Happy Atheist Forum

While I'm pretty sure this has been discussed somewhere at some time in this forum, I just wanted to see how others felt about it, or how others respond to your views on death.

For me, I don't fear being dead.  I may fear dying or being conscious of the fact that I'm dying, but the thought of being dead doesn't bother me.  Why?  Because I 'believe' that, when you die, you're dead.  In other words, your organs, including your brain, don't work.  So you're not conscious of the fact that you're dead.  I wouldn't know that I'm dead, so I wouldn't care.

Albeit, I do feel guilty because the people I leave behind hopefully aren't going to also be dead, and therefore have to mourn.  For this reason I also fear the deaths of others, because I would miss many people terribly if they were to die.


Actually, a month or two ago a very conservative relative of mine got crushed by a lawnmower and died.  That was an interesting funeral (er, not because he died due to lawnmower-on-cinderblocks, but because I haven't been to a conservative funeral).  They told us he'd be fishing for Rainbow Trout in the Rivers of Heaven.

It's kind of odd to me how people need to believe that they'll keep living after they die.  I understand why they would like to believe that, but it doesn't seem like wanting that to happen is enough justification for it happening.  For the friends and family of the deceased, I guess it does help if they believe that they are in a better place, and that they can still "talk" to the person by praying, or that the person is watching over them.


What are your beliefs on death?  What are your viewpoints on this stuff?

It not death that bothers me - it's the ultimate ending but it's just by what method I get there that I may have a problem with.  There's a big difference between dying peacefully in my sleep and getting eaten alive by a houseful of starving, feral cats.

Quote from: "Squid"It not death that bothers me - it's the ultimate ending but it's just by what method I get there that I may have a problem with.  There's a big difference between dying peacefully in my sleep and getting eaten alive by a houseful of starving, feral cats.

Agreed ... "Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome." Isaac Asimov

Kyu

I agree with you. Its not my death that bothers me much I guess, its the ones I leave behind. I have had many deaths in my family, the worst being my mother, I was trerribly sad that I lost her, but I was even sadder for my father. And my grandmother. And same goes for all deaths I went through.

Yeah, death is nice. Dieing... not so much.

More or less the same answer here.

I'd rather not wither away for years. Dead is dead, but the quicker, the better.

I'm going to agree with every sentiment posted so far.

Dying is the last great act you can perform... do it boldly. Preferably, with cheerleaders.

I believe in life after death, just not my own.

But what am I?  What is me is simply a moving pattern of matter.  My physical nature isn't all that much different from anyone else's, but "my" ideas can transcend the flesh so to speak and end up elsewhere in a semipermanent state after I die.  I look at words as the true ghosts of the living, metaphorically speaking of course.  Ideas have a new physical carrier, from flesh to sand, to stone, to paper, or to pixels, the media really doesn't matter. Ars longa, vita bevia

People are valuable repositories of knowledge for each other.  To lose a member of society is too lose that knowledge which wasn't passed on, so we of course we mourn.  For some of us, it requires forming an imaginary idea of the person to cope with their passing.  We can simulate them in our minds, imagine their voices guiding us and what they might say in situations when we are in need.  It helps some with the grieving process.  It isn't real to anyone else, but if one considers the value of human knowledge to a human family in evolutionary terms, it's possible to understand mourning better.

What's sad is that people don't die all at once.  As they get older, they change, lose their memory with age.  They aren't really the people they once were.  I see this process in my Dad, who was my strongest influence as a child in the areas of science.  I realize as he is growing older I'm desperately trying to gain as much of his knowledge as possible, while trying to weed out all the other crap he's picked up over the years.  He's still here, but I think about the reality of his mortality more and more frequently.  I think it would piss him off to know I've been mourning him for the past few years, but I have.  I'm not sure if I will cry at his funeral, because I've kind of been doing the whole thing preemptively.  It makes it easier to deal with.

