How do my fellow atheists deal with mortality?

I've known since I was a kid that everybody dies some day, it is actual one of the basic premises of the study of life. However I'm (relatively) healthy and still young enough that I don't anticipate having to confront my own personal mortality for another 50-60 years or more.

The thing is we don't know when it will end, it can happen suddenly in a freak accident or years from now when we grow old. But whenever it happens the end is the end. Whether or not you believe in an afterlife you are leaving behind people you love and care about, children, grandchildren, spouses, friends, etc... The world as we know it will be over, the people we spent so much of our life with will have to go on without us. Even if you believe you are going to heaven when you die it still means that the life you had led is over and the people you left behind will mourn your passing.

It is sad and confusing enough to imagine the pain caused to those that you love when you die, why make it even more complicated by adding in rules and stipulations about what may or may not happen in an afterlife? And if it did exist it seems like a rather messed up system, you are off partying in your mansion while your loved ones are back on Earth trying to get over your loss. Maybe I'm just not a selfish enough person, but I can't see a situation in which I would welcome my own personal gain to come at the expense of my daughter's happiness.

How do my fellow atheists deal with mortality?

--- Once I recognized that death is non-empirical, it never much bothered me....not that it much bothered me before that.

But, if you need some sort of solace....physics has so far supported that what is called the B Theory of Time is correct. As such, all moments of the past, present, and future are not only equally real, but eternally real. So, if you were ever alive, then you live forever. Likewise, not only will you one day die, you are already dead now.

To sum up:

Come; dry your eyes, for you are life, rarer than a quark and unpredictable beyond the dreams of Heisenberg. Come, dry your eyes. And let's go home.

Hey, I'm really sorry you're starting to feel afraid. I often wonder whether I will become fearful as I get older. It's a worrying thought. Sorry you're having to deal with that.

I imagine death will be no different from dreamless sleep. As far as I can tell, I cease to exist for long periods every night. If that non-existence were extended into eternity, I would never know it, so I wouldn't be bothered by it.

I doubt that will help you much, as I'm sure you've already considered it. I hope you can find some peace.

I like to think of it like this. I was not alive when the pyramids were built and don't know what it was like to live back then because I did not exist in any way. I can appreciate the artwork and beautiful structures they left for us though while I am alive and when I die there will be nothing for me to experience because I will again not exist. I hope to leave a beautiful memory behind for others to cherish and appreciate and that's all I can hope for. There is no sense tormenting yourself over things that you can not change such as death and all you can do is make the best of every day that you have and try to make the world a better place in some way for the future of humanity. Hope this helps.

I'm afraid of the pain and suffering as that time approaches. I can only hope my last breath is either peaceful surrounded by loved ones or in my sleep. I know my actions will be remembered by those that hold me dear and as long as there is a thought about me I will still exist, eventually I may be forgotten, but by then everything physical about me has returned to the Earth. I just want to live a good life and try to make things better than before.

I look at inevitable death this way.

Programmed death

was one of the two great advances

that evolution stumbled upon,

that allowed for large, complex life forms

to evolve in millions of years, instead of billions.

Sexual reproduction was the other.

There are many simple forms of life

that are potentially immortal.

Bacteria do not have to die.

Some flatworms and jelly fish

live until something kills them,

not until they die of old age.

I'll take a finite lifetime, as a conscious being,

rather than an immortal life as a bacterium,

thank you.

I intend to enjoy my turn

and then, eventually, to be done.

Then I'll get out of the way,

so my children and their children

can take my place on the planet,

as part of the universe's ability

to reflect on its own existence.

That my life will eventually end

is a reason for me to pay attention

to every day I am alive.

The alternative that many imagine,

of turning into some sort of

bodiless, memoryless,

spirit, bliss zombie,

who does nothing useful,

for anyone,

forever,

in some hypothetical God's heaven,

just to avoid being entirely dead,

is a horrifying thought.

--

Regards,

John Popelish

I have already nearly died once - in 2008 during an operation.

Two days of absolutely peaceful, dreamless sleep. Perfect relaxation, no stress, no concern, almost no awareness.

It will happen like that to all of us eventually - even the believers who continually produce this unprovable nonsense about an afterlife.

Waking up after those two days - the pain was inexplicable. I did though fight like crazy to get past all the problems and I am now strong, healthy, and I live without fear of the future. And thanks to my working part-time (self-employed office services) added to my pension rights, I can survive without financial stress.

But death holds no fears for me at all. When it happens, it will happen, so relax and let your mind come to terms with it.

My friend, the Lord will receive you even in the 11th hour. Even despite your life of disbelieving in Him. You've gone through life rejecting Him but He is ready to receive your humble prayer.

Don't ignore the feeling you have. God is the creator of man and all living things. When the body dies the spirit lives on. Let not your spirit be condemned to an eternity in the fire.

Do not follow the ways of the heathen as your soul will surely perish.

Please, for the sake of your soul, repent now.

I try not to think about it, why worry about something you cannot control. I am an atheist also, and I start worrying/panicking about the same thing. I work thru it and enjoy life. I think what you are going thru is natural and why religion was invented, so people didn't have to have that worry.

Because we are but temporary expressions of the universe, and our existence has no great significance. When we are gone, others will arrive to take our place; when our species is gone, others will take its place. We all share the same eventuality, but how we meet it as individuals is what defines us. With equanimity, calm acceptance, and gratitude for having been here when the time comes, or with hysteria and resentment?

It's okay to be afraid of oblivion. Fear and courageous acceptance are not mutually exclusive.

"I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself." ~ D.H. Lawrence