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(April 18, 2011 at 3:25 pm)downbeatplumb Wrote: Death I dont fear, dying is a different matter altogether.
is that a quote? i'm sure i've heard that somewhere!
I have heard it recently quoted by Terry Pratchett....don't know if it is one of his original ones though.
I understand it to mean that Death itself is not to be feared ....it's "getting there" that is the problem. Even the 'Few monments / nanoseconds of before death' are full of the 'fear of pain' and THAT is what most people are afraid of.
"The Universe is run by the complex interweaving of three elements: energy, matter, and enlightened self-interest." G'Kar-B5
i believe in god and i have to think about going to hell, which is far worse than what you have to think about.
If you really are an athiest (i dnt think you are), then you 'know' you dnt have a soul, pain is nothing but a signal. You are made of atoms that have joined together to perfrom tasks, when you die those atoms will continue to exist until whenever ....forming other objects,/beings wotever.
So what are you afraid about as an athiest? The physical matter, all the various components you're made of will never cease to exist, just not as 'you'.
Think about it, your brain couldve been a t-rex's rectum 2 million years ago...and it might be part of a ferrari in another 5,000 years.
If you're an athiest then 'life', intelligence' is within atoms, and it must be in every atom, since the atoms joined together to form molecules, which formed together to make micro organisms, which formed together to make your sorry ass. (joke)
So when you die, that intelligence will take shape somewhere else....the intelligence, your 'life' is in those atoms, where will they go, whereever they go they will go somewhere.
If you're an intelligent man...i hope you are.....then science/maths wil tell you that if the expansion rate of the universe after the big bang varied by 0.00000000000000000001%, then stars could never have formed. (ask stephen hawkings about it - his calculation)
The hundreds of thousands of DIFFRENT types of micro organism in your body could not exist solo, their can only co-exist, they dnt communicate to each other out of random chemical reactions.
Any physicist will tell you there is 'ORDER' in the universe, nothing is random, and it defys the laws of physics. Dark matter and dark energy dnt exist, do some research, their only 'ideas' made up to explain the unexplainable - why do the stars on the outer edge of a galaxy orbit at the same speed as the ones inside? completely destroying the laws of gravity, therefore to compensate that force, we have 'dark energy', and for the energy to be strong enough to have the affect it does have, then 'dark matter' must make up 99.99% of the universe.
And even if this energy does exist, it cant be consistent in every part of the universe, it must be weaker or stronger in diffrent places, but no, its the same everywhere, whatever size the galaxy is it has enough of an impact to have the EXACT same RELATIVE affect, keeping order in the galaxy and preventing the stars crashing into each other.
AND as the galaxy moves through space, does the dark energy follow it? should then it not move into a zone of weaker energy where it could prevent the speeding up of outer stars?
When we die, heaven could be make beleive even if there is a god, he might just decide thats that and the matter in our bodies carries on in the cycles of physics and chemistry.
Im glad you do think about death, because you will die one day, wether your an athiest or not, nobody looks forward to death, but its the only thing promised to you in thise life, by then you probably gnna be elderly, weak, useless, sick even..and you probably gnna be praying for death anyway.....
you might be 20/30/40/50/100 but your body is 13.5billion years old, maybe older, and theres at least another 100billion years to go.....long long way to go....if we're lucky we could be a cow dung in africa and our only duty would be to get a tan and dry on the walls....
(April 11, 2011 at 3:25 pm)Zenith Wrote: Actually, the creation of a human by scientific methods does imply that a soul is absent: firstly, it implies that life has been born accidentally, by biological means. Secondly, if man can create man, then it means that a man with a soul is the same as a man without soul, which means that the soul is the same as non-existing, which implies that the soul does not exist. Also, if a man is created by scientific methods, then that contradicts the christian bible, because the bible claims that the man became a living being by receiving a soul.
Sorry, I meant "the creation of a human by scientific methods suggests that a soul is absent".
The passage you may refer to (Gen 2:7-nephesh) refers to “properly a breathing creature, that is, animal or (abstractly) vitality.” It is distinguished from other references to soul as pneuma or psuchē.