Quote from: "curiosityandthecat"Dying is the last great act you can perform... do it boldly. Preferably, with cheerleaders.

Personally, I prefer heavy machinegun fire, flashing lights and deafening explosions.  :D

Quote from: "Asmodean"

Quote from: "curiosityandthecat"Dying is the last great act you can perform... do it boldly. Preferably, with cheerleaders.

Personally, I prefer heavy machinegun fire, flashing lights and deafening explosions.  :D

Sounds like the way Hunter S. Thompson wanted to go out.  

Quote from: "curiosityandthecat"Sounds like the way Hunter S. Thompson wanted to go out.  :unsure:

i fear death, i don't understand it. i would love nothing more than to have a god that looked after me and i would live on for eternity in heaven, sadly, this is not the case. i suppose as i grow older, i will be able to grasp what happens when you die a little bit better. but for the time being, i do fear death.

Quote from: "quizlixx"i fear death, i don't understand it. i would love nothing more than to have a god that looked after me and i would live on for eternity in heaven, sadly, this is not the case. i suppose as i grow older, i will be able to grasp what happens when you die a little bit better. but for the time being, i do fear death.

Yeah I fear death, not so much the pain just the not being any more ... I wouldn't want there to be a god of any sort but I would certainly like to live for somewhat longer than I anticipate I actually will.

Kyu

Quote from: "Kyuuketsuki"

Quote from: "quizlixx"i fear death, i don't understand it. i would love nothing more than to have a god that looked after me and i would live on for eternity in heaven, sadly, this is not the case. i suppose as i grow older, i will be able to grasp what happens when you die a little bit better. but for the time being, i do fear death.

Yeah I fear death, not so much the pain just the not being any more ... I wouldn't want there to be a god of any sort but I would certainly like to live for somewhat longer than I anticipate I actually will.

Kyu

i take my "god" comment back. and also, i'm just not done living.

Quote from: "quizlixx"i fear death, i don't understand it. i would love nothing more than to have a god that looked after me and i would live on for eternity in heaven, sadly, this is not the case. i suppose as i grow older, i will be able to grasp what happens when you die a little bit better. but for the time being, i do fear death.

What I fear about death is not the dying or the nothingness.  I fear not being relevant.  Not that I view myself as being all that relevant now.  I believe I have a good deal of potential energy built up that could be harnessed into relevance and death would ground that energy forever.  As I'm writing, I am seeing how sad it is to have good intentions you may never use.

I may fear dying (actually the pain associated with it) but I don't fear death itself.  What's to fear?  It's nothingness.  And I can't do anything about what happens after I'm dead, either in the world or about my memory or what I left behind, so I refused to worry about it at all.

I do scrapbooking... I put photos and paper and other stuff on pages and I write down how I feel, the stories of what's going on in my life.  I would hope that someday, someone will care enough to thumb through it and get to know me... maybe my grandchildren or my daughter-in-law.  Realistically, however, I know no one anywhere or at any time, will give a rat's ass about my scrapbooks.  They are irrelevant even now, while I'm alive (I'm the only one who pulls them off the shelf to look at).

We are here... and then we are not, in the blink of an eye.  And to be concerned about any of that when there are so many more important issues at hand makes no sense to me.

Quote from: "DennisK"What I fear about death is not the dying or the nothingness.  I fear not being relevant.  Not that I view myself as being all that relevant now.  I believe I have a good deal of potential energy built up that could be harnessed into relevance and death would ground that energy forever.  As I'm writing, I am seeing how sad it is to have good intentions you may never use.

Eh... If you ask me, hatefully remembered is better than greatfully forgotten. But I'm a megalomaniac. (*looks at avatar*)

Death is nothing.

Go visit any concentration camp or holocaust museum and come back.

You'll be thinking of death and either hate Hitler of adore him. I can't stop thinking about death, and how fascinating it is. I am alive, and they are dead. I am dominant. Death is crazy. Life is chance, and death is cheap.

