Humans are afraid of death and cannot accept the fact that they one day will no longer exist (like all living things, even the stars and everything in the universe has a life span.) This video below says everything that I and other atheists have been saying. Religion is a false security blanket based on fear of death, and created because humans cannot accept what they cannot change or natural events they have no control over. Organized religion bolsters a community belief that might not be there if everyone else didn’t believe it, too. Despite the coming together as one, each individual still creates this image of god in their own minds, according to their own experiences, needs and desires. In other words, god exists only in the minds and imaginations of human beings. There is no evidence at all for the existence of a god any more than there is existence of a child’s imaginary friend.
Whether humans flock together in one big herd of belief, or whether we have individual faith in a supernatural being in a supernatural world, it does not prevent the inevitable. We all eventually die. Hopeless? No. New babies are born, the cycle of life continues. There is enough comfort for me in knowing that somehow the world will go on for as long as the Sun lasts, and it too will one day burn out and die and new stars will be born from its remnants.
I have a potentially life-threatening illness. (Lupus SLE) Am I angry? Sad? Will I run to find some comforting delusional beliefs to cling to delude myself that I will live forever in some imagined afterlife? No. I look to science to help me live for as long as I can, as comfortably and as healthy as I possibly can. But when the day comes when medicine no longer will help, will I whimper and turn to a false hope? No…I will look back upon my life with gladness. I am very glad to have been born, and to have lived to see all the wondrous things I have seen, and and glad for all my human experiences whether good or bad. How you live your life brings meaning, as the quote by Joseph Campbell at the top of my blog states.
Now, here is the video. The music is “divine”.
10 comments:
I have long considered that the basis of all religion is a fear of death.
I would add to it that people can't bear the thought that they will never meet again their loved ones who die before them. There is comfort in thinking "I will see my [wife, husband, parents, best friend...] again when I die."
My goal is to live long enough to see astronauts walk on Mars. I'm 38, so if it happens within the next 50 years, I have a chance. Neil Armstrong walked on the moon about 6 weeks after I was born, so if I croaked shortly after a Mars mission, it would be a nice way to bookend my life.
One thing that worries me is that I might be in the middle of reading a really good book when I die and I won't know how it ends.
tommy said: One thing that worries me is that I might be in the middle of reading a really good book when I die and I won't know how it ends.
But you'll be dead - so you won't exactly care at that point! [grin]
Mind if I 'steal' that from you at some point stardust?
cyberkitten, why cointenly! Go right ahead. :)
One thing that worries me is that I might be in the middle of reading a really good book when I die and I won't know how it ends.
tommy, ha! I have said the same exact thing! I also look at my list of books I plan to read, which is pretty long, and hope I will get to them all.
Sometimes, though, I think like cyberkitten that the day will come when I won't even care. All that I read will all go in my brain and then one day I won't be here anymore to even know that I have read it all. That kinda sucks.
It seems to me that it is something of a cruel cosmic joke that we who are born into an inherently meaningless universe nevertheless hunger desperately for some kind of meaning.
I find the words of Epicurus to be satisfying enough: "Death is nothing to us, since when we are, death has not come, and when death has come, we are not."
stardust said: I also look at my list of books I plan to read, which is pretty long, and hope I will get to them all.
I have a *huge* pile of books that doesn't seem to get any smaller no matter how many I manage to read. I know for a fact that there will be books unread and things not done when I die - even if my departure date is long in the future. Such is life (and death) I'm afraid. Immortality isn't an option as far as I'm aware.
pure luck said: It seems to me that it is something of a cruel cosmic joke that we who are born into an inherently meaningless universe nevertheless hunger desperately for some kind of meaning.
Nope. Just the way things are. Getting rid of the 'hunger' and things instantly seem much better.... [grin].
Indeed Andrea - Epicurus rocks....
Kitty -
I understand that it is the way things are and that it is unlikely that there is someone out there laughing. If you personally do not have the hunger for meaning in an inherently meaningless universe then consider yourself fortunate. Perhaps I got bad wiring. Of course there are methods to make it go away sooner, but all I have to do is wait and I will be freed of it eventually.
Several weeks ago I had an incident where I lost consciousness and I could feel it slipping away. It occurred to me in that moment that I very well might be dying from something (obviously I didn't) but I was happy to know that I did not try to reject my convictions or call out to an imaginary friend in that moment.
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