Atheists - how do you feel about the fact that one day you will die and cease to exist forever?

Question

I think its depressing and relieving at the same time. You?

Answer 1

Back in my ''believing'' days I found that depressing. But then again that's why I sought God in the first place, to give my soul immortality. Need I say how selfish and ridiculous of me that was?

Now that I've accepted it as a fact, I find it relieving and liberating, to be honest. I still don't steal, kill, cheat, etc. But I am free knowing that it's my conscience I have to answer to.
.

Answer 2

Peaceful oblivion... Life's sweetest reward...

But there's an angle you may not have considered...

Eternity and infinity fit in a finite space and time(!)

Take an arbitrary length, say, a foot. Divide that in half. Divide it in half again. Continue halving the length a thousand times... Then a thousand times more... Then consider that you can continue to do that even after each fraction of your original measure is less than the width of a hydrogen atom...

Time perception is strongly affected by context. When you were a small child, minutes dragged on and on like days. By the time you are an octogenarian years will whisk by, seemingly every time you take the dog for a walk...

Now...

Consider that when your brain begins to expire from oxygen deficiency, and releases all of its chemical reserves to "tighten perceptive focus" in its last ditch attempt for survival, how long will those last moments seem?
When we dream, a few minutes of real time can become hours worth of dream time... Will the last few moments of life seem like forever? Is time itself even an absolute? Science doesn't know if time is a constant or merely a function of perception... So, God or no God, we will probably still have to recon with our own inner afterlife....

Answer 3

There is an underlying assumption here that an atheist does not believe in an afterlife--the continuation of consciousness.
Let me put it this way--while there is no iron clad--irrefutable proof of ghosts and paranormal phenomena--there is a substantial amount of credible information which suggests that at the very least post death existance is a possibility. This does not require a God. Forget irrefutable, there is not any preponderance of credible evidence that God exists. Apples and oranges so your question has no true meaning.

Answer 4

If I live my life knowing that one day I'm going to die, it makes the time I have that much sweeter.

I want to be able to look back on my life and feel like I haven't missed out on anything and die without regret.

So I don't feel it's depressing.

Answer 5

I don't mind it at all. But I am agnostic and not atheist so not sure if this Q still applies to me. It would be nice to think that there is some beautiful forgiving scape of Nirvana in the afterlife, it's just really hard to beleive when being realistic about it.

Answer 6

Relieved.

Answer 7

Fact is we don't know anymore than the religious wackos; similar arrangement of molecules pops up again maybe w/in a 1000 generations time and you may find yourself conscious and asking the same questions, as long as you don't make up irrational answers no problem.

Answer 8

I appreciate life more and try to make it better. I don't relish the idea of dieing but then again not sure that I'd want to exist forever either.

Answer 9

I won't feel like I ceased to exist. As far as I know, I'll always be alive. Doesn't really bother me too much.

Answer 10

Not all atheists believe in ceasing to exist.