When Will You Die?

[SalixIncendium]

This is one of the saddest threads I've seen in ages. I begin to think that religion doesn't really provide the hope that it pretends to.

How long is an age?

Do you need a tissue?

Is it the purpose of religion to provide hope?

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

It’s not so much religion that provides comfort, as faith (which you may find in religion, or in a personal relationship with a God of your understanding). If you deny yourself that faith, how can you hope to understand it’s value?

I honestly don't know why people who hold religious beliefs insist on saying that those of us who do not "deny ourselves." This is not true, and telling that lie repeatedly will not make it true. We deny ourselves nothing except an HONEST look at what we can perceive and reason out. We tend to rule out fantasy as, well, fantasy. We don't mind fantasy -- we mostly love good stories -- we just accept it for what it is.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

Is it the purpose of religion to provide hope?

As a matter of fact, I think that is a large part of it. We may be among the very, very few animals on earth who actually know that we will one day cease to exist. If we cannot come to grips with the fact of non-existence (which is what we "knew" before we were born), then this can be a very frightening thought.

We also perceive that when a person dies, well, their body remains, but it looks like "something has gone from it." And because our minds can form the concept of other minds (this is one of the things that makes us a special animal) we can imagine other "minds" or anima existing in other objects, and even without an objective being itself. Thus, we can imagine that what left our great leader when he passed on might still be available to be called on to help us in our need and our fear.

And thus is born "life after death."

Religion also helps to codify some of those things that are natural to us, but from which we can default, because we are complex species, eusocial, like ants and bees, but capable, unlike them, of behaving selfishly -- defaulting from our social responsibilities to one another. Religion gives us a means of trying to keep defaulters more or less in line.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

By that site im already dead ;-)

Ive been pretty close once ir twice so they may be on to something

Yep, me too. Still feel oddly hale and hearty, however. Wonder how that can be?

 

[ChristineM]

Yep, me too. Still feel oddly hale and hearty, however. Wonder how that can be?

I wouldn't go as far as to say I'm hale and hearty... But...

 

[SalixIncendium]

As a matter of fact, I think that is a large part of it. We may be among the very, very few animals on earth who actually know that we will one day cease to exist. If we cannot come to grips with the fact of non-existence (which is what we "knew" before we were born), then this can be a very frightening thought.

We also perceive that when a person dies, well, their body remains, but it looks like "something has gone from it." And because our minds can form the concept of other minds (this is one of the things that makes us a special animal) we can imagine other "minds" or anima existing in other objects, and even without an objective being itself. Thus, we can imagine that what left our great leader when he passed on might still be available to be called on to help us in our need and our fear.

And thus is born "life after death."

Religion also helps to codify some of those things that are natural to us, but from which we can default, because we are complex species, eusocial, like ants and bees, but capable, unlike them, of behaving selfishly -- defaulting from our social responsibilities to one another. Religion gives us a means of trying to keep defaulters more or less in line.

First, I fixed the quote box.

What part of us "cease(s) to exist"?

Also, not all religions teach "life after death." Mine doesn't. At least my specific philosophy doesn't.

 

[RestlessSoul]

I honestly don't know why people who hold religious beliefs insist on saying that those of us who do not "deny ourselves." This is not true, and telling that lie repeatedly will not make it true. We deny ourselves nothing except an HONEST look at what we can perceive and reason out. We tend to rule out fantasy as, well, fantasy. We don't mind fantasy -- we mostly love good stories -- we just accept it for what it is.

Well life is all about perspective, and from where I’m standing, you are shutting yourself off from the sunlight of the spirit. Your loss, and no skin off my nose, as the saying goes.

 

[Gargovic Malkav]

According to some test I did on the internet when I was like 16, I died of a heart attack in 2013.
I guess the afterlife is pretty much like the mortal one...

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

Well life is all about perspective, and from where I’m standing, you are shutting yourself off from the sunlight of the spirit. Your loss, and no skin off my nose, as the saying goes.

But that is only because you think that "spirit" must include invisible, powerful entities. Perhaps you should read some of my posts on atheist spirituality. There are lots of them.

Or you could read the short but excellent "The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality" by French philosopher Andre Comte-Sponville. I highlly recommend it.

 

[osgart]

Every day I lose attachments to the world, so I die a little each day. But that's a good thing because there is freedom to that.

As for physical death, I'm not sure what exactly dies, or disappears, or dissolves, or what. Ceasing to exist probably doesn't even happen. I look at it like bodily separation. I have no idea when, sooner than later I guess. Back to whence it came from I go.

 

[Quagmire]

When will you die?

Don't rush me.

 

[Psalm23]

When will you die? Answer now or when...well, you know...if you can....

I don't know. I hope to be ready when the time comes.

 

[Sand Dancer]

The actuaries tell me I'll die in 2034, when I'm about 96. Statistically, they're on good ground.

I think I'll die when I stop breathing and my brain cells stop talking to each other.

You're 84???

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

You're 84???

Either a typo or an arithmetic problem. I'm 74, in 2034 I'll be 86.

I think it was the typo -- I actually have the actuarial estimate of my life expectancy -- 86.

 

[Sheldon]

When will you die? Answer now or when...well, you know...if you can....

When my heart stops, and can't be restarted?

 

[Link]

I already died due to my sins, their numerous nature and the big deadly ones included. I'll live again sometime and kill the darkness I've become.