Death is Certain
by k3vin on Aug.13, 2008, under Atheism, Rants
There are few things in life that actually scare me. However, death seems to be the only fear the reoccurs more often than I wish. Every time I catch myself thinking of death I get a chill up my spine. It’s rather hard to contemplate not being alive, but it’s a process every human has to go through. It’s the reason evolution works. It’s the reason why more generations could come after me to inherit the earth.
Gee, it must be comforting to think you’re never going to actually die. This phrase never means so much as now: Ignorance is bliss. The temptation to buy into a religion that offers an after life is extremely high. Wouldn’t it be so much easier if an afterlife existed? Wouldn’t it be so much more comforting if some part of you kept going eternally? Isn’t it so much easier to say “they are in a better place…” when someone close to you dies.
Appeal. To. Emotion. Just because the entirety of man-kind wants there to be an afterlife doesn’t make it in the least bit true.
I might want there to be an eternal afterlife but that has no bearing on the fact that there is no real evidence for one and there’s no proposed mechanism for it. There’s not even a clue to an afterlife’s existence. As a human species we’ve created this vial and tempting concept to make the harsh reality of death seem less real and, in doing so, I believe we’ve caused ourselves to miss one of the most important parts of being human. We miss the true inspiration to do something meaningful with our lives to make a real, lasting effect on this world for generations to come. We miss the beauty in nature around us. The very nature that we’re a product and slave of. It’s the only world we know exists. Why are we neglecting it in hope for another?
There is a little comforting thought that always come into my mind when contemplating my final fate of death. What will death be like? Well, probably very similar to what it was like before I existed and I never complained about how that felt. So enjoy yourself while your here. Life is the only adventure in which no one survives.
August 13th, 2008 on 11:28 am
This is something I think about a lot myself. I was present as one of my best friends was dying from cancer last year and watching the predictable stages of withdrawal and finally death was stressful and sad.
I was thinking, as I went into it that if anything might make me change my mind about atheism then that would have been it (you hear arguments along those lines from theists all the time- “Just wait until you have to deal with something really bad… you’ll see.”) and if anything it just reinforced my atheism. The simple fact that everyone with cancer goes almost exactly the same way was surprising.
The whole experience made me appreciate my life more and reinforced how truly precious life is.
August 13th, 2008 on 9:40 pm
@Steve: Thank you for sharing your story. I’m sorry for your loss and I hope that facing the reality of the situation helped progress the mourning process.
On a completely unrelated and maybe inappropriate note: you have a great blog! You gained at least one new reader today. ^_^
August 14th, 2008 on 10:43 am
Thanks, K3vin. Yeah, one of the hardest things for me was keeping my mouth shut when all of his religious friends were telling me I should be praying for a miracle. The doctors, his wife (who is a pharmacist) and even my friend were certain how it was going to end.
I’m glad you like my blog, BTW. It’s pretty random.
August 16th, 2008 on 2:29 pm
Death is one thing that I can say I honestly feared for a while. Probably until I became an atheist. I feared the “go to hell” aspect of death. Since I was raised in the Christian faith, I will no doubt always have at least a part of that fear with me, but death itself doesn’t bother me anymore.
OK, so, I don’t want to die, but I’m not afraid to.
My mom says that I will change my ways when I’m suddenly rushed to the ER and seem to be dying, and dad prays for anything that would make me convert to happen. I just don’t see it. I could feel like I was dying and retain my lack of faith. It’s simple enough: he can kill me to get me to believe but can’t come down and say “hi” or something? He can’t appear in the sky to confirm to the world that he exists? Well then, send me to hell I guess.
When I say stuff like that, both mom and dad will freely comment that I may get struck by lightning at any moment, so to show my true lack of fear, I leave this note under my keyboard at all times: “At least it wasn’t lightning, right?”
If it is lightning, looks like god got the last laugh. But if it was something else, I did.
Death was one of those things that didn’t make me feel like there was no god, but reaffirms his lack of existence thereafter.
My cousin’s (lesbian) friend was helping a woman out of her crashed car on Jan. 22nd of this year. The woman was pregnant, but otherwise fine, just needed a hospital visit to check on the baby. Well, if only things were that simple: a coal truck came out of nowhere and hit one of the cars, killing them both. The pregnant mother had to be picked off of the truck and the friend was crushed under the car she was on the other side of.
My mom and my aunt use this as a prime example of it being “their time” and I just don’t believe this. If that is true, I don’t just not believe in god, I fucking hate him. The friend had a 15 year old daughter that turned 16 just a few days later. The only person in the world that her daughter had was her. The pregnant mother was, of course, pregnant. Her and her husband were preparing for the baby and were madly in love. Now he’s left without a wife and without a baby.
If god can’t consider the people he leaves behind, as the creator of the universe, he’s not worthy of my worship and will never be.
Maybe I’m just pessimistic, but that’s how I see it.