For my fellow Atheist and People who dont believe anything happens when you die, how do you personally deal with the fact that theres nothingness?

[figtree]

nothing is all i could hope for. i am so tired

 

[bigbeatmanifesto]

I 100% agree with your assessment, humans just made up these after death fantasy because 1. The human brain is imaginative and 2. being self aware and self concious makes us fear not existing so we lie to ourselves. The human intelligence is a blessing and a curse.

Yep, you see this with spiritual traditions that believe in reincarnation. The idea of past lives is a comfort blanket to people who fear death, which ironically goes against the main spiritual tenets of nothingness and egolessness.

 

[HerculePoirot]

My suicide will be rational. I will not kill myself to end an unbearable suffering. I will do it well before, to suppress a body and a brain no longer sufficiently functional to ensure an acceptable way of life for myself and for other humans around me.
Doing this final deed, I will destroy myself completely and permanently. No survival in any form, no hell, no heaven. I accept in advance my total termination.
In the meantime, I'm enjoying life with pleasure.

"Chacun se termine" (Charles De Gaulle)

 

[TG_]

I prefer the nothingness to life I think even if there was a heaven I couldn't enjoy it I want the nothingness and I hope there is no god

 

[eternalbliss22]

This has been really bugging me lately, i believe that once we die thats it. No afterlife or reincarnation. I am glad people have the comfort of a heaven or reincarnation but i cannot in good conscience lie to myself and delude myself into believing things out of hope or fear.

I am 100% sure in my mind after thinking about thing logically that once we die we cease to think or feel ever again.

How do you deal with this notion?

I'm not an atheist, but I don't believe in any of the man made religions. Told to have faith in someone that said God told them. That's would be mental. I do believe we no longer exist when dead. I find this very comforting.

 

[Source Energy]

If I believed there is nothingness it would calm and comfort me. But I think we live on, as energy, and very likely to reincarnate. As someone mentioned, it is a very horrifying thought.
I just hope my next life will be less horrible than this soul crushing experienced I had as this current avatar.

Make an experiment : hold your hands close, with your fingers slightly curved, as if you were holding a ball. Focus your mind on your palms and finger tips. You will feel currents of energy radiating through your palms and out of your finger tips. Rotate the energy ball left and right, expand and contract it with your hands. Feel it. That's what we are - energy. All matter is formed by energy. We go back to that immense blanket from whence we came.

I'm afraid there is no escape from the horror show. Maybe just this particular show you are currently in.

 

[SadJessu]

Sort of a vent post, sorry.

I am a practicing Roman Catholic, though like most people, I doubt. The way I see it is that either there is a Heaven (whether I'll make it there after CTB is questionable), or nothing. My husband believes in reincarnation, despite being raised Catholic. The fact that we don't share the faith is one of my main reasons for being suicidal, it was my job as his wife to lead him to Heaven, and after years of encouragement and trying, he's not interested. That's his choice and I can not impose my beliefs on him, but I know it makes me a miserable failure as to what God has called me to do. Heaven wouldn't be Heaven without him, so I don't know if I could even picture myself there. We're supposed to love God above all things, but my husband is my vice, I love him so. The idea of oblivion becomes comforting; drifting off into nothingness, the cessation of all pain and despair, it's very alluring. If it is the way that things are then it is nothing that I fear, not anymore.

Anyway, his views of reincarnation are utterly terrifying to me personally. He believes that if one kills themself in this world, the pain is carried on into the next, a never ending cycle of suffering. Also why would anyone want to believe in an afterlife where your consciousness is recycled and you never see your loved ones again? He says that makes relationships more meaningful because of their impermanence, but to me it renders everything utterly pointless.

