Afterlife

[PickelledEggs]

Many religions constructed an afterlife either partially or entirety out of the fear of death and the unknowing of what happens to you when you're gone.

My question to you guys is: How do (for a lack of a better word) cope with the thought of no afterlife?
----
Do you dread your dieing day? or do you not worry about it at all?
Do you value what you do in your life more? or do you have a more exestetial way of looking at things?

[Sal1981]

I fear the pain of right before death. I actually hope I will sleep in and not wake up again some day when I'm hopefully very old. I will not  be the wiser, just like all those billions of years before I was born.

[Mermaid]

Yup. I'll be dust and particulate matter again.

It has been hard for me losing people I love and knowing that they aren't "out there" watching over us, but the truth is, we're dirt after we die. There's nothing wrong with that.

[PickelledEggs]

Those are good points. What I'm also really curious about is how do you approach your life? Does death cripple you?... inspire you? or are you indifferent about it?

For instance, for myself:

I don't really want to think about death. I kind of hope I die peacefully of old age or something like that in the for future. I'm afraid of dieing from disease (I have a long history of cancer and other crap in my family so that worries me). And the fact that there is no afterlife, for me I like. It inspires me to do great things while I'm alive. I guess so I know I will be remembered. (sort of like my own self-fabricated afterlife). I won't exist physically and I don't beleive in ghosts so, that means for me that I don't believe that I'll be able to witness the world after I'm gone. But I want people to tell stories about me in a hundred years.

But that is what I meant about how do you deal with the thought of "afterlife/no afterlife". How does it affect your living?

Just curious...

[Colanth]

Are you talking about dying or about being dead - you seem to be going back and forth.

I hope I don't have a painful death, or a lingering one.  Dying in my sleep would be good, burning or drowning wouldn't.

Being dead?  That's not existing.  I didn't exist for about 14.7 billion years before I was conceived, and I expect that being dead will be just like that, so I don't think about it.  Not being alive is like not having wings or not having been born on the planet of a different star - it's reality, and I don't think about alternatives to it, unless I'm just fantasizing, but then I know that it's fantasy.

Does it affect my life, knowing that I won't be alive eternally?  Well ... there are a lot of things I'll never see.  Even if I live to be 100, that's not all that terribly far into the future, so I'll miss manned colonies on other planets, manned travel to the planets of other stars, brain-computer interfaces (probably) ... millions of things.  But, again ... that's reality.  So I regret that I'll never see those things, but I'm not going to make a big fuss about it.

[PickelledEggs]

Are you talking about dying or about being dead - you seem to be going back and forth.

I'm talking about how the thought of no existence after you die affects your life.

[Johan]

My question to you guys is: How do (for a lack of a better word) cope with the thought of no afterlife?

What's to cope with? Its not like we have a choice in the matter. It is what it is.

[mykcob4]

Many religions constructed an afterlife either partially or entirety out of the fear of death and the unknowing of what happens to you when you're gone.

My question to you guys is: How do (for a lack of a better word) cope with the thought of no afterlife?
----
Do you dread your dieing day? or do you not worry about it at all?
Do you value what you do in your life more? or do you have a more exestetial way of looking at things?

Since energy cannot be destroyed only converted, I don't bother to "cope" with the knowledge of no afterlife. Why worry about something that there is no control over? You see religion is all about control....even control over someone that is already dead. Religion controls the living by claiming that it has control of the dead. It's nonsensical really. So even posing the question of an afterlife is a form of trying to take control, whether it be your own life or someone elses. I don't allow people to control my life, especially those with nonsense controlling theirs!
There is no afterlife only this one so live this one and don't worry about anything else. If I worried about an afterlife, I may as well worry about other nonsensical things. Maybe I should worry about "if Batman is real, can he prevent the tatonic plates from eventually ripping the known world apart, Or should I rely on Superman for that?"

