Death is the permanent cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include biological aging (senescence), predation, malnutrition, disease, suicide, murder and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury. Bodies of living organisms begin to decompose shortly after death.
In human societies, the nature of death has for millennia been a concern of the world's religious traditions and of philosophical inquiry. This may include a belief in some kind of resurrection (associated with Abrahamic religions), reincarnation (associated with Dharmic religions), or that consciousness permanently ceases to exist, known as oblivion (associated with atheism).
The response after death includes various feelings of grief or emotional suffering one feels when something or someone the individual loves is taken away. Commemoration ceremonies after death may include various mourning or funereal practices. The physical remains of a person, commonly known as a corpse or body, are usually interred whole or cremated, though among the world's cultures there are a variety of other methods of mortuary disposal. In the English language, blessings directed towards a deceased person include rest in peace, or its initials RIP.
The most common cause of human deaths in the world is heart disease, followed by stroke and other cerebrovascular diseases, and on the third place lower respiratory infections.
Read more about Death: Etymology, Associated Terms, Senescence, Signs of Death, Causes, Life Extension, Location, Society and Culture, Death and Consciousness, In Biology
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“You know, if this is Venus, or some other strange planet, we’re liable to run into some high-domed characters with green blood in their veins who’ll blast at us with their atomic death rayguns, and there we’ll be with these—these poor old-fashioned shootin’ irons.”
—Edward L. Bernds (b. 1911)
“There is no such thing as an ugly language. Today I hear every language as if it were the only one, and when I hear of one that is dying, it overwhelms me as though it were the death of the earth.”
—Elias Canetti (b. 1905)
“Death does determine life.... Once life is finished it acquires a sense; up to that point it has not got a sense; its sense is suspended and therefore ambiguous. However, to be sincere I must add that for me death is important only if it is not justified and rationalized by reason. For me death is the maximum of epicness and death.”
—Pier Paolo Pasolini (1922–1975)