My religious upbringing was so milquetoast that even when I was really young and hadn't decided that the whole god thing was made up, I would lie in bed at eight years old and try to wrap my head around what it was like to be dead. The idea that there is a soul that lives forever hadn't penetrated the worldview I had created through observation even when my skepticism hadn't fully developed.
Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own - Bertrand Russell
