A fate worse than death. That's what a human who uses a Death Note--writing people's name on it and thus killing them--is subjected to. Light Yagami, an overzealous lover of justice turns mass murderer, undoubtedly earns that. But the anticlimactic ending got me very disappointed. Because for all his ruthless killing, in the end Light Yagami simply ceases to exist. That's what "a fate worse than death" is all about.
Upon death, your brain stops sending and receiving impulses to and from its nerves, your heart stops pumping blood, etch. Death equals irreversible systemic organ failure. Many systems of belief, though, consider death not as the ultimate end but simply a gateway to another state of being. And beyond this, retribution lays.
The idea is that no good deeds go unrewarded and no bad deeds go unpunished. Hence, heaven and hell, good karma and bad karma.
Interestingly, nonexistence does have its place in this sort of concept. Just like many of us, Ancient Egyptians believed in the afterlife and judgment. It is said that a person's heart would be weighed against a single feather representing Ma'at--the concept of truth and order--by the god Anubis. If one's heart were pure, not weighed down by the guilt or sins of his actions in life, it would be lighter than the feather and he would be welcomed to the Ancient Egyptians' version of heaven (a big farmland, actually). On the contrary, if one's heart were heavier than the feather, it would be eaten by Ammit, a demon part crocodile, part lion, and part hippopotamus. Since heart was the center of reason and emotion, Ancient Egyptians believed that someone without a heart essentially ceased to exist--which was the worst possible fate they could imagine.
Let me say this: I think nonexistence is not a fate worse than death, and it is surely not a good enough retribution for a mass murderer who doesn't even repent for his crime. Oh sure, it might sound frightening now when you think about it while you're living. Imagining that your whole being is wiped out completely and that, fifty, a hundred, a thousand years from now, nobody would now that you ever existed. But nonexistence is terrifying only if it is perceived as just another state of existence, which doesn't make sense.
Okay, let's imagine that you're non-existent. If you're non-existent, it means you have no body, no conscience, no feeling. You are nothing. (Even using the word "you" is superfluous, but let's just keep it for the sake of the argument.) Simply put, you will not be around when you "experience" being non-existent. And how can someone who doesn't even exist feel happy or unhappy? The answer is: they can't.
Nonexistence is a fate worse than death? I don't think so. You should've thought of something better than that, Ooba-sensei.
