Agnostics and Atheists....question?

Question

I have a legitimate question for both groups-do either believe there's an Afterlife?
How do you deal with the loss of a loved one? What do you believe happens to them once they pass on?
I do not know very much about either Agnostics or Atheists and I'd really like to know what you believe in.
Thank you in advance.

Answers are excellent and extremely informative. You all seem to deal with death with lots of strength and determination. Very admiral.

Answer 1

I don't believe or disbelieve in the afterlife.
I don't know what happens to us after we die, nor do I think it's very important. I don't have any reason to believe that there IS an afterlife, but I'm not against the idea.
I just don't think it's very important.

What's important is how we live our lives NOW. I think the impression we make on people, the lives we touch and the legacy we leave is important, not living for some eternal reward.
I deal with the death of loved ones rather easily. Dying is a fact of life. Everything dies. It's just the laws of biology. I accept it like I accept the passing of time and the changing of the season or any other inevitable thing. It makes me sad to miss them, but I don't worry about heaven or hell or anything else.
My loved ones lived good lives, they left their mark, I had a chance to know and love them and I am thankful for that.

Answer 2

I am Agnostic. I believe the divine can't be grasped by limited sentient beings like humans. I don't know if there is a Creator, and I don't think anyone else does either, no matter if they are deists or atheists. I'm cool with being wrong, either way, because it won't affect how I see myself or how I treat others in life.

Because this one life we have may be the only one, I find it to be very precious and I'm thankful to have had my chance at it. I've been very fortunate, and I know plenty of people have miserable circumstances that merely end in pain.

Because I have enjoyed my life, I'm not greedy and am fine with no bonuses after death. If I hated my life, I'd be glad that it's done with no further chance of misery.

When loved ones pass, I feel extremely grateful that I've had them in my life. If life is sheer coincidence, then I'm more thankful that circumstanced let me share a nanosecond in time with this person and with love in my heart. If it's all designed, well I'll thank the Creator if I ever get the chance to meet her.

Answer 3

I am an atheist, and I see no real evidence that supports the existence of an afterlife. I thus really "know", not merely "believe", that there is none. We all feel grief over deaths of loved ones. My only brother committed suicide, because he was depressed over having diabetes and a stroke. I just refuse to allow such things to get me down. I control my emotions and feelings, rather than allowing them to control me. Death is the final end of consciousness, and that is better than the depressing afterlives fools invented. If there was a heaven as Dad describes it, Bro Al would be nuts from boredom and depression by now. It is best that he is just dead and gone forever. Agnostics make no definite commitment, so the question is open to them, at least in theory.

Answer 4

I'm an agnostic and an atheist and I don't see any real evidence for an afterlife. Belief in an afterlife seems to be pure faith- deciding that something is true because one really wishes it were true.

After death the person is dead. The brain and body stop working and the person is gone.

I mourn my friends and loved ones who die. I remember them, I think of them often and I talk about them with others to keep their memories alive. I don't think they are in heaven, I don't fear that they are suffering in hell, I don't think they are ghosts haunting the earth. What afterlife they have is the life they have in our memories combined with the affect they had on the world and the lives of others.
It's like a good book. You finish reading it but it continues to influence your thought and actions even after it's over. And for me that's enough.

Answer 5

This atheist does not believe in an afterlife. My parents simply do not exist anymore and never will again, same as the pets I have owned that have died. Since atheist only means no belief in a deity or deities, however, you are likely to get differing answers. For example, Buddhists do not believe in a deity, but do believe in an afterlife.

Answer 6

I think personhood is an illusion that crumbles when the body does. So you should not miss a person that does not exist anymore. I feel that this poem is one of the best reflections on what losing a loved one means:

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there; I did not die.


I won't try to explain what that means, it will come out wrong no matter what. Paradoxically enough it always makes me cry.

Answer 7

I'm an atheist but I believe that an afterlife is logical. When a loved one dies I'm kind of happy for them because they get to see what's next and what's next would probably be better than what's now. I believe the afterlife is similar to a series of lucid dreams.

Answer 8

Atheist here. There is no evidence for an afterlife, even as comforting as that thought is. We deal with loss by remembering the fallen, trying to live our lives to the fullest, and trying to leave this world a better place than when we started.

Answer 9

Agnostic here.
Not so much belief in the afterlife either. I feel when loved ones pass on that's it.
I deal with the loss of a loved one head on, meaning I just deal with it.
There are certain people that have passed away, yet at times I feel their presence. This to me is more a memory, or something they instilled in me, not so much a spirit.

Answer 10

atheists believe god does not exist.
agnostics admit they dont know.
some agnostics also believe it is unknowable.
most of them probably feel the same way about the afterlife.
but they dont have to, to still fall under that catagory.
most atheists will tell you death is the end for you.
and your body will rot away.
i think that the buddha
might tell you that now is more important.
if youve lost a loved one
then look for them within yourself
heres the thing hardly anyone seems to get
are you really just your independent self
or personality
or deeper down
are you actually life itself
here in that incarnation
there in that one
if you are nature itself
then of course you cant die
ray knows what im talking about