Nevertheless, the creation of a human by whatever means does not imply the absence or presence of a “soul”. We do not “create” a “soul” by physical contact/normal fertilization.
Quote:"You claim that life is in any case accidental, yet accept that you have a soul" - how did you get to that conclusion??
Life is claimed accidental (evolution) yet we are discussing the absence/presence of a soul which is somehow more than a physical entity. If it is your view that we are only body and brain, it raises a few questions. Would you suggest that this is the case?
Quote:So I have to ask you this question: what do you understand of "soul"? The 'soul' is usually regarded as something of the 'spiritual' realm. So you can't put one atom + one atom = spirit/soul.
Yes, you are correct.
Quote:Sorry, again I meant "And the creation of a living cell from atoms also strongly suggests that life has been created by accident". Think about this: if a cell will be created tomorrow by scientists, directly from atoms, what would everybody say? "We made what God did millions of years ago!"??
Yes, I see your argument. If everything can be explained rationally and without the need for a “higher power”, would that make God “ redundant”? Would I still believe despite this knowledge? The question is then: “Why do you still choose to believe there is not sufficient proof for a “higher power” despite the fact that evidence so far available suggests that an “intelligence” was involved in creation? (Even Richard Dawkins admits that but attributes it to some wonderful extraterrestrial creatures” ). The only difference being that yours is still a hypothesis at present ( “if a cell”) and mine is true (for at least the present)
It really boils down to a set of beliefs, independent of “science”, does it not? What then? Are we to continue despite evidence?
Quote:I meant, it's a logical problem. The same reason one can't believe that there are actually 12 gods, even though many would say "it is possible". That "possible" lacks many things to become "obvious" (or at least, very credible).
Yes, it is a logical problem if one were to ignore the facts and merely hypothesize. Despite many apparent “contradictions”, the Bible can be trusted as evidence suggests it to be trustworthy. There are things that cannot be proven, but what we can investigate, bears the stamp of truth. Even recent discoveries confirm rather than disprove the Bible. I will rather trust something which proves to be correct than something that is proven to be often based on falsehoods, trying to prove its validity.
Quote:1. If God must take the "first step", why did you take the first step by starting to preach Him?
Trust me, God will take the first step. This means that God will prepare your heart. Preaching Him? One can really not call it “preaching”but semantics aside, I engage in conversations such as this for basically two reasons. First is the fact that atheists often ask very relevant questions and I enjoy researching them. Secondly, I enter to discussion to try and give a reasonable answer to those that question Christianity.
Quote:2. You believe that you can recite a christian theory as some "magical words" that is supposed to make God convert people.
Sounds like some “voodoo” that I would like to bring “upon you” for some or other reason! That is not the reason, and even though “the heart is deceitful above all things” and we should often question our own motives, I only wish you to receive God's blessings and that in abundance.
Quote:Bold statement! Ask people about the Bible and you'll get thousands of contradictions, historical problems, logical problems, moral problems, etc. from them. You just assume that everybody believes that the Bible is undoubtedly the "perfect", trustworthy book. In other words, everybody (or yeah, all atheists, agnostics, deists, etc.) sees the Bible just like the Qur'an and any other book. I'm also certain that you didn't study about any other religion (well, perhaps not even about your own religion - all this theory of yours may be simply what a preacher taught you).
I do not dispute that there are many interpretations even within the Christian community, logical problems and apparent moral problems, as any study on most topics will reveal. What I however do know is that no true Christian lay claim to infallible understanding of the Bible. There are strong and opposing convictions on many subjects (i.e. the issue of predestination/free will) but this does not invalidate Christ. This I leave to God – which I trust to judge fairly. My salvation does not rely on my proper understanding of the issue of speaking in tongues, or laying on of hands, or creation or such, but only on the sovereign grace of God. I accept that I am a sinner, saved by grace, through no merit of my own, through faith (which is a gift of God) and by the blood of Jesus on the cross – where He paid for my sins.
Historical problems? I would be happy to receive info on that.
To suggest what I believe is gullible acceptance of what the preacher says is contrary to the truth as those knowing me personally, will testify.
