inherent in the human condition.