Quote from: "DeathSShead1488"You'll be thinking of death and either hate Hitler of adore him. I can't stop thinking about death, and how fascinating it is. I am alive, and they are dead. I am dominant. Death is crazy. Life is chance, and death is cheap.

And you're an idiot.

Kyu

Quote from: "DeathSShead1488"Death is nothing.

If it was nothing, it would not have existed

Quote from: "DeathSShead1488"Go visit any concentration camp or holocaust museum and come back.

Why?

Quote from: "DeathSShead1488"You'll be thinking of death and either hate Hitler of adore him.

You forgot the choice number three - MY choice. You see, I don't give a flying duck about Hitler, Holocaust or the WW2. It happened before my time and before my parents' time so I don't care and I don't want to care. If I want to see death up close, I'll go be a health care worker in Darfur or a merc in Palestine.

Quote from: "DeathSShead1488"I can't stop thinking about death, and how fascinating it is. I am alive, and they are dead. I am dominant. Death is crazy. Life is chance, and death is cheap.

They being who, exacly? And how are you the dominant one unless you are the one who killed "them"? "Cheap" and "Crazy" are very relative terms. Cheap and crazy are very relative terms. I would say that life is cheap and crazy, not death. MY life, that is - I'm in no position to assign a value or to someone else's.

I was just having another thought, though I don't see a reason to post a new thread for it.
Let's see, how do I phrase it.

My family basically believe at some point, you have to stop fighting nature and just die.  They were talking about how 50% of all Medicaid or Medicare funds go to the last six months of peoples' lives, just prolonging things with expensive procedures.
They were also talking about how my stepdad's mom is declaring bankruptcy, and also has a lot of health problems.
My parents talk about at what point they'd end it, such as when they're not able to take care of themselves anymore or have a bad disease and such.

They, and even I, think at some point there's not much use to continue to waste resources, especially if someone is so frail they can't help anyone else.  If I were diagnosed with a terminal disease, I'd at least try to volunteer and help people my last years/months/days.

What do you guys think?  Do you think you should keep grasping to life as long as possible, or is it honorable to let yourself die for the sake of others, or something else?
And if Christians believe they're going somewhere, and my parents don't, why do my parents accept death so much easier? ;P

I'd be alright with dying as long as I didn't realize it or it were really quick.  I'm young, so I'd be pissed if I knew I'd never get to program all the things I want!

My feelings on death are a little strange, seeing as how I don't feel I have a permanent soul. I view myself as interacting with phenomena in a subject object relationship, and that's it. I believe that while a single body experiences things, experience itself is... well... eternal, I guess. You continue to experience for as long as their is something to experience, even if it's not your body and mind that is experiencing things. Kind of like reincarnation, but not really. I don't go into the one body, one reincarnation, thing. I just think that there is interaction, the universe is interaction, and there is awareness of that interacation. Both are everlasting, so while I don't think I, as Wechtlein Uns will live forever, I feel I as a bundle of relationships will transcend death, so long as things interact.

pretty strange huh? It's like believing in eternal life and not believing in it at the same time. Weird, huh?

I also agree with most of what has been posted. I hope that my death will help others - either by organ donation or  a medical school having my body for teaching purposes. After all, I will have no other use for it!

Someone once put death as like go under with an anaesthetic - the world fading to black. The only difference is that you can only know afterwards that the world went black with the anaesthetic whereas with death you will no know anything else so, of course, not even know you have died.

Thanatology (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanatology). A very interesting field. There's a class offered on it here, though I've never had the opportunity to take it.

Note: not to be confused with Thanatos.  

(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages45.fotki.com%2Fv1424%2Fphotos%2F8%2F892548%2F6145789%2FThanatos-vi.gif&hash=030d92b8eaa878474bfa0338af1b89292d3cd1d2)

Outliving people sucks.  Dying also sucks - it's painful, undignified and messy.  Death is, well, death.  I admit to some fear of it, both the dying part and the ceasing to exist part, but mostly the painful, undignified and messy dying part.  

