Why do we die?

Question

Please, try to avoid using Holy Book quotes. I want to know *your* theories and opinions.

I know the biological reasons that cause death.

I'm asking for your opinion on the philosophical/spiritual viewpoint of the matter.

Answer 1

Good question. There are different answers, depending on your view point.

Religious people would say we die as we were expelled from the Garden of Eden. So it is punishment for the "original sin"

Philosophers would say we die in order to cherish and value life. Just imagine: if you life forever than you can reach everything, you can get everything (if not today tha tomorrow). SO you will not value anything.

Naturalists would say we die because it is the nature: everything start at a point and ends sometimes later.

Answer 2

When taking an adolescent fiction course in undergrad I read this book titled The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer. As part of the plot, a main character named Alacran, or El Patron, lived 140 years with the help of transplants from a series of clones, a common practice among rich men in this Sci-Fi world. So if we went by science alone we could possibly live longer by just replacing the organs that begin to break down and not work.

I hope that this doesn’t offend anyone. Think of how stubborn some older people can act. If people everyone lived forever, nothing would change. Or, it would change very slowing, stunting innovation. We live and die so that we can evolve.

Then again, we could possibly go through our trials in life so that we can better enjoy the afterlife or great beyond. The end of physical doesn’t have to mean the end of the journey.

Answer 3

I think 'why do we live' might be a more valid question. Be that as it may, I think death is a transition from 'here' to whatever 'there' may be. There is a preponderance of anecdotal evidence that the universe is infinite and everything within it undergoes transformation and these transformations are happening all the time - with some taking moments and some millions of years.

I believe that death is a transition. What that next step in the transition will be, I don't honestly know. But, I think it will be pretty interesting.

Answer 4

Evolutionary reason: aint no way a limited-resource planet could support an ever-increasing number of complex life forms. My theology's reason: bodies and everything physical (the whole universe and everything in it including consciousness, etc.) represents a mechanism to try and cling on to individuality and the illusion of separateness that 'god's' single creation thought it wanted. With death, the idea of the power, existence, and love of god is wiped out and the illusion of separateness is maintained. Therefore, the only way to resolve is to have an enlightenment experience where the illusion is seen for what it is and, as a zen master put it, the concept of 'going and coming' (being born and dying) is resolved.

Answer 5

We die because we are inherently imperfect. Adam and eve had the chance to live forever and populate the earth with perfection. Now look where we are. Gradually over the thousands of years with the generations of new illnesses and new weapons, our lifespan has gone down to just 60-70 years (if we're lucky). With the proper instruction and reading the bible you could have the greatest hope for the future. Life without end.

Answer 6

The best sources today indicate that the cells of our body have thier own sort of life span. Generally speaking, cells will devide approximately 50 times. As time passes, cells die from various causes - disease, damage, etc and the surrounding cells of the tissue regenerate the tissue by deviding. This insures that the tissue is healthy and all there. Eventually enough cells have devided 50 times and after that - no more. When those cells dies, thats it, nothing to replace the tissue. The tissue then begins to deteriorate and thats what each of us experiences as the aging process. Eventually there are not enough healthy cells left for the tissues and organs to function properly and you die from some organ failure or by succuming to some disease that your immune system can no longer fight off. This is the physical process of how we die.

Answer 7

I am sure of only two things. 1. We are finite beings. 2. Change is constant.
As far as I know nothing is permanent, even galaxies grow and collapse and stars wax and wane. I think most folks want to believe in some type of after life. That may be true or not, I do know that all of us are going to cease to live in these bodies at some point.

Answer 8

basically our genes replicate themselves until they can't anymore which means no more self healing or very slow self healing! When this happens certain parts of the body that are needed don't get restored like they should. This isn't neccisarily painful just limiting our bodies. Eventually we stress out and die like an overloaded bridge falling in a creek
Or you can believe that God doesn't want us to exist anymore so he has limited our genetics to only last until a certain point in time. Either way, we die

Answer 9

I believe my theory can't be separated from what I have learned through scriptures. Sorry. It just can't. I believe what I believe because I have read and studied. My opinion is truth to me. We die because there is corruption. Man was initially intended to live forever. Then upset of the natural balance of things caused it to change. We were not created to be stressed, exposed to harmful enviroments, evil thoughts, etc. The body is not created to full adapt so therefore we all die.

Answer 10

The reason we die is we exist in a world of duality. Everything that exists in the physical dimension has a begining, middle, and end. This is not good or evil it's just the way the universe is!

Death and life are two sides of the same coin. You can not have one without the other.