I suppose the hardest part for me personally is the fact that we lost a child to a miscarriage. It was an early loss in a twin pregnancy, with the other twin surviving. I don't mind talking about it to people when they ask how the pregnancy went, but I naturally hold back on disclosing the grief that I still experience. It's sort of societally incorrect to talk about these things, especially if you had a healthy baby with the other twin. So the only person I could turn to for comfort I can't really talk to about it. I told him that I was curious to why he never grieved the loss, he said that didn't because he thought that they never had a soul to begin with, and if they did it's someone else now in some other body. Felt like getting punched in the gut. I know other people have various opinions on when a person is a person, but for me this was particularly painful.

Like I said, I'm not afraid of oblivion, it's much easier to reconcile. I have faith. I hope that things work out, but I'm rapidly losing hope.

 

[starvhmb6]

This has been really bugging me lately, i believe that once we die thats it. No afterlife or reincarnation. I am glad people have the comfort of a heaven or reincarnation but i cannot in good conscience lie to myself and delude myself into believing things out of hope or fear.

I am 100% sure in my mind after thinking about thing logically that once we die we cease to think or feel ever again.

How do you deal with this notion?

I feel weird.. But it won't matter because I won't feel anyways..

 

[EDMisgood]

There isn't much to think about when you're an atheist and you want to ctb, more thinking goes into hoping that it would work out, nothing else matters, it wouldn't matter whatever is after that either.

 

[EternalOblivion]

The idea of there being nothing after death has always brought me comfort. I'm willing to entertain the idea of reincarnation—but I truly hope there is nothing. I don't want anymore experiences or to go through infinite lives.

 

[Source Energy]

Its a weird feeling. My brains want to keep the lights on, but I know logically there is no way that I can get out of this mess and live a normal happy life. I kinda want to stay alive and be conscious, but when I step outside into reality I realize its all fucked and that I'm doomed.

This is pretty much the loop I've been going through for the past few months. I know that there is probably nothing after death. I can say that since I can compare it to the time I had heart surgery. When they attached that mask on my face to put me to sleep I teleported from the table to the hospital bed in like 2 seconds, but in the meantime there was pure nothingness.

Really thinking about this nothingness is definitely weird as hell, so when I'm ready I'm thinking of getting drunk or overdosing on benzos in order to get over those thoughts and just push through.

you described my every day struggle exactly :(
I relate so much to this post!

 

[Homo erectus]

Wouldn't it be comforting if there were some higher beings watching to ensure that it is nothingness after we die? Perhaps humans are just AI robots created by the gods to till the soil for them. The gods really don't care what's before and after human life as long as they do the works as told during their lifetime.

 

[pthnrdnojvsc]

I'm certain that there is nothing after Death , that a human won't exist anymore after Death. This knowledge gives me immense comfort. What are the alternatives? existing forever. I don't see how others don't get tired of the daily grind. Having to do 100's of ridiculous garbage things I hate just to exist eat 3 times a day , sleep 8 hours per day, working a job, chores, shower, brushing teeth, cleaning everything, fixing everything , problems suffering pain. .and this is every day. I calculated the time I spend working at a job , chores , maintenance crap like grocery shopping , cooking, eating 3 times a day sleeping , driving and many other crap things and it's a ridiculous number of hours every day and every week just to exist over a hundred hours a week if you include sleeping. All this for no purpose and just to exist and under constant threat of something even more horrible happening to you like cancer stroke accident etc. I don't get it how people are even ok with this and just accept it and then to get old . And then they think this is beautiful and they say they love this which is life. i can't imagine how anybody doesn't get tired of this daily grind after even 40 years much less 80 years of life.

Imagine a billion years of this , a trillion years. why would anyone want even 80 years of this (life)? I guess people haven't thought about it how large a number is a trillion years. but that is just a start to infinity. What would I do for a trilliion years remember the suffering truama pain of this horrible life now? but they have people actually believing this is true an afterlife and wanting this opposed to non-existence and fearing non-existence. living existing for a trillion years is a torture a billion times worse than I can imagine . I'm so glad that I will not exist after I die .

