(February 27, 2016 at 3:04 pm)robvalue Wrote: I may be unusual, I don't know. I had a chat with a friend about this subject recently, and he was quite amazed by my attitude. I've never had a problem with death, I've never worried about it as far as I can remember. I've adopted a pragmatic attitude, like I try to do with everything. I've never wanted to live forever, either.
I'd say the death of one's children is probably the maximal psychological pain that one can experience, and that most people cannot really conceive what that is like. Their world view doesn't include that, and if it does happen, there is definitely a high level of cognitive dissonance. And I do think that sincere religious beliefs can mediate that pain greatly.
These days, most people die of old-age diseases, I believe: heart failure, stroke, cancer, etc. Not that many kids die at age 5 of the plague or something. I'd say the decline of religion is at least partly due to the decline of need for a remedy for cognitive dissonance.
