Problem dealing with death as an atheist

[Thor]

There are much worse things than death. Would you want to live forever if you were incapable of taking care of yourself? If all you could do was lie in a bed and have someone feed you, wash you and wipe your ass?? What if you had severe chronic pain that incapacitated you? Would you want to live forever? I wouldn't. What if you were blind, deaf and incapable of enjoying life? What if you lost all your limbs in an accident? Would you want that to be a condition that you would want to live with for eternity?

I look at death as a release. Our bodies eventually degenerate to the point where they cause us pain and discomfort. We should be happy that nature has provided us with a means of shedding our broken down body and escaping the misery caused by it.

[BlackUnicorn]

Think of rotting cabbage, or rotting pig meat, then couple it with decaying clothing. I am going with cremation.

I'm donating my corpse to science

That is an option as well.

[Ace Otana]

There are much worse things than death. Would you want to live forever if you were incapable of taking care of yourself? If all you could do was lie in a bed and have someone feed you, wash you and wipe your ass??

Good point. I swear if I ever came to that or close to it, I would ask a favour from a very hot lass.
I'd ask her to have me in a headsicssor hold (where she raps her thighs around your neck and squeezes the life out of you). I ask her to keep squeezing long after I've passed out, in other words, keep squeezing till death. Nice way to go, crushed to death by girls legs.

Back to topic, as much as I love life and the desire to live on for so many years, I would like there to be an end at some point. Never ending afterlife would be hell for me. So when religion offers such things, I do not find it very appealing. I won't mind being dead, I won't even know I'm dead. What I am afraid of is how I'll die, when and all those I love that I would end up leaving behind. Death itself does not worry me, well a little seeing as I haven't lived enough of my life yet. But when I'm old and useless, I'd have no problem with being dead. I see it as joining the many who have lived before, forever rest where there is no pain, no worry, no enemy, no lust for revenge, nothing. To be among the billions of those who have passed away. Time will pass by the billions of years as it would no longer have any meaning to you. You'll be beyond time and space.

I've chosen to be cremated for some pretty good reasons. Cremated and my ashes thrown into the ocean. I don't want to be buried, so that those I've left behind can't say that I'm at some dull cemetery, not one single place to point at. Instead if they ask where I'm at, they can say that I'm everywhere. Because I really would be everywhere. Most of me would of been converted into heat energy, and what's left would circle the oceans and sky. I won't be at one boring place, I'll be everywhere. A much better idea than being in a rotting box 6 feet under ground. :p

[Thor]

There are much worse things than death. Would you want to live forever if you were incapable of taking care of yourself? If all you could do was lie in a bed and have someone feed you, wash you and wipe your ass??

Good point. I swear if I ever came to that or close to it, I would ask a favour from a very hot lass.
I'd ask her to have me in a headsicssor hold (where she raps her thighs around your neck and squeezes the life out of you). I ask her to keep squeezing long after I've passed out, in other words, keep squeezing till death. Nice way to go, crushed to death by girls legs.

Nice way to go! At least the last thing you see is something beautiful!

Many people think death is absolutely horrible. But is it? You have no more problems. No fears. No worries. I'd say it's worse for the survivors. They have to carry on without their loved one.

If you were a slave working in a salt mine, would life really be worth living? I can think of MANY examples where not existing would be preferable to existing.

[Cynical8]

Cynical8 = still just one post. I wouldnt put much more thought into this until he or she posts again.

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I was checking out people's responses before I replied ;-)

Thank you for the fantastic responses. Unfortunately, I've already thought of and told myself most of them.

The idea of death as an ultimate peace doesn't work for me because to me, I can't be in peace if I don't exist anymore. And by "I" I mean myself consciously speaking. I guess part of my recent discomfort with the idea of death is that there won't be a "me" (in the consciousness sense) to even acknowledge the "peace." Maybe this borders more along the psychological lines, but I'd rather live with a disability or with boredom or with stress than not live at all.

While I am afraid of dying, the fear (of death) is only half my problem. The other half of the problem is that I have a very "clear" concept of death. I know the basic science of decaying bodies, and that both myself and the universe did not exist at one point and all of that. I also know that nothing lasts forever, and that there's nothing that can be done about death. But for some reason, the thought of never thinking again is something I can't quite accept.

Psychologically speaking, I feel like even if I find someone who is an atheist to talk to about it, that the chances are they won't be able to give me input that the intelligent atheist community would (hence me looking for input on these forums). And all the drugs in the world aren't going to change the fact that there won't even be a me to acknowledge that I don't exist anymore.

I know that there's no real answer or fix or solution to my inability to ease my problem. Some really great ways of coping with death have been presented in this thread. None of them really work for me though.

