“We really do not know what happens to life’s sorrows after death, especially those last moments of suffering, it is possible that everything ends with death but we cannot be certain that the memory of suffering does not linger at least for several hours in this body we describe as dead, nor can we rule out the possibility that matter uses putrefaction as a last resort in order to rid itself of suffering.” – José Saramago, The Gospel According to Jesus Christ (trans. Giovanni Pontiero)