Anyone who has sat at the bedside of a loved one who is dying – and that is an experience most of us will have gone through – will understand how precious life is.

Whether death is a destination in itself or a gateway to another form of existence is a debate which has been raging since man first walked on earth.

The conundrum has kept philosophers and theologians in a job. Their theories may be challenged; but their dignity remains intact because no-one can prove them right or wrong.

Socrates and Plato – sadly missing these days from the curriculum – believed death was a portal to another, better world; Epicurus said death was the end and that fear of it was futile, so we should just get on with living. His fellow stoic Marcus Aurelius built on that: “It is not death man should fear, but rather he should fear never beginning his life.”

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Ever down-in-the-mouth, Jean-Paul Sartre thought death was merely a mirror image of our meaningless existence. “You are nothing other than your life.”

You might expect a bit more certainty with Christian theologians. But even devout Christians, whose belief is........

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