[Shell B]

And all the drugs in the world aren't going to change the fact that there won't even be a me to acknowledge that I don't exist anymore.

That should be comforting. If you don't even know that you don't exist anymore, what's the fucking problem? If you can't lament your passing, there is no sadness. There is nothing.

[reverendjeremiah]

And all the drugs in the world aren't going to change the fact that there won't even be a me to acknowledge that I don't exist anymore.

That should be comforting. If you don't even know that you don't exist anymore, what's the fucking problem? If you can't lament your passing, there is no sadness. There is nothing.

Ditto..Im with Shell B on this one.

[Zenith]

I've been dealing with an issue that I believe only atheists could really help me with, and so I came across these forums. I just joined, and after a quick browse didn't see my issue anywhere, so I apologize if this is a repeat topic.

Anyway. I'll do my best to explain my issue:
I'm an atheist and I also have a few problems with depression and anxiety. My problem, however, is that I've recently developed a MAJOR "fear" of death.

Specifically, I am convinced, beyond a doubt, that there is no existence after death. I am 100% convinced that when I die, there will be nothingness... no afterlife, no me, no thoughts, no blackness, no sleep, nor any ability to think. I won't even know I died, and I won't even be able to acknowledge that I don't know I died. At this moment, I feel like I really understand what that means, and I am deeply deeply disturbed by it. I'm not sure how to cope with it. I can keep it out of my mind for short periods of time, but ultimately I'll read an article about someone dying, see a news report, and so on and start thinking about it again.

If anyone has any advice or thoughts or hopefully some sort of solution to my problem, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

Why fear death? It's INEVITABLE! Sooner or later would happen, anyway.

It's so funny that some people really believe that man would overcome death by a scientific method or something. You know, even if it would be possible by a scientific method (though I doubt it), no common man would have access to it. You know, with the current death rate, the population of the Terra is already very large, so it would be very destructive to make everyone live forever (because of breeding - and many wish to have children). So perhaps only people like the Catholic Pope, Kings and other very important people would have access to such thing. Again, I doubt that a scientific method would ever be found for a man to live forever.

Well, I'll tell how you can not wish to live forever: if you realize the misery of people (friends that betray you for nothing, girlfriend or wife that cheats you, people that either despise you for not being like them, envying you if you are better than them at some things, etc.) and the fact that most of the time you spend is by doing what you don't like (e.g. a job, eating, sleeping, paying bills, and other things that must be done) you will realize that you do too much and receive to little. And most people are not "good guys" either, and you'll see how crappy they are when they are tested: if there is famine, one might even beat up his best friend to take his bread. In other words, people would do everything possible for them to be happier of more wealthy, even if that means to do a great evil to a very good friend, taking by force the last dollar of a poor man, etc.

About what happens after death... I never died, so I can be neither precise nor trustworthy. Anyway, it is interesting that it seems that life after death is not a christian invention: it was also believed by the pagan greeks, etc. And it seems that even many of the diabolical punishments in "hell" (tortured by demons, etc.) were also not a christian invention:

Though many ancient mythologies explained how death came into the world, comparatively few promised a better life to come. Their underworlds were mostly gloomy places, into which the dead were thrust by hideous demons or fierce warrior-deities, and there either forgotten by their creator or made to stand trial before some dread underworld lord such as Osiris in Egypt or in Chinese Buddhist myth the Four Kings of Hell, who guard the Scrolls of Judgment in which all past lives are recorded. No wonder that many underworlds are filled with unhappy souls, like the spirits led by Gauna, death in the myths of the Bushmen of Botswana, who are so miserable in the world below that they keep trying to escape and take over the world above.

And it is interesting that, either most or all beliefs, even before and unrelated to Christianity, believed in life after death and even punishment by the gods in a "hell".

A few references, if you are interested:
http://www.deathreference.com/Gi-Ho/Gods...Death.html
http://www.deathreference.com/Gi-Ho/Hell.html
http://science.howstuffworks.com/science...rience.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/science...-death.htm
http://science.howstuffworks.com/science...rience.htm

Hope something of what I said is useful.

By the way, there are atheists that believe in transcendence. At least I knew one. He said that what expects us after death is a mystery, that only when we will die we will find out.

[Jax]

And all the drugs in the world aren't going to change the fact that there won't even be a me to acknowledge that I don't exist anymore.

That should be comforting. If you don't even know that you don't exist anymore, what's the fucking problem? If you can't lament your passing, there is no sadness. There is nothing.

Yep.

Look at the bright side, at least you get to rest in peacefully and silently when you pass away.

[reverendjeremiah]

I'm donating my corpse to science

I'm donating my corpse to the local pig picking.. Im plump and ready for smokin'