I have not made a thorough study of all religions. I have conversed with Muslims and found their faith to contain definite lies. The denial of Jesus' death and resurrection is a central issue with some convoluted story about somebody else dying on the cross. Plain logic and historical record will prove that to be false.
As far as Hinduism is concerned a book called “The death of a guru” (you will find it on amazon) gave me some insight. It is a good read, irrespective of your views. But a fundi on any other religion? No, I am not.
Quote:A man cannot believe that your religion is true for the sole reason that if you may somehow be right, he'll go to hell.
Why is this a problem? Do you suggest that we live a life as we please without any morals and also be pure and holy enough to "inherit" heaven? And what is the basis of these “morals”?
Quote:I doubt that you'll really understand many what I said, but anyway...
alemcodon Wrote:i believe in god and i have to think about going to hell, which is far worse than what you have to think about.
Oh fuck, we have another one of those post and run cowards again. 2 posts already? You are one post away from the maximum that we get from your type of cowardly christian. Kindly fuck off.
alemcodon Wrote:If you really are an athiest (i dnt think you are), then you 'know' you dnt have a soul, pain is nothing but a signal. You are made of atoms that have joined together to perfrom tasks, when you die those atoms will continue to exist until whenever ....forming other objects,/beings wotever. .
Thats usually what the cowardly christians say when they come here, post, and then run away as fast as they can with their tails between their legs...that we arent "real" atheists. Well, we have "real" christians on this forum like Tack and fr0d0. Kindly fuck off.
alemcodon Wrote:So what are you afraid about as an athiest? The physical matter, all the various components you're made of will never cease to exist, just not as 'you'..
Some people are different you fucking rude asshole. Some people are scared shitless of death regardless of whether they are a believer or an atheist. If you didnt have your head crammed as far as it can go up your ass and actually used some fucking common sense you would have already come to that conclusion. I guess its asking to much of you... Kindly fuck off.
alemcodon Wrote:Think about it, your brain couldve been a t-rex's rectum 2 million years ago...and it might be part of a ferrari in another 5,000 years..
Yet again you prove yourself to be a dickhead prick and a fucking fool. Nobody cares about your scenereos. We have seen your type of cowardly christians before. Run in really quick, post a quick post claiming we arent really atheist, then talk down to us as if we were ignorant children, all the while getting science and philosophy and even your own religion wrong in your post. Then you run away with your tail between your legs like the fucking ignorant and useless cowards that you are. Kindly fuck off.
alemcodon Wrote:If you're an athiest then 'life', intelligence' is within atoms, and it must be in every atom, since the atoms joined together to form molecules, which formed together to make micro organisms, which formed together to make your sorry ass. (joke).
So, we atheists have to follow what you deem to be the dogma for atheists? If I think otherwise then Im not an atheist? Why dont you shut the fuck up fool? Do you not even realize how big of an ass you look right now? Oh yeah, your head is crammed so far up your shithole that you cant notice..Kindly fuck off...by the way, your joke fucking sucked. Heres a joke: your momma!
alemcodon Wrote:So when you die, that intelligence will take shape somewhere else....the intelligence, your 'life' is in those atoms, where will they go, whereever they go they will go somewhere..
What...the FUCK...are you mumbling about now? You are such a fucking fool. You are a scientifically and socially retarded ass hat...have you run away yet? Kindly fuck off.
alemcodon Wrote:If you're an intelligent man...i hope you are.....then science/maths wil tell you that if the expansion rate of the universe after the big bang varied by 0.00000000000000000001%, then stars could never have formed. (ask stephen hawkings about it - his calculation).
If you are the person who judges who is intelligent and who isnt then the whole of humanity is fucking DOOMED! If I ask Stephen Hawkings, he would surely say something like: "Fuck me, that little retard isnt speaking for me.". Kindly fuck off.
alemcodon Wrote:The hundreds of thousands of DIFFRENT types of micro organism in your body could not exist solo, their can only co-exist, they dnt communicate to each other out of random chemical reactions..