Seriously, we evolved to be afraid of death.  It helped our ancestors survive.

Quote from: "Kylyssa"Outliving people sucks.  Dying also sucks - it's painful, undignified and messy.  Death is, well, death.  I admit to some fear of it, both the dying part and the ceasing to exist part, but mostly the painful, undignified and messy dying part.  Seriously, we evolved to be afraid of death.  It helped our ancestors survive.

It (outliving) doesn't!!!! I mean yeah, it does but I'm game :banna:

Kyu

I want to go out the same way I came in: Bloody, screaming, and in love.  

Quote from: "Kyuuketsuki"

Quote from: "Kylyssa"Outliving people sucks.  Dying also sucks - it's painful, undignified and messy.  Death is, well, death.  I admit to some fear of it, both the dying part and the ceasing to exist part, but mostly the painful, undignified and messy dying part.  Seriously, we evolved to be afraid of death.  It helped our ancestors survive.

It (outliving) doesn't!!!! I mean yeah, it does but I'm game :banna:
Kyu

I know how you feel. I am in love with life! And I simply don't want it to end, ever! There is still so much to learn, so many places to see, so much progress to experience and so on.  :) And there is a - admittedly infinately small - chance that I could be picked up by Aliens in a couple of hundred thousand years. If they are able to revive me: Awesome. If not: I'll be an object in an Alien museum.

2) I know I am gonna die very soon, but I do not feel like withering in a bed. I want to die in a spectacular way so I get one amazing last experience, and will be remembered in my family for generations to come. ("Do you remember the story about your great-great-great-granpa. The one that got eaten by a shark?" or "Remember uncle? He went down Niagara falls in a barrell.") I would of course take plenty of morphine before. If you have tried morphine, you know that any kind of fracture or damage to your body, simply appears funny and peculiar.

Personally, I fear the way the religions use the human survival instinct (a.k.a. fear of death) to manipulate people.

Throughout history religions have used the lure of a pleasant afterlife to get people (mostly young men) to throw their lives away on a battlefield for causes that the religion supports (often its own expansionism). Aren't the radical Islamic suicide bombers supposed to get a hundred virgins in the afterlife, or was it a thousand? Can you say jihad? I thought you could.

Many theists seem to have this strange idea that without the threat of eternal suffering, people will be fundamentally evil or at least completely amoral. I don't get that at all. Maybe theists are fundamentally evil, and religion with its threat of eternal suffering gives them the incentive they need to function normally in civilized society. They assume that everyone else is just like them.

If there are no atheists in foxholes, it's probably because they were smart enough not to go there in the first place.

Quote from: "Elvis Priestly"Aren't the radical Islamic suicide bombers supposed to get a hundred virgins in the afterlife, or was it a thousand?

72, I think. - I'd rather have 2 sexually experienced sluts in their mid-twenties, but hey: That's just me.  :hail: That was a fine statement. And a thoughtprovoking one: I am starting a thread about this.

Quote from: "Elvis Priestly"Personally, I fear the way the religions use the human survival instinct (a.k.a. fear of death) to manipulate people.

Throughout history religions have used the lure of a pleasant afterlife to get people (mostly young men) to throw their lives away on a battlefield for causes that the religion supports (often its own expansionism). Aren't the radical Islamic suicide bombers supposed to get a hundred virgins in the afterlife, or was it a thousand? Can you say jihad? I thought you could.

Many theists seem to have this strange idea that without the threat of eternal suffering, people will be fundamentally evil or at least completely amoral. I don't get that at all. Maybe theists are fundamentally evil, and religion with its threat of eternal suffering gives them the incentive they need to function normally in civilized society. They assume that everyone else is just like them.

If there are no atheists in foxholes, it's probably because they were smart enough not to go there in the first place.

Fuckin' A!

