Problem dealing with death as an atheist

[Cinjin]

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.

wow ... are you as high-maintenance in real life??? Can this even be for real??
How can anyone possibly worry about how they will feel when they already believe that they will not be able to feel anything at all? If what you're saying is truly the way you think than guy, you are officially the stupidest person I ever met ...... and I have to tell you, up until now, they've all been christians, so this is a BIG surprise for me.

I'm a deist, I don't believe that God even knows my name, but even I can tell you that if you do ever meet him, he's going to think that you're an idiot. I mean, on a scale of stupid you weigh-in somewhere between "fucking ridiculous nonsense" and "I'm mentally handicap, I need a helmet."