Its painful reading all of the stupid in your post. You arent going to get along very well in this forum with the other members. Kindly fuck off.
alemcodon Wrote:Any physicist will tell you there is 'ORDER' in the universe, nothing is random, and it defys the laws of physics. Dark matter and dark energy dnt exist, do some research, their only 'ideas' made up to explain the unexplainable - why do the stars on the outer edge of a galaxy orbit at the same speed as the ones inside? completely destroying the laws of gravity, therefore to compensate that force, we have 'dark energy', and for the energy to be strong enough to have the affect it does have, then 'dark matter' must make up 99.99% of the universe..
Here, have another shouvel, that way you can have a shovel in both hands and dig that hole you are digging much faster. Honestly, if I want scientific lesson, I go to a college, not some foolish fucking fundy. Kindly fuck off.
alemcodon Wrote:And even if this energy does exist, it cant be consistent in every part of the universe, it must be weaker or stronger in diffrent places, but no, its the same everywhere, whatever size the galaxy is it has enough of an impact to have the EXACT same RELATIVE affect, keeping order in the galaxy and preventing the stars crashing into each other..
Honestly, shut the fuck up. You are a foolish cunt, running your mouth non-stop and making yourself look more and more ignorant in every sentence that you post. We dont care about your half-assed hints about creationism and intelligent design. Do yo think we are fucking stupid like you? Kindly fuck off.
alemcodon Wrote:AND as the galaxy moves through space, does the dark energy follow it? should then it not move into a zone of weaker energy where it could prevent the speeding up of outer stars?.
Please..please..shut the fuck up...just...shut the fuck up. Kindly fuck off.
alemcodon Wrote:When we die, heaven could be make beleive even if there is a god, he might just decide thats that and the matter in our bodies carries on in the cycles of physics and chemistry..
Who gives a shit what you think. Your god and heaven is nothing more than fiction, so we atheists put about as much weight on your god as we do mother goose... and at least mother goose isnt a cruel, sadistic son of a bitch like your fictional god. Kindly fuck off.
alemcodon Wrote:Im glad you do think about death, because you will die one day, wether your an athiest or not, nobody looks forward to death, but its the only thing promised to you in thise life, by then you probably gnna be elderly, weak, useless, sick even..and you probably gnna be praying for death anyway......
Who cares what you think. Honestly, you are a fucking fool and I could care less about what you aprove or disaprove. Kindly fuck off.
alemcodon Wrote:you might be 20/30/40/50/100 but your body is 13.5billion years old, maybe older, and theres at least another 100billion years to go.....long long way to go....if we're lucky we could be a cow dung in africa and our only duty would be to get a tan and dry on the walls.... .
It was very painful for me to browse through so much stupid. Kindly fuck off.
(April 19, 2011 at 10:39 am)reverendjeremiah Wrote:
alemcodon Wrote:i believe in god and i have to think about going to hell, which is far worse than what you have to think about.
Oh fuck, we have another one of those post and run cowards again. 2 posts already? You are one post away from the maximum that we get from your type of cowardly christian. Kindly fuck off.
alemcodon Wrote:If you really are an athiest (i dnt think you are), then you 'know' you dnt have a soul, pain is nothing but a signal. You are made of atoms that have joined together to perfrom tasks, when you die those atoms will continue to exist until whenever ....forming other objects,/beings wotever. .
Thats usually what the cowardly christians say when they come here, post, and then run away as fast as they can with their tails between their legs...that we arent "real" atheists. Well, we have "real" christians on this forum like Tack and fr0d0. Kindly fuck off.
alemcodon Wrote:So what are you afraid about as an athiest? The physical matter, all the various components you're made of will never cease to exist, just not as 'you'..
Some people are different you fucking rude asshole. Some people are scared shitless of death regardless of whether they are a believer or an atheist. If you didnt have your head crammed as far as it can go up your ass and actually used some fucking common sense you would have already come to that conclusion. I guess its asking to much of you... Kindly fuck off.
alemcodon Wrote:Think about it, your brain couldve been a t-rex's rectum 2 million years ago...and it might be part of a ferrari in another 5,000 years..