My logic concludes me to believe that when we die it exactly like before we were born. No pain, sorrow, perception, nada. Not a bad thing at all.

Even though you die, your actions in this life continue to have an effect on the universe after your death. Thus, there is an inherent responsibility in death to settle your accounts before you go, don't you think?

Quote from: "Wechtlein Uns"Even though you die, your actions in this life continue to have an effect on the universe after your death. Thus, there is an inherent responsibility in death to settle your accounts before you go, don't you think?

Why? I see nothing inherent about your preposed responsibility in life.
It's when we adopt a philosophy (such as humanism) that we find reasoning for responsibility.

Quote from: "Wechtlein Uns"Even though you die, your actions in this life continue to have an effect on the universe after your death. Thus, there is an inherent responsibility in death to settle your accounts before you go, don't you think?

Given that I am a parent and I believe that it is up to me to ensure (as far as I can) that my children are good citizens and will contribute something positive to the world even after I am gone I'd have to say I agree with you i.e. it isn't hard to extend that to a more abstract positive POV.

Kyu

Death is pretty f'd up, we are not even programmed to die, it just happens because of retarded cells, and BESIDES, HOW AWESOME IS THE FACT THAT YOU COULD FREEZE YOUR SEMEN AND AFTER YOU DIE, SOME CRAZY WOMAN WILL TAKE SOME OF THAT AND MAKE A BABY WITH YOUR GENES!!! that always cracks me up, the only thing you could do after dying.......IS MAKE MORE BABIES

Quote from: "Caucmusulman"Death is pretty f'd up, we are not even programmed to die, it just happens because of retarded cells, and BESIDES, HOW AWESOME IS THE FACT THAT YOU COULD FREEZE YOUR SEMEN AND AFTER YOU DIE, SOME CRAZY WOMAN WILL TAKE SOME OF THAT AND MAKE A BABY WITH YOUR GENES!!! that always cracks me up, the only thing you could do after dying.......IS MAKE MORE BABIES

Technically that just someone taking a personal effect of yours and then triggering the effect.  It'd be no different if a book was released after you died, or a clone was created from a skin sample, or you were put in cold storage and then restored to consciousness in the distant future when mankind gained the technology to revive you.

You can actually do a LOT of stuff after you die, you just can't generally trigger the effects in person.

Quote from: "PipeBox"

Quote from: "Caucmusulman"Death is pretty f'd up, we are not even programmed to die, it just happens because of retarded cells, and BESIDES, HOW AWESOME IS THE FACT THAT YOU COULD FREEZE YOUR SEMEN AND AFTER YOU DIE, SOME CRAZY WOMAN WILL TAKE SOME OF THAT AND MAKE A BABY WITH YOUR GENES!!! that always cracks me up, the only thing you could do after dying.......IS MAKE MORE BABIES

Technically that just someone taking a personal effect of yours and then triggering the effect.  It'd be no different if a book was released after you died, or a clone was created from a skin sample, or you were put in cold storage and then restored to consciousness in the distant future when mankind gained the technology to revive you.

You can actually do a LOT of stuff after you die, you just can't generally trigger the effects in person.

well, if you actually want to try and prove me wrong, even though all i wanted to do is say that the fact that you can have your kids made after you die is awesome, you can have a button made that is sensitive to your heart beat and after it doesnt sense the beat of your heart it sends a signal to have your sperm delivered to whoever inseminates women, i don't know the details, so in fact you CAN trigger the effect just by dying, cuz your heart is technically you,well part of you. i hate when people miss the fun and go straight into attack mode....bam bam .....bam   ________||_                
                                                      \________    \
                                                                 \\)_\   \                          
                                                                        \__\                           supposed to be a gun

