Contentment? Peace with the world? I don't know...

[=X-Sparker + AquaKiller=]

This is something I just thought of when responding to Radical Hypocrisy's thread about brain creating God and all that:
I'm kind of content with my life.

To be more specific, in RH's thread, he talked about how Morgan Freeman said in order to cope with the stress of our mortality, the free-thinker side of our brain connects ourselves to a concept of immortality and eternity, and that's how God comes about.

And then, here's what came to my realization: I've accepted mortality. Now, being an atheist means I don't believe God exists, so I won't have any heavens or hells or "some place" to go after I die. To put it simply, I will be completely forgotten in 100 or 200 years (unless I do something amazing). I will be dead, I will be rotting in the ground, my "soul" will be gone forever, and no one will know me, and I won't be in heaven or somewhere with someone for eternity (I know I ain't that important, lol). When I die, it's just nothing. No afterlife, no immortality.

Now, this all sounds very pessimistic, but here's what I find amazing: I'm okay with it. I'm okay with the idea of being forgotten and all that. It's like, I've had my time, I've had my chance at life, and I think (although not now, but hopefully when I die) that when I die, I can say (or think) that "hey, my life wasn't too bad" and just leave it at that. I wouldn't need or want to believe in an afterlife or some heaven/hell place just so that I can keep "living". In fact, the idea of conjuring up such a place just to comfort myself sounds pretty pathetic to me.

It feels kind of weird. Like I'm released--released from a constraint (of what, I have no clue) that I or society had put on myself. And then, I feel like "okay, I've still got about... hmmm maybe 50 or 60 years left, so let's do more of the stuff that I love to do".

Does anyone else feel this way?? Is this what they mean by "true enlightenment" (or just no fear of death, lol)?

 

[RandomnessAndMiscellany]

=X-Sparker + AquaKiller=

Does anyone else feel this way??

I do occasionally. Then I remember just how long an eternity is, realize that I can't, and go back to being scared.
If you can deal with that, I'm happy for you, but:
a) I doubt it (I secretly believe nobody can, so its not just you); and
b) Unfortunately, I can't.

EDIT: See my post in "why are you unafraid of dying"  

[Celestial Fireflies]

I used to feel this way. After all, what is there to fear about feeling nothing at all? I won't be conscious to recognize it. I was also content with the life I had led up to that point, and I felt that this was a good way to be. I wouldn't want the last breaths of my life to be filled with the thoughts that I could have done more, spurring a flood of anguish because I didn't and my time has run out.

I guess I stopped feeling that way when I realized that there's a lot I could do still, and not only that, but my 50-60 years are not guaranteed. I don't fear the idea of being dead itself, I fear dying and the prospect of my life stopping short of where I wanted it to. I mean, I fear the moment where I'm still conscious enough to realize in horror that there is no more time left for me.

Before I became an atheist, death was even more stressful for me. I worried that I would go to hell while my family was in heaven, or the opposite, or that eternity would be too long for me to exist and that I would want to stop being conscious eventually. I worried that I couldn't do the things I liked during life in heaven, despite religious people telling me that I wouldn't care anymore once I was in heaven.

The only comfort the afterlife brought me was when it applied to other people, i.e. that my deceased loved ones would still be alive somehow and able to see me. Otherwise, it was like the fear I have about those final moments, except that would extend beyond life itself and into eternity. So, in that way, believing that I will simply stop existing after I die is much more peaceful to me than believing I will have an eternity to think about how much more I could have done. And it is a lot more comforting than stressing over whether I'll go to a good place or bad place.

Back to feeling scared about dying, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing for me. I also don't think that not fearing death is necessarily a good thing for me. Without that fear, there's not a lot of drive for me to get things done NOW. If I allow myself to believe that my many years ahead are guaranteed, I know that I put things off. When I realize that I could die, at any moment, I feel more motivated to take charge of my life and experience what I can while I'm still guaranteed this very moment.

However, I realize that one doesn't always need the push of death to propel them forward; that's only how I think. If you can free yourself of that fear and still push yourself to make the most out of every day, then I think that's great. Fear and anxiety is a horrible feeling anyways.

(Wow that was a long post.)  

[Im A Little Pea]

No. I don't think I could ever feel that way.
Ever since I was a very young child I had a fear of death. I'm talking 5 or maybe even younger (I was raised Atheist and realized what death meant at a pretty young age). The thought of not being here, being alive, doing things, feeling, BEING. It's very crushing to me. I don't want it all to end.  

[Koravin]

I was also stressed at the prospect of being separated from loved ones for eternity, due to some of us going to heaven, and others to hell. That is a burden no child should bear. I am afraid of death, but I find the idea of the end of my existence much more palatable than eternity in heaven or hell.

Sometimes I'm good with death and dying, and sometimes I'm not. I haven't decided. Hopefully, it's many decades in the future.  

[Daffodil the Destroyer]

Sparker - I feel that way. I don't want an endless life; it would inevitably get boring at some point. One lifetime is enough, and once I stop existing, I won't mind.

It's nice to think about being with my loved ones in a perfect, happy place for all eternity, but when I'm dead it's not like I'll be conscious to lament the loss of them. I don't understand being afraid of nonexistence.

 

[=X-Sparker + AquaKiller=]

Daffodil the Destroyer

Sparker - I feel that way. I don't want an endless life; it would inevitably get boring at some point. One lifetime is enough, and once I stop existing, I won't mind.

This would be exactly my response to Celestial Fireflies. If you can't get motivated because you think you have more time, then I'd like to think of my time as being limited. Like Daffodil said, to me the idea of an endless life would inevitably turn out boring and even pathetic. I only get one lifetime in this universe so I should probably make the most out of it when I'm still here because I don't know when the next second I won't be breathing anymore. That's how I'm motivated. And I think it also helps me make life decisions carefully because I'd think that, "Okay, Sparker, you only get one life. You can't start over and you can't reverse time. Whatever you do is all going to be part of your life so don't mess it up." It helps me think carefully before making choices and being who I am.