Yet again you prove yourself to be a dickhead prick and a fucking fool. Nobody cares about your scenereos. We have seen your type of cowardly christians before. Run in really quick, post a quick post claiming we arent really atheist, then talk down to us as if we were ignorant children, all the while getting science and philosophy and even your own religion wrong in your post. Then you run away with your tail between your legs like the fucking ignorant and useless cowards that you are. Kindly fuck off.
alemcodon Wrote:If you're an athiest then 'life', intelligence' is within atoms, and it must be in every atom, since the atoms joined together to form molecules, which formed together to make micro organisms, which formed together to make your sorry ass. (joke).
So, we atheists have to follow what you deem to be the dogma for atheists? If I think otherwise then Im not an atheist? Why dont you shut the fuck up fool? Do you not even realize how big of an ass you look right now? Oh yeah, your head is crammed so far up your shithole that you cant notice..Kindly fuck off...by the way, your joke fucking sucked. Heres a joke: your momma!
alemcodon Wrote:So when you die, that intelligence will take shape somewhere else....the intelligence, your 'life' is in those atoms, where will they go, whereever they go they will go somewhere..
What...the FUCK...are you mumbling about now? You are such a fucking fool. You are a scientifically and socially retarded ass hat...have you run away yet? Kindly fuck off.
alemcodon Wrote:If you're an intelligent man...i hope you are.....then science/maths wil tell you that if the expansion rate of the universe after the big bang varied by 0.00000000000000000001%, then stars could never have formed. (ask stephen hawkings about it - his calculation).
If you are the person who judges who is intelligent and who isnt then the whole of humanity is fucking DOOMED! If I ask Stephen Hawkings, he would surely say something like: "Fuck me, that little retard isnt speaking for me.". Kindly fuck off.
alemcodon Wrote:The hundreds of thousands of DIFFRENT types of micro organism in your body could not exist solo, their can only co-exist, they dnt communicate to each other out of random chemical reactions..
Its painful reading all of the stupid in your post. You arent going to get along very well in this forum with the other members. Kindly fuck off.
alemcodon Wrote:Any physicist will tell you there is 'ORDER' in the universe, nothing is random, and it defys the laws of physics. Dark matter and dark energy dnt exist, do some research, their only 'ideas' made up to explain the unexplainable - why do the stars on the outer edge of a galaxy orbit at the same speed as the ones inside? completely destroying the laws of gravity, therefore to compensate that force, we have 'dark energy', and for the energy to be strong enough to have the affect it does have, then 'dark matter' must make up 99.99% of the universe..
Here, have another shouvel, that way you can have a shovel in both hands and dig that hole you are digging much faster. Honestly, if I want scientific lesson, I go to a college, not some foolish fucking fundy. Kindly fuck off.
alemcodon Wrote:And even if this energy does exist, it cant be consistent in every part of the universe, it must be weaker or stronger in diffrent places, but no, its the same everywhere, whatever size the galaxy is it has enough of an impact to have the EXACT same RELATIVE affect, keeping order in the galaxy and preventing the stars crashing into each other..
Honestly, shut the fuck up. You are a foolish cunt, running your mouth non-stop and making yourself look more and more ignorant in every sentence that you post. We dont care about your half-assed hints about creationism and intelligent design. Do yo think we are fucking stupid like you? Kindly fuck off.
alemcodon Wrote:AND as the galaxy moves through space, does the dark energy follow it? should then it not move into a zone of weaker energy where it could prevent the speeding up of outer stars?.
Please..please..shut the fuck up...just...shut the fuck up. Kindly fuck off.
alemcodon Wrote:When we die, heaven could be make beleive even if there is a god, he might just decide thats that and the matter in our bodies carries on in the cycles of physics and chemistry..
Who gives a shit what you think. Your god and heaven is nothing more than fiction, so we atheists put about as much weight on your god as we do mother goose... and at least mother goose isnt a cruel, sadistic son of a bitch like your fictional god. Kindly fuck off.
alemcodon Wrote:Im glad you do think about death, because you will die one day, wether your an athiest or not, nobody looks forward to death, but its the only thing promised to you in thise life, by then you probably gnna be elderly, weak, useless, sick even..and you probably gnna be praying for death anyway......
