An atheists grieve (page 2)

still thinking

marking to come back and read later...thanks.

take your time..... dont take sides yet....read, think, enjoy your life..... things in your head will clear up. but if there is no afterlife then your minutes are very valuable... dont waste them lamenting how many minutes you have left

transhuman68

I'm in agreement with the OP; and don't really enjoy being an atheist so I don't try very hard to convince others that there is no god- it's a kind of mixed blessing to learn the ‘truth about the truth’ and become an atheist. But the pursuit of truth is an honourable thing, and a life well-lived is still worthwhile. Possibly a lot of church-goers lose their faith in god & the afterlife as they get older, but it is the fellowship and good feelings that keep them going. We are all just mammals really, but somehow we think time should stand still for us...

startingover

Great thread. I appreciate your comments NC, I agree with you.

botchtowersociety

We are all so different in so many wonderful ways. When i served as a JW, i never really thought much about everlasting life for myself. When my zeal was great and sincere, it was always love for God. It wasn't for myself or even my fellow man. It was always about this incredible idea. This thing greater than myself or, in fact, us all.

Phizzy

I was the same Botch I thought that in all likelihood a sinner like me would not survive the Big A, or at least the Final Judgement, but I was happy to serve my God. Who, upon reflection was quite different from the WT "Jehovah", but as a born in I was aware they had a lot of things wrong, and the true character of god was one of them, I thought.

Now I am a non-Theist I too "miss him", especially in the sense of having someone to thank for all the wonders I see around me, and the wonderful people, I used to daily offer praise for the good things.

Now I simply try to live a good life because it is right to do so, I try to be kind, I try to be cheerful, I also try to be somewhat inebriated most days, but we all have our faults !

When I first faced my mortality after leaving it was like a massive blow to the stomach, but I have adjusted, I still grieve in a way, I would love to continue living for a good while, we live in the most exciting part of History so far, the possibilities are endless.

I would love for there to be an Afterlife, a chance for all those "Greats" of the past to add some more to the human experience, think of the band we could put together ! Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix, ................... I must have a word with Clapton, after all he is God.

I do not see any evidence for a God or for an Afterlife, so I must be a realist and live to get the best out of life now, and to give of my best to others while I live it.

darth frosty

A few years ago I had to have surgerie on my sinuses...es the doctor told me the full range from how basically they will try and snake out the sinus and if that didn't wortk the progressive step they would have to take. And than this damn procedure took FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

I could not eat, last meal was the day before, I was suppose to go in at 10am...did not get taken down till 6pm and than waited by myself in the prep room for another 3 hrs. As I lay there I thought this would be the time a person of faith would pray.

I did not pray, but what I did was start to think. I started to think about life and how I have adopted the tenates of the Sith...Yes it always comes back to star wars. I reflected how satisying the traits of being a Sith Lord were. How a Sith Lord gains strength thru perserverance and challange How a Sith does not seek comfort and realease from pain but uses it to embolden his power.

The point I am trying to make is your beliefs are what you make of them and what you choose. Sadly most of us had that choice made for us by others, but there comes a time of personal awakening and revelation, that demands we choose and follow beliefs that will benefit and empower us as an individual.

Even tho I am an athiest I have a degree of PERSONAL spirituality with-in me. I reconize that salvation lies with-in and that I can choose the nature and form of that salvation. Another thing I have come to realize is that I DO NOT need to force that belief on others or expect them to come to a plane of belief close to mine.

goldensky

Dear Borges, first of all I can't hold back from congratulating you on your written English, which is an absolute pleasure to read! Wow! If you can express yourself so beautifully in your second language (or maybe third?), I can't begin to imagine what it must be like to hear you speak in your mother tongue! Being a foreigner myself (born and raised in Spain), I fully appreciate the effort such a feat requires. May I ask what your native language is?

Secondly, you and I are definitely on the same page. Our feelings are practically identical, except that I was never afraid Jehovah would destroy me and that I still harbour some hope a loving powerful being may exist somewhere, although my ongoing research make chances feel really bleak some days... Boy, do I miss him! Like you, I spent decades living my life as a diehard Witness, thoroughly enjoying it, saying to myself excitedly each single night before falling asleep, "One day less for the new world!". Now, instead, I sigh with sadness and think, "One day less... for what? Eternal darkness? Another life? What is there after this?" Precisely because I love my life and enjoy each one of my days so very much, it's very hard to admit this existence may be all there is. Yes, I struggle with that too, but, do you know what? In a way, I've learnt to love the intrigue, I continue searching because I delight in the search itself, not because I have the slightest hope of finding an answer during my lifetime. It's just that I can't help wondering during each minute of my waking hours about this exquisite mystery of being alive. And I can't get over the fact that many other humans (my husband among others, ha, ha!) seem to live their lives oblivious to this miracle! Some may have just given up their search though, which I fully understand...

Hello, PSacramento!

Yalbmert99, I thoroughly enjoyed your exposition.

Thanks for your suggestion, NewChapter! The book Mortality will definitely be the next one I order from Amazon. I checked it out the minute I read your post and yes, it draws my attention powerfully!

John_Mann

Well, the atheism itself does not exclude life after death. The atheism is related to sobrenatural beings, etc.

The materialism it's the right domain about life and death.

But in pratical terms every atheist is a materialist, so the result is the same.

I like to think like the buddhist philosophy about finding the equilibrium between opposite extremes.

In this life and death issue we have two main extremes the eternalism and anihililation.

I have no idea what would be the middle way between these extremes.

But I like to think about it when I'm worried about death.

The most ironic thing is you never know the exact moment of your death, it's like to try to know the very moment of your daily sleep. Virtually there's no difference about one person getting to sleep and one diyng.

Simply put: the death in a first person perspective does not exist.

I think we could have a much longer lifespan, that would decrease our worries about death. But a longer lifespan it's not impossible and will be the science that will bring it to us in a near future.

But in a way or another we will start to get nuts in a longer lifespan. Our natural selected mind would not achieve to deal with a long life about 3 hundred years for example.

All in all death would be a last mystery of life and we would crave for it.

I have a spooky relation with death, sometimes it scared me but sometimes it fascinates me with it's mystery and my endless curiosity.

An atheists grieve