Atheists....A serene state of non existence?

Question

The more I consider the atheist point of view, I am left with the one question that puzzles me. The idea of death being simply nonexistence. What happens to my concious mind? How do you know that you will not be concious of your death and that it will be just as empty as it was before you were born?

It puzzles me because I have never once before lately even considered that Death is the absolute end of me. That when My sister past , other than her memery that is kept alive through me ,that was the absolute end of her. In a strange way it comforts me and in another way it is destressing. We are always told that we will meet our loved ones that went one before us, but what if you are right and there is no better place.What if we as humans are simply evolved apes with over active imaginations . That would mean a lot of things, That would mean that people who discriminate over religion or race are merely evil and delussional. that would mean that what we call free will is merely a responce to experiance and instinct. That would mean that our only morality is based upon culture , social taboos, and personal feelings of right and wrong. that would also mean that our successes and failers are a result of our choices ,mistakes, and the choices and mistakes of those around us, not the result of any divine external force. I took off the "God Goggles" for a few moments and it is not as SCARY as many people may think. How ever does it say something bad about me that I perfure to place those "God Goggles" back one . I am very open to the concept of religion ( in fact I for the most part am a devout Muslim) , But I am suddenly not vey convenced by the concept of religion. What does this say about me? Am I still in the place of discovery or have I started on the path that will end up there is nothing realy to discover?

Tom · Accepted Answer

didn't read any of that.

Anonymous · Answer

theists believe people have an afterlife but they dismiss the probability that animals might have it just like us. i think if we have an afterlife, so do animals too because we all came from a common ancestor. but then the notion of an afterlife gets iffy. do earthworms have an afterlife since they have a consciousness too? what about bacteria, virus, and prions? what about artificial intelligence in the future? maybe we are all in a computer simulation and when we die we as information just pop out in the other realm or the information is just keep in this universe.

Leo · Answer

You are assuming that the atheist 'point of view' automatically excludes the possibility of consciousness surviving death.  That's because we have been so indoctrinated to associate the afterlife with a deity that people assume that you must believe in one in order to be open to the possibility of the other.  I have no idea what happens after death.  I do know that it has nothing to do with pearly gates or pitch forks.  That's an idealized view of the afterlife perpetuated and refined over thousands of years.  Human consciousnesses is essentially energy.  It's the result of an electrochemical reaction in our brains.  Could that energy survive without the biological component?  I don't know.  It makes sense that it couldn't but as I said, I simply don't know.

froufrou · Answer

im sorry about your sister, yes its comforting and distressing that we may never see them again , its not easy to understand it

not all atheists think thats what happens, but yes its a possibility, and whether we can understand it or not doesnt change that its still a possibility
we dont know what happens to us

it says your still trying to figure it out

Madeline · Answer

hey i'm an atheist.
honestly, it freaks me out too! lol no one can convince me of life after death or a heaven or anything like that. but when i think about death it freaks me out!! that it is just all over! nothing ever again...never breathing or seeing a color or hearing our touching or thinking!! lol it makes me go insane!!!!!!
but then i say, oh well. i wish i believed in that stuff. sometimes it is nice to be religious, so you know that someone is watching out for you and that when you die everything will be okay. it is especially good when someone you loved has died. 
but unfortunately, i don't believe that. and i'm okay with it. lol i'm still a good person!! i swear! :)

Anonymous · Answer

We have the capability to monitor electricity in the brain, and when someone dies their brain stops producing it.

Simon · Answer

Your conscious mind is your material brain, which is a electrochemical computing device, basically. There is no soul, no consciousness beyond the physical body. Therefore, once your brain is out of function, there will be no more anything. You will not care after you're dead. Why? Because you will be the hell dead!
I have to add something. You consider it a "state". There is no state. You simply do not exist any more. There is no more thought, memory, looking back at your life, nothing, nada, zero.

free spirit · Answer

our energy is thrust into the universe....

Tao Man · Answer

You remember what it was like before you were born, OK then, just like that.

Anonymous · Answer

what did it feel like before you were born?

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Atheists....A serene state of non existence?

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