Who cares what you think. Honestly, you are a fucking fool and I could care less about what you aprove or disaprove. Kindly fuck off.
alemcodon Wrote:you might be 20/30/40/50/100 but your body is 13.5billion years old, maybe older, and theres at least another 100billion years to go.....long long way to go....if we're lucky we could be a cow dung in africa and our only duty would be to get a tan and dry on the walls.... .
It was very painful for me to browse through so much stupid. Kindly fuck off.
hey reverendjeremiah i wouldnt even give a cunt like that the time of day. props for giving him a schooling!
April 19, 2011 at 12:47 pm (This post was last modified: April 19, 2011 at 12:47 pm by reverendjeremiah.)
Napolian Wrote:hey reverendjeremiah i wouldnt even give a cunt like that the time of day. props for giving him a schooling!
Yeah, I figured if he was deciding to hang around longer than most cowardly fundies of his ilk, then I might as well give him a proper welcome post so that he will get an idea of what to expect if he stays and continues with his assinine resolve.
Quite frankly I hope he lasts for about 20 posts. Ive been wanting a new fundy punching bag. Step on his foot and "sockem bopem" that big fat swollen head of theirs.
April 19, 2011 at 12:53 pm (This post was last modified: April 19, 2011 at 12:55 pm by lilphil1989.)
(April 19, 2011 at 9:46 am)alemcodon Wrote: i believe in god and i have to think about going to hell, which is far worse than what you have to think about.
Too bad that you live in fear of something that mostly likely doesn't exist.
(April 19, 2011 at 9:46 am)alemcodon Wrote: Think about it, your brain couldve been a t-rex's rectum 2 million years ago...and it might be part of a ferrari in another 5,000 years.
Yes. But isn't that absolutely fucking awesome? See how scientific reality is far more amazing than religious fairy tales?
(April 19, 2011 at 9:46 am)alemcodon Wrote: If you're an athiest then 'life', intelligence' is within atoms, and it must be in every atom, since the atoms joined together to form molecules, which formed together to make micro organisms, which formed together to make your sorry ass. (joke)
No, life is a collective behaviour of many atoms. It's nonsense to say that there's 1 part in 10^27 of a life in each atom of your body since there are ~10^27 atoms in your body.
(April 19, 2011 at 9:46 am)alemcodon Wrote: If you're an intelligent man...i hope you are.....then science/maths wil tell you that if the expansion rate of the universe after the big bang varied by 0.00000000000000000001%, then stars could never have formed. (ask stephen hawkings about it - his calculation)
That's not true, since we don't even know the expansion rate of the early universe to that degree of accuracy. I challenge you to show me where Professor Hawkings makes such a claim.
(April 19, 2011 at 9:46 am)alemcodon Wrote: The hundreds of thousands of DIFFRENT types of micro organism in your body could not exist solo, their can only co-exist, they dnt communicate to each other out of random chemical reactions.
Again not true. Many species of gut flora can be cultivated in a petri dish in isolation from other species.
(April 19, 2011 at 9:46 am)alemcodon Wrote: Any physicist will tell you there is 'ORDER' in the universe, nothing is random, and it defys the laws of physics. Dark matter and dark energy dnt exist, do some research, their only 'ideas' made up to explain the unexplainable - why do the stars on the outer edge of a galaxy orbit at the same speed as the ones inside? completely destroying the laws of gravity, therefore to compensate that force, we have 'dark energy', and for the energy to be strong enough to have the affect it does have, then 'dark matter' must make up 99.99% of the universe.
Yes there is order, but it's ever-decreasing, there is no conservation of entropy.
Nothing is random? Try telling that to every single quantum mechanics-based experiment. Somehow I don't think they'll comply with the way you want the universe to work.
The evidence suggests that dark matter and dark energy exist, we just don't know what they are.
The two are not related in the way you think they are. Dark matter appears to be some form of non-radiating matter, since the mass you get from looking at the total luminosity of a galaxy doesn't seem to match with the amount you need for the observed rotation speeds.
Dark energy is just the accelerated expansion of the universe.
