Dialogue with death: The Last Days of Socrates and the Buddha

The author Mathew Dillion in this essay had tried to view death from the perspective of Socrates and Buddha. The author does point out that birth and death have been related to be inseparable in many eastern philosophies. Socrates had stated that accepting death and dying to be the highest philosophical goal (Matthew 525). Buddha had stated the it is inevitable that whoever is born must die though death is a matter of great sadness and sorrow in all human communities. We do know that humans generally fear death and they treat it as an end of self. Though most believe that soul is immortal, but according to the author this belief is not reflected in great fear shown toward death. The author points out that it is easy to make claims of believing in afterlife but clinging on to faith in fear of death is not achievable by many.