There are hundreds of reasons why I know after Death is non-existence forever. just any book on the brain, neurosciene, The cell , DNA , evolution , biology , genetics , physics , chemistry , comparative anatomy, human anatomy textbooks, and other books and all the the experimental refrences for those books show that a human is just an animal just a brain and that there is no afterlife nor reincarnation.

 

[HermitLonerGuy]

There are hundreds of reasons why I know after Death is non-existence forever. just any book on the brain, neurosciene, The cell , DNA , evolution , biology , genetics , physics , chemistry , comparative anatomy, human anatomy textbooks, and other books and all the the experimental refrences for those books show that a human is just an animal just a brain and that there is no afterlife nor reincarnation.

100% all of this. Yet we still get people denying it and believing in their after life fairy tales lol.

 

[ksp]

people haven't thought about it how large a number is a trillion years. but that is just a start to infinity

excellent point!

i believe that our consciousness ceases to exist (based on our limited knowledge)
- my identity for the first year(s) of life was inexistent, so my identity after death will also be inexistent

but, if we entertain the idea that we can get an infinite consciousness and identify: i came into existence once, so why wouldn't i exist again, and again, forever-more? (however improbable) - this why infinite consciousness horrifies me

interesting to speculate: 'to be, or not to be' - what if shakespeare's (or einstein's) consciousness is in one of the answers of this thread? one of us maybe was a spider, or an ant, or a dinosaur in a previous life. or even a distant alien species, from billions of years ago, and beyond our intelligence and comprehension (fascinating, yet terrifying)

my only consolation, right now, is that i will not remember any of my previous suffering, and this is a fact!
my infinite consciousness will not be aware of my continuity because my memory will be reset: whatever emotional attachments i had previously (family, friends, etc), happiness / unhappiness - will be detached from my current existence (my experience will be brand new), and not continuous - small breaks between cruelties. so i don't know if i'm infinite or not, but i do know that my memory will be erased by my current death (this is what i'd call my actual memory death)

we will never know for sure, but i still hope that i will simply cease to be…

 

[Lovelorn]

That's his choice and I can not impose my beliefs on him, but I know it makes me a miserable failure as to what God has called me to do.

I think you're being way too harsh on yourself. You're not beholden to convince anyone, but to show and hope for the best. If Christ didn't manage to convince most worldly people of his time, then no one can, right? And that's why the thing around your neck is shaped the way it is.

And some people genuinely can't or refuse to see what you might believe in. Everyone's circumstances are different; at the end of the day, we're all alone, playing in our own garden. If you're a good person and see the same good in your husband, then that's probably all that matters for now. If God understands then he'll understand.

 

[damnatio memoriae]

I'm sorta- religious? Like I wish to be a Catholic Christian but I also want to die so the thought of going to hell worries me. Though if there was a hell I would probably still CTB because I am fine with being in agony for eternity if it means that I rid my family of all the shit I did and shit I'll do. Like I am 100% fine with going to hell if it means that my family will be fine thereafter.

 

[leeloosnow]

" do a little dance, make a little love, and get really really down tonight "

 

[spiritedspirit]

Reincarnation is real, sorry to burst your bubble.

 

[mongoose23]

Eternal oblivion wouldn't scare me at all. But even as an agnostic who doesn't believe in heaven or hell, who knows what the fuck will be awaiting us after death? Maybe we'll be born in an alternate universe or become plants or something idk. Either way, death would at least release me from the pain of this life.

 

[lost-unfound]

it's comforting to know there's nothing. the idea of an afterlife being trapped in a state of eternal consciousness is horrifying to me. I think if I believed in an afterlife, I'd fear death a lot more and would probably rather try and get myself into a coma rather than dead.

 

[gogetter126]

I don't care really. I long for the emptiness and the peace that comes with it. That comforts me, that's my light away from the darkness of the world.

 

[Midnight-rain]

The thought comforts me. I will never have to deal with any bullshit that comes with being alive again.

