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Death: An Atheist's Perspective

Started by Whitney, September 20, 2010, 02:11:17 AM

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Whitney

I thought it would be appropriate to start a thread where people can share their perspective on death, how to cope with the finality of death, and thoughts on dying.  These are issues that many atheists have to work through and having a place to read and discuss an often avoided topic should be helpful.

My perspective is fairly simply that I won't be around to worry about being dead after I am dead so there is no sense worrying about it now; especially since it is inevitable and it only makes sense to worry over that which we can change.  I also think that religion thrives as much as it does because people want to hear that there is an afterlife rather than dealing with a finite existence.

curiosityandthecat

“Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist.”
- Epicurus

...that about sums it up. Anyway, it's not the death part that I think about; it's the dying part.
-Curio

PoopShoot

A 14 year old summed it up best for me: I don't fear death, it's the part right before that I'm scared of.
All hail Cancer Jesus!

tymygy

In a way, the knowledge of death makes us one of the weakest species.

We then start to deny the fact we will die, by, pretending we're going to live forever in heaven.

The understanding of death is simple, when we die, its over, No more existence.

And I can LIVE with that.
Quote from: "Tank"The Catholic Church jumped on the Big Bang as if it were a choir boy! .

NothingSacred

I sometimes am afraid of death but then I think to myself "I didn't exsist before I was born and I didn't mind so much then.". I think about death a lot more after having left religion. It makes me want to enjoy the moment, speak my mind, go after what I want,and let go of guilt and regret. I now understand that life is over in a flash. I am probably not going to get another shot at life so I had better start enjoying this one. That's part of the reason I feel religion is so criminal.
A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices -William James
Anything worth knowing is difficult to learn- Greek Proverb
what if god ain't looking down what if he's looking up instead-Ani difranco "what if no one's watching

The Magic Pudding

How do you get nothingness into perspective? It's hard to find the right angle.

My mother died a couple of years ago, she had Alzheimer's so I welcomed it, I'm sure she would have too.
I don't fear death, deterioration and disability are much more worrying.

I did have a friend who died, he had a young family and really embraced life, much more than I ever have.
I didn't have the wisdom or illusion to find anything but sadness in the situation.

I haven't really had much death around me.

karadan

I don't think i'm afraid of dying, rather, i'm afraid of dying early. I think 80 is a good age, as long as i'm not completely cenile by then. My grandfather is 83 and although his health is pretty bad, his brain is still top-notch. I want to pass peacefully, in my sleep, if possible.

I tend not to think about death too much, though.
QuoteI find it mistifying that in this age of information, some people still deny the scientific history of our existence.

Thumpalumpacus

I'm okay with death.  I'd prefer it to be quick, but lord knows the world ain't given me what I want so far, so I'll probably end up with a long slow cancer or something.  But as mentioned above, I didn't miss much before my birth, and I don't reckon I'll miss much after I've died.  I just need to do a better job filling the interim days.  For what it's worth.
Illegitimi non carborundum.

Tank

I won't be aware of being dead so the condition is irrelevent.
If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

Asmodean

Death is the inevitable result of life. The process of dieing is the b*tch here... It can be long and rather unpleasant.
Quote from: Ecurb Noselrub on July 25, 2013, 08:18:52 PM
In Asmo's grey lump,
wrath and dark clouds gather force.
Luxembourg trembles.

Jats

"..a delightful morbid thread..." says the chameleon raising an eyebrow "... but I have thought about it and looked into it, how I want to be disposed of, and seeing as the possibility of my body lying under a shield on the deck of a Viking ship floating out to sea as archers fire torched arrows from the cliffs to set me ablaze on my journey to Valhalla is out of the question (I did enquire, however the local council objected, something about health & safety on canal highways)... I am going for a simpler approach then, at a burial field, by chance, not far from me, a simple ceremony where I will be buried under a tree, in a cardboard box. An Ash I think, no cold headstone or plaque for me, just Dad's Tree and if they wish, they can come and give it a hug, or sit beneath it for a while, as I feed it from below, so, perhaps then, in some way I will live for a hundred years more, before I fall once more, and then I hope I burn just as bright..."


The Magic Pudding

Quote from: "Jats"I will be buried under a tree, in a cardboard box. An Ash I think, no cold headstone or plaque for me, just Dad's Tree and if they wish, they can come and give it a hug, or sit beneath it for a while, as I feed it from below, so, perhaps then, in some way I will live for a hundred years more, before I fall once more, and then I hope I burn just as bright..."

I was going to ask you about the tree you were going to be buried under, was it new or old.
But I started wondering does anyone grow their death tree beforehand, play Bach for it and discuss where god went wrong?
If I get to late 70s I'm going to get me a death tree, I want to know the tree who's gonna consume me.

Thumpalumpacus

Were it not for the burial laws here, when my time came I'd go to a little bluff south of San Simeon which is covered in sycamores [I think they're sycamores], sit down, and molder right there.
Illegitimi non carborundum.

leveni

I'm curious about it. Do we just not exist anymore or do we have spirits that continue to exist in some way. I really want to find out, so I'm kind of looking forward to death. But in the mean time, I'm trying to find something interesting to do.

Parsifal

I'd like my corpse to be dunked into liquid nitrogen and smashed into a million pieces, and then a tree planted over it.
Please support follow my mammoth project to tweet the whole of Darwin's On the Origin of Species at https://twitter.com/OriginsTweeted.

"There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cy