Dealing with Death as an Atheist

[Astrogod07]

I just posted a related topic in the Off-topic section. I am philosophically torn on the subject of death sometimes. On one hand, I think that the fact that our lives are finite underscores the importance to deal kindly with each other and make the most of our brief lives. There's beauty in our fragile and ultimately doomed existence. But on the other hand, it's infuriatingly unfair. Rational me knows that once I die, the point will be moot and it won't matter one way or the other since there won't be a "me" to ponder my fate, but emotional me lashes out in rage sometimes at the unfairness of the finality of death in an existence that we have no choice in. We a born on this amazing, yet (for now) inescapable world, where death could take us at any time through no fault of our own and through circumstances that entirely beyond our control, and that scares the hell out of me sometimes. But I always just go back to the fact that there's nothing I can do about it so worrying will do me no good. One day I'll die and there is nothing I can do about that.

I like to ask this question: Which idea is scarier? The possibility that one day you will cease to exist, or the thought that you will never cease to exist? Like GLaDOS says in Portal, "One day they woke me up, so I could live forever. It's such a shame the same will never happen to you."