 

[Disaster]

I know, from my experiences every morning, that I'm not disturbed by nothingness, but the process of switching from nothingness to being a sentient and self-aware human being is miserable

 

[MarimbaKitten]

It brings me comfort knowing that there is nothing after. If I thought there was an afterlife, especially eternal life, that would worry me. I don't want anything else after this living hell.

This. As someone who isn't necessarily nonreligious, the idea that there may be an afterlife is scarier for me than the idea that there's just nothingness and I wouldn't ever have to feel again.

 

[AerialBoundaries]

There is nothing to deal with. It'll be the same as before I was born.

I wish I could see my dead family members and my dog growing up, but I live in the real world.

 

[justkenisfine]

The idea of an afterlife scares me. I can't imagine eternity OR nothingness. All my brain can handle is the here and now and obviously that's a struggle otherwise I would be be here. So an alternative to this, whatever that may be must be preferable, or at least I hope it is.

 

[SadJessu]

I think you're being way too harsh on yourself. You're not beholden to convince anyone, but to show and hope for the best. If Christ didn't manage to convince most worldly people of his time, then no one can, right? And that's why the thing around your neck is shaped the way it is.

And some people genuinely can't or refuse to see what you might believe in. Everyone's circumstances are different; at the end of the day, we're all alone, playing in our own garden. If you're a good person and see the same good in your husband, then that's probably all that matters for now. If God understands then he'll understand.

Thank you, I needed that.

I see infinite good in my husband, he makes me wish that I were a better person. He's patient and kind, things I wish I were. I get that ultimately I'm on my own here, we all are.

 

[Antinous]

Those who think that consciousness can exist without a living brain: What do you propose the "day to day" experience of "afterlife" to be?

After you become aware that your consciousness is detached from a body, what is it like? Is it fun? Do you have emotions? Based on what? How would it be possible to decide if you were happy or sad? Since you are in an eternal state, what would be the point of an emotion? Do you interact with other consciousnesses? Since nobody has a body, how do you tell if there is anyone else around? Or are you always alone? Do you pray? Do you interact with living beings on Earth? How does that work? Does the living being need to believe in you? What if they've "moved on" and forgotten about you? What happens after a couple hundred Earth years and anyone who ever knew you existed is gone? Is there a "clubhouse" at which a bunch of consciousnesses can get together and socialize? But how much fun could such a club be? No music, no dancing, no food, no entertainment, since everyone is just a consciousness (a thought, I guess). How long would that last? Since there is no time, how do you tell when to start or stop? Since every consciousness in the "afterlife" has an eternity to fill with some kind of activity, it would seem like things would get pretty boring pretty "quickly." (if that word could make any sense in an eternal context). Without some material "stuff" associated with consciousness, there would be no way to measure where one consciousness leaves off and another one begins. Sounds kinda messy.

One benefit of being retired is that I have control over how I fill my time. There is joy in beginning a project, working on it, and ultimately completing it. Then figuring out a new project. In an eternity, none of that makes any sense. What would be the point? As a retired person (especially a person who is considering an elective death), there are definite limits to what tasks are possible. There is joy in seeing if I can complete a longer term task before my body stops metabolizing. A race. A competition between myself and time. But in an eternal context, none of that makes any sense. Why take up any task at all, since I have all of eternity to get it done? Tasks (even spreadsheets) involve interacting with some kind of material, and in the afterlife there is no material. The concept "completed task" makes no sense in an eternal world. Since "task" is incompatible with an infinite timeline, how am I to be occupied in an afterlife?

Afterlife sounds awful. I'm glad it's not real.

 

[JustSomeoneOnline]

I just think of it as sleeping without a dream. Really simple right, hahahah. But I think the fact that I can go to sleep and not have to experience anything anymore is quite comforting. There was definitely a time when I was scared shitless by the idea of nothing awaiting me after death, but I think after you thoroughly think it over and 100% commit to dying you can find a form of peace in the nothingness.