(April 19, 2011 at 9:46 am)alemcodon Wrote: And even if this energy does exist, it cant be consistent in every part of the universe, it must be weaker or stronger in diffrent places, but no, its the same everywhere, whatever size the galaxy is it has enough of an impact to have the EXACT same RELATIVE affect, keeping order in the galaxy and preventing the stars crashing into each other.
Stars don't crash into one another because of angular momentum conservation. You can demonstrate that with classical non-relativistic mechanics, no fancy physics required there.
(April 19, 2011 at 9:46 am)alemcodon Wrote: AND as the galaxy moves through space, does the dark energy follow it? should then it not move into a zone of weaker energy where it could prevent the speeding up of outer stars?
There's no reason to suggest that dark energy is localised, especially as we have no clue as to what it is!
Galileo was a man of science oppressed by the irrational and superstitious. Today, he is used by the irrational and superstitious who claim they are being oppressed by science - Mark Crislip
I'll get back into the real topic instead of the back and forth with the believers in this thread.
I know your fear. I am an atheist too, and I also have spent a long time ponder about death and the fear for death. Like you, I was really sure that there just isn't anything else after death. Even the idea that my atoms would 'live on' inside other things did not do much for me, as *I* would be gone.
What helped me a bit was the following thought process:
We, as humans, generally accept the fact that we are alive as a given fact. Even religions don't really take time to wonder what miracle it is that exactly you have been born, and not someone else. But thinking about it, it's a 'miracle'. You've been very lucky to be alive to start with!
But what really opened my eyes was a movie (from National Geographic) about the universe, which I saw in an Imax theatre. It focussed on the discoveries made by a certain satellite and they shows absolutely gorgeous pictures of stars, starclouds and milkyways. As they start with our own solar system you already think 'it's kinda big'. When zooming out to show other nearby stars, I was impressed. Then it zoomed out to show that there were great clouds giving birth to thousands of stars, which looked absolutely amazing. Our own milkyway is huge and has already stars beyond counting and observation. The movie casually zoomed out to show that there were actually millions of milkyways in the universe. Of course I had heard the numbers before, but really seeing it and really realizing the scope made me more humble. And suddenly, death seemed to matter less.
It's a miracle (not in the religious sense of the word) that I'm here to start with. I live in a universe that is so big that we'll never explore it.
Also, I plan to leave my marks where I have lived. People will remember me. They will tell stories of me. I will leave my diaries to my children. And luckily my family is big on geonoligy, and dutifully keeps the records of the family tree - I know my information won't get lost quickly, and thus a part of me will be saved. The concept of *I* is more then who I am. It is the traces I leave here, it is the stuff I write, it is the memories that other people have, and the children I have. And the impact of people last longer then they give themselve credit for. I likely won't be remembered after 200 years, but small traces of me will always be around, like an echo.
(April 20, 2011 at 1:23 am)Girlysprite Wrote: Also, I plan to leave my marks where I have lived. People will remember me. They will tell stories of me. I will leave my diaries to my children. And luckily my family is big on geonoligy, and dutifully keeps the records of the family tree - I know my information won't get lost quickly, and thus a part of me will be saved. The concept of *I* is more then who I am. It is the traces I leave here, it is the stuff I write, it is the memories that other people have, and the children I have. And the impact of people last longer then they give themselve credit for. I likely won't be remembered after 200 years, but small traces of me will always be around, like an echo.
This concept of leaving a legacy behind is a big part of why I adopted the motto, Non Omnis Moriar. Even had it tattooed on my shoulder. It's Latin for, "not all of me will die"
(April 20, 2011 at 1:52 am)Cinjin Cain Wrote: This concept of leaving a legacy behind is a big part of why I adopted the motto, Non Omnis Moriar. Even had it tattooed on my shoulder. It's Latin for, "not all of me will die"
and welcome to the forum.
Not all atheists feel the need to leave a mark behind. I do what I must. I do what I want. I try not to hurt anyone. If people remember me, then fine. If not, then just the same.
Feel free to play my "Myth Hunt" game by clicking the image below. Sweet Baby Jesus will praise you for it!