Atheists whats happens when you die?

Nothing happens after you die. Your consciousness ceases to exist, and you won't know the difference.

Since there is no afterlife, you can look forward to the experiences that life has to offer. No more is necessary or supported by evidence.

Seriously? Someone asked this question 40 minutes ago. Alright, I'll cut and paste. Please excuse.

Some atheist may believe in reincarnation. Some in a collective consciousness of human minds that form in some ethereal plane of existence. Others feel that when you die, that's it. You simply cease to exist for all eternity and return to the same state of being you had before you were born: nothingness. As to our physical remains, I don't think anyone on Earth disbelieves we don't rot into dirt.

That's the thing about atheism that makes it different from religions; We have no central beliefs, or dogmas, that would make us a religion. Religions have central beliefs all followers must adhere to. Atheist have a range of ideas they can choose from.

Me, I subscribe to the you die, that's it. It's a bit sad, but what can I do? I'm not scared, though. I won't exist to experience the laying for eternity in a coffin you mention. There is nothing special about me, except to those that love me on THIS Earth. That is why I put so much into living this life. I get only ONE shot. Why would I waste it on the delusion there will be a magical, happy, do-over life in heaven? I'd rather make this life happy.

There's no need to "believe" anything about death -- we have factual knowledge of what happens when you die.

Your body begins to decompose, insects and worms and other creatures help the process along, and eventually the atoms that made up your body all return to the earth from which they came in the first place.

That's it.

Since your consciousness is entirely a physical and chemical process that occurs in your brain, when your brain ceases to function, so does your consciousness. No more "you."

There's no evidence of any kind that there's any "soul" or anything else that survives the death of the body. Your body is YOU, and when the body dies so do you.

You won't lie in a coffin for eternity -- your body will be mostly gone in a few months, and unless something happens to fossilize your bones it'll be entirely gone in a couple hundred years. Or you could be cremated and get the whole process over with much quicker :)

You'd rather become a spirit? That's nice. How is what you'd like to have happen related to what will happen? If you want to have a million dollars in your bank account, does that mean it will just magically appear there? Of course not. Same thing here -- that you want to be a spirit doesn't have anything to do with the facts of physical existence. There's no such thing as a spirit or soul or anything else, no matter how much you or I or anybody else wants there to be such a thing.

Peace.

What is left of my body will decompose. I will be no more.

Why is it you think what you preference has anything to do with what is? I'd like to never age, to fly and to be able to cure every ailment known to humanity. I cannot do those things just as I cannot magically become immortal or create a god or afterlife out of my selfish desire. So you want to be a spirit? So what? You can want to be the next American Idol. That won't happen either.

If you are not living life with gusto, you are making a huge error. Living to die is ridiculous. Life's meaning is not found in fantasy lands, it is found in the here and now. I look forward to the next lives that come after mine. I look to make the world the best one I can for them. That is the only role I play in the far flung future. Don't be so egotistical. This is not all about you. You are a wee part of this machine and you are temporary. If you are not egomaniacal, that won't bother you. It certainly does not bother me. Life is rich with possibilities, chances to do good work and love one another. Why would I ever want for more?

I think that people who dream of heaven are looking for an excuse to live passively now. They are looking for a reason to ignore suffering by downplaying the torment of today in the brief life of those suffering. To think that you get to go on forever cheapens the only time you really have. Trust me; there is nothing cheap about today. It is precious, rare and you'd better take hold of it and live it well because today will never come again.

Death is the end for everyone, and wishing for an after life won't make it true. Neither will paying money to preachers every Sunday to hear lies about it. You can't buy something that doesn't exist. You should enjoy this life to the fullest, because it's the only one you have. Don't waste it preparing for an after life that isn't real. There are many things in life that people don't like, but wishes don't come true. Being dead forever is better than the after lives created by morons.

My money's on "you just die"

"In my opinion Id rather know I will become a spirit rather than laying in a coffin for eternity."

And preferring that doesn't make it true.

"I mean cmon if theres no after life what is there really to look forward to in life."

How about life itself?

When you die you don't go anywhere, you stop. Considering all thoughts, emotions, and memories reside in the brain, which stops functioning at death... Remember what it was like a hundred years ago? It's exactly like that. This scares some people so much they make up stories about a magical fairy granting people eternal life. We call these stories "religion". The bible agrees: Joshua 23:14 This day I [Joshua] am going the way of all the earth. Job 7:9 As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. Job 14:10. 12 But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? ... So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. Job 20:7 Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung. Psalm 6:5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks? Psalm 31:17 Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave. Psalm 88:5 The dead ... whom thou rememberest no more. Psalm 115:17 The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence. Ecclesiastes 3:19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast. Ecclesiastes 9:5 The dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward. Ecclesiastes 9:10 For there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. Isaiah 26:14 They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased they shall not rise. Isaiah 38:18 For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.

Atheism is not believing in a higher power. It has nothing to do with belief in the afterlife.

Now, most do not believe in anything after death. However, the answer you get will vary at least a little bit between people.

My fiance is atheist. He believes in reincarnation, without a higher power and without a purpose.

I am agnostic. i have no clue what happens after we go and while I may imagine and guess to myself I would never claim any specific belief.

And for the people that do believe in no life after death, it has nothing to do with want. THey just don't believe. I can tell myself over an d over again that there must be something because I want it badly. But that alone isn't enough to bypass my logic.

Does the fact that an idea is comforting make it true?

There is no reason to believe in an afterlife other than self comfort and since how comfortable you are has no bearing on what is real it is probably safe to assume there is no afterlife, so live the one you've got to its fullest.

For example it would be comforting to believe that I will be immortal if I spend every Monday of my life watching infomercials. The fact that it is comforting doesn't make it true and more likely than not I am just wasting 1/7th of my life watching infomercials for no practical purpose. That is much like how I see worship giving people an afterlife in Heaven.

Very probably the same thing that happened to us before we were conceived: nothing. We go back into non-existence. It's not like we don't wish to continue to exist in some form, but wishing does not make it so. If there is something after death, I'll deal with it when I get there. If not, I won't exist to know, suffer, or care. What happens to your cat when she dies? Your dog? The cockroaches in your cabinet? The rat in your backyard? The virus you are incubating right now? The bacteria in your fridge?