Quote from: "Caucmusulman"well, if you actually want to try and prove me wrong, even though all i wanted to do is say that the fact that you can have your kids made after you die is awesome, you can have a button made that is sensitive to your heart beat and after it doesnt sense the beat of your heart it sends a signal to have your sperm delivered to whoever inseminates women, i don't know the details, so in fact you CAN trigger the effect just by dying, cuz your heart is technically you,well part of you. i hate when people miss the fun and go straight into attack mode....bam bam .....bam   ________||_                
                                                      \________    \
                                                                 \\)_\   \                          
                                                                        \__\                           supposed to be a gun

That was attack mode?   I hardly consider what I said any kind of personal attack.  I'd even dare to say my post was more of an addenum, never saying you were wrong.   Though I will say the absence of your heartbeat is hardly something you will.  Your example is a piece reactionary technology that would just as soon be triggered in open air, and in every case it does not trigger because of your intervention but due to a lack of it.  It's a deadman's switch, in every sense of the word.  

I don't miss the fun, I just see waaaaay too many arguments based on incredulity during my day.  You were not making any argument, you were just asserting that you found something "weird."  I wished to expand your observation so that it would be more complete, and you might avoid making an argument from incredulity in the future.  Not saying you definitely would make a fallacious argument, either.  I make a lot of statements out of precaution, it might not make me a hit at parties, but it certainly isn't because I have a problem with people being fun or because I want to attack them.

Natural dying (from old age) is the result of improper protein reception by cells. If someone could figure out how to prevent cells from losing their ability to receive proteins over time, then voila, immortality.  

Quote from: "curiosityandthecat"Natural dying (from old age) is the result of improper protein reception by cells. If someone could figure out how to prevent cells from losing their ability to receive proteins over time, then voila, immortality.  :)

Quote from: "PipeBox"

Quote from: "Caucmusulman"well, if you actually want to try and prove me wrong, even though all i wanted to do is say that the fact that you can have your kids made after you die is awesome, you can have a button made that is sensitive to your heart beat and after it doesnt sense the beat of your heart it sends a signal to have your sperm delivered to whoever inseminates women, i don't know the details, so in fact you CAN trigger the effect just by dying, cuz your heart is technically you,well part of you. i hate when people miss the fun and go straight into attack mode....bam bam .....bam   ________||_                
                                                      \________    \
                                                                 \\)_\   \                          
                                                                        \__\                           supposed to be a gun

That was attack mode?   I hardly consider what I said any kind of personal attack.  I'd even dare to say my post was more of an addenum, never saying you were wrong.   Though I will say the absence of your heartbeat is hardly something you will.  Your example is a piece reactionary technology that would just as soon be triggered in open air, and in every case it does not trigger because of your intervention but due to a lack of it.  It's a deadman's switch, in every sense of the word.   :banna: peanut butter jelly time

Quote from: "curiosityandthecat"Natural dying (from old age) is the result of improper protein reception by cells. If someone could figure out how to prevent cells from losing their ability to receive proteins over time, then voila, immortality.  :D

Kyu

Quote from: "PipeBox"

If people stop dying of old age, people will start getting murdered once the food starts to run out. I think a life extending drug would seriously screw up this planet. Even if it were discarded, I'm sure a few greasy politicians would find an excuse to get it " Oh this? I need to live for a least another 200 years to make sure my policy reforms are in order. The yacht? That has nothing to do with it."

I take a rather dim view of humanity in general and politicians in particular.

I personally think that when we get to a certain age, regardless of if our genes could properly get protein, I think we would become very mentally world-weary. I do not want to die right now but I also would never want to live forever. That is actually one of my biggest turn offs in religion. However I love life and am happy with most of it and even appreciate the rough times as giving me experience. But to live forever seems like it is way too much of a good thing, after awhile you will get numb to it. After all the more things change the more they stay the same.

I do think to many people do die prematurely from disease and war but if we are capable of leading what is a fufilling life (to us) then dying is something that is like bowing out. It can be done gracefully. I do not mean grace in the sense that some people would think would be physically graceful, but I view grace like this "It is not what happens to you that makes you a better person or more a graceful one but how you deal with it".