[mykcob4]

Those are good points. What I'm also really curious about is how do you approach your life? Does death cripple you?... inspire you? or are you indifferent about it?

For instance, for myself:

I don't really want to think about death. I kind of hope I die peacefully of old age or something like that in the for future. I'm afraid of dieing from disease (I have a long history of cancer and other crap in my family so that worries me). And the fact that there is no afterlife, for me I like. It inspires me to do great things while I'm alive. I guess so I know I will be remembered. (sort of like my own self-fabricated afterlife). I won't exist physically and I don't beleive in ghosts so, that means for me that I don't believe that I'll be able to witness the world after I'm gone. But I want people to tell stories about me in a hundred years.

But that is what I meant about how do you deal with the thought of "afterlife/no afterlife". How does it affect your living?

Just curious...

I have faced death many times. Many of those times I completely froze. Most of the time I just functioned the way I was trained. I usually ignore danger unless there is a way to avoid it. Fear is a necessary emotion hardwired in our brains. You have to learn to function while being afraid. You can't function if all you think about is death or pain.
Heres a poor but adequate example. If batting you try to avoid an inside pitch but know full well that you can't avoid it, you know it's going to hurt but you accept that it's coming and just take it, trying to minimalize the damage. You treat death and pain the same way. I knew I was going to get shot two of the three times it happened, but I had know time or chance to prevent it. I took it. I didn't worry about death or pain. I couldn't. I knew if I survived the shot that I had to get help if I wanted to live. I just did the best I could at the time. That is all you can do. No ammount of worry and or prayer would make any difference except that it can keep from doing what you need to do to stay alive!

[Validus]

Many religions constructed an afterlife either partially or entirety out of the fear of death and the unknowing of what happens to you when you're gone.

My question to you guys is: How do (for a lack of a better word) cope with the thought of no afterlife?
----
Do you dread your dieing day? or do you not worry about it at all?
Do you value what you do in your life more? or do you have a more exestetial way of looking at things?

We were already in oblivion before we were born and we didn't mind....so why should I mind after I'm dead?

[Plu]

It's been proven before that telling people they are going to die soon is the best way to motivate them to get shit done. The only thing that makes us get off our ass and accomplish something in life is the knowledge that there's only a finite amount of it.

[Validus]

It's been proven before that telling people they are going to die soon is the best way to motivate them to get shit done. The only thing that makes us get off our ass and accomplish something in life is the knowledge that there's only a finite amount of it.

"Nothing happens without a deadline." ~Journalist Proverb

[Aupmanyav]

Yup. I'll be dust and particulate matter again. It has been hard for me losing people I love ..

So will I also be, but I think I am better primed to bear the loss of loved one. Kabir (one of the most important Indian folk philosopher) said:

"Nav dware ka pinjara, ta mein panchhi paun;
rahibe ko acharaj karo, gaye ko acharaj kaun?"

(The cage has nine doors, in lives the wind bird;
that it remains is a wonder, what surprise if it flies away?)

[Aupmanyav]

My question to you guys is: How do (for a lack of a better word) cope with the thought of no afterlife?
----
Do you dread your dieing day? or do you not worry about it at all?
Do you value what you do in your life more?

Yes, what is there to cope with. That is the deal which all living beings have. I do not dread the day of my death. Will worrying help? In most cases there would be pain and disability before death. Yes, life is important (and short), so we need to make best use of it according to 'dharma'.

[missingnocchi]

I deal with it by trying to stop it. I'm a biochemistry student, and I hope to research telomerase in the future. It's an enzyme with the ability to restore lost telomeres on DNA (the cause for almost all of the symptoms of aging.) If we could find a way to use it without causing all of the cancer, then we could be biologically immortal (car accidents and gunshots would still kill us.) I know you were looking for a more psychological answer, but the psychological side of my view of death is inseparably linked with the scientific side: I deal with the fear and angst of death by working to stop it from happening. Even if I don't ultimately succeed, it keeps me from falling into depression.