I am lucky to have seen several people I know do this looking forward to "eternal rest" but not being depressed while it happens. Not all of these people were old either.

Anyway, sorry for that diatribe.

Quote from: "Moses"I personally think that when we get to a certain age, regardless of if our genes could properly get protein, I think we would become very mentally world-weary. I do not want to die right now but I also would never want to live forever. That is actually one of my biggest turn offs in religion. However I love life and am happy with most of it and even appreciate the rough times as giving me experience. But to live forever seems like it is way too much of a good thing, after awhile you will get numb to it. After all the more things change the more they stay the same.

I do think to many people do die prematurely from disease and war but if we are capable of leading what is a fufilling life (to us) then dying is something that is like bowing out. It can be done gracefully. I do not mean grace in the sense that some people would think would be physically graceful, but I view grace like this "It is not what happens to you that makes you a better person or more a graceful one but how you deal with it".

I am lucky to have seen several people I know do this looking forward to "eternal rest" but not being depressed while it happens. Not all of these people were old either.

Anyway, sorry for that diatribe.

I want to live forever. I'll be the first one to jump on that drug trial if there ever is one. I'm an experience whore. I can't possibly experience and learn everything in one measly lifetime! I also hate the fact that I have to spend so much time sleeping, which is, I believe, "death's cousin" according to the French.

My outlook on death is that it is simply another stage of the life cycle. In a way we are all immortal after all. Mater can never be destroyed just redistributed so where as i am no longer here I am not gone I am just changed into something else. This is not to be confused with the idea of consciousness or self traveling in this next form as well. When you are dead that is all. I think every thing simply breaks down and is redistributed. It would be rather foolish to believe that we are the only ones in this universe that have an immortal spirit. In my view this idea is worse than beliveing that we are the only sentient life in the universe.

Quote from: "Dragon_Of_Heavon"My outlook on death is that it is simply another stage of the life cycle. In a way we are all immortal after all. Mater can never be destroyed just redistributed so where as i am no longer here I am not gone I am just changed into something else. This is not to be confused with the idea of consciousness or self traveling in this next form as well. When you are dead that is all. I think every thing simply breaks down and is redistributed. It would be rather foolish to believe that we are the only ones in this universe that have an immortal spirit. In my view this idea is worse than beliveing that we are the only sentient life in the universe.

Welcome to the forum dragon. To add to your post, in a way we are breaking down into other things well before death too. Ours cells die all through our life, we excrete and respire constantly (well, some of us excrete constantly, but that's a whole different issue!), and we change much of our matter into heat energy via various electrochemical actions every moment. So you might say we are immortal from before we are even born. Kind of cool.

Again, welcome.

Quote from: "Dragon_Of_Heavon"My outlook on death is that it is simply another stage of the life cycle. In a way we are all immortal after all. Mater can never be destroyed just redistributed so where as i am no longer here I am not gone I am just changed into something else. This is not to be confused with the idea of consciousness or self traveling in this next form as well. When you are dead that is all. I think every thing simply breaks down and is redistributed. It would be rather foolish to believe that we are the only ones in this universe that have an immortal spirit. In my view this idea is worse than beliveing that we are the only sentient life in the universe.

Wait, you are an atheist but you beleive in a spirit? From your other post about the scientific method I am surprised you hold this view.

Quote from: "curiosityandthecat"I want to live forever. I'll be the first one to jump on that drug trial if there ever is one. I'm an experience whore. I can't possibly experience and learn everything in one measly lifetime! I also hate the fact that I have to spend so much time sleeping, which is, I believe, "death's cousin" according to the French.

Me too!  I get my share of crap in this life but there's just so much to do that I can't imagine ever wanting to bow out gracefully.  There's so much to learn, so much to do, so much joy and pleasure to be had.

Dear SSY

No sorry to have confused you I am an atheist it was a clumsy attack on religion. I go to a catholic college I am used to playing devils advocate to get my point across. I do not believe in a spirit at all.