(If you have anxiety about death then maybe you shouldn’t read this post, just letting you know!)
Edit: Thank you guys for being so quick to post your comments and give your thoughts, it makes me wish I said something sooner rather than dealing with it on my own. You guys are seriously awesome, and have made me want to fight way harder to be a better person for my friends and family, and everyone else around me. I think tonight I’ll finally be able to sleep, and I’m looking forward for tomorrow and to be able to talk to my Dad about how I’m feeling and what I’m thinking about all this, and to spend as much time with him as I can. Take care of yourself guys! And again, thank you so, so much. I seriously feel way better and my anxiety is a lot less now.
Before joining Lemmy I used to be a devoted Christian since my family raised me as one and have been Christians for generations. And to add important context, I’m not talking about judge mental homophobic trump supporting Christians that judge gays and everyone else they see who don’t live the way they live. I’m talking about being a real follower of Christ who loves thy neighbor and knows we have no right to judge, not what most church’s are today who just exist to make a profit. My family are bible based Christians and raised me as one too, not by propaganda machines. (Or at least the propaganda that politicians or “Church’s” who exploit vulnerable people for their money like to spread around. The “buy my book to change your life” or “plant your $1000 seed” type of shenanigans makes me sick.)
Anywhoo, while being on Lemmy and learning a lot about U.S. politics I just have never seen on other social media sites like X and Reddit, and talking about science, capitalism, global warming, and so on and so fourth with the incredible people on here, it has really broaden my view on certain subjects and be a lot more open to a lot more ideas, one of which is Atheism.
I haven’t thought about it too much, but recently my Grandfather died and so my emotions and thoughts have wandered about him and about loosing someone I care a lot about, and then a question popped into my head; is he truly in a “better place”? Do they actually go somewhere? What will happen to my Dad?
After that random thought, my brain has kind of spiraled out of control about this topic and I haven’t been able to sleep well since I’ve been having anxiety thinking about death. What is the point if all of life (our life) is truly just our brains, and our brain stops working? Is it really just, nothingness? What is the point of making all these amazing memories with family and friends that I cherish more than anything in the world, if all these memories are going to be forgotten? Whether its today, or 80 years from now? With this ideology, when I stop breathing, I will quite literally become nothing. There will be nothing. I am dead. It’s made me into this “why should I care” mood about almost everything.
I think I’ve kind of made my anxiety worse during the last few nights since I also decided to look up what its like to die and what scientists have said about the topic, whoops! Turns out our brain can still think 2-15 minutes after our hearts stop beating! I know I’m joking here which I tend to do when I’m in these situations but I have been extremely anxious when it comes to the fear of death. Not in a “I’m scared to use this knife to cut a slice of tomato” kind of way, but a “when we’re gone there will be nothing and I will remember nothing and become nothing” sort of way.
Not trying to get political here, but with this thought in my mind for the last couple of days and hearing about situations like Palestine has made me completely rethink everything like life itself, and now every time I hear about Palestine or Ukraine or whatever else going on in the world, I can’t help but burst into tears.
Sorry for the rant or whatever this is, just asking what you guys think or how you live your life if thats alright. Take care of yourself!
As a Buddhist if nothing happens after death most problems are solved lol. This is why I always find “secular” Buddhists funny. Either way being compassionate and a source of wisdom to others is important.
lol thanks man appreciate it!
Why would there have to be a point? It’s possible there is no architect and thus no point. It could all be random chaos colliding into this weird situation, and we’re just particles floating along in the maelstrom.
To come the question of why should you care, well you can choose pleasures or pain in your time on this planet. Pain is the default if you make no choice.
I used to think there wasn’t a point to life because we all just die. But then people told me that I couldn’t be successful and that made me mad so now I’m fueled by spite. I’ve achieved almost everything I have set out to do so far in life, so now I’m just here to have a good time.
Most religions believe in some kind of afterlife. We know that’s unlikely to be true which makes this one all the more valuable.
What’s the point of heaven? Does heaven even have a point? Say I believe in heaven, what happens if I die and go there? Will I just… Wake up and it’d just be Life 2.0?
As far as reality goes, there are only two points to living: the standard biological point of all life as we know it, and the one you create for yourself using your human intelligence.
I’m a big believer in creating meaning in life. Every time I look at my wife or bake something or make someone else’s life happier or just easier, a feeling of warmth arises that is meaningful enough for me. In this sense, i think life is full of meaning and purpose, we just need to open our eyes to it
I more so said what I said because I was scared of the idea of nothing, and not being able to think or remember any of the moments I have cherished with my friends and family. These comments have definitely eased my anxiety and I’m thankful for your comment and everyone else’s!
Many people have speculated on the point of life but the way I see it the only universal point of life is to reproduce…
You can make your own human existence about whatever you want though.
To me it sounds like you could benefit from helping people locally. Seeing the news of things happening on the other side of the globe can make you feel helpless but if you help out locally by volunteering or some other way that makes sense to you, you can combat that feeling of helplessness.
My wife is soft and makes me happy.
To explore and understand the significance of your existence because from my understanding ( ignorant ) we don’t really have an answer to our origin but rather an idea. History which is knowledge passed down, is always written from the perspective of the “winner” and rarely the losers.
Well, you’ve alrady been “nothing”. And that was before you were born or better, conceived. You’ll return to that state of not existing, after you died.
And I think the point of living is what you make of it. There are nice things out there. You can do things, learn things. Experience everything, Love someone… Leave something memorable behind…
To pass your seed and knowledge to the next generation.
Teach, fuck, prosper.
Teach, fuck, prosper.
We seriously need a community T-shirt store. Lol.
Whether or not you believe in the afterlife, the answer is the same. Bring joy to others, help people who need it, have people that depend on you. If there is confirmed no afterlife, I would keep living my life the same because I want my kids to have a great life, and grow up to be great people. That is a mission that makes me want to live as long as I can.
The common argument to this is why does it matter as you did not exist before your birth (unless you believe in reincarnation). It helps to learn a lot about time space. Particularly how forward and backwards does not matter much to it time wise and how long after you are dead your life could be observed if looking from other areas of the universe. So to some degree regions of time/space like our lives are eternal we just don’t realize it.
Hi I’m also a religious person. Some religions have a big emphasis on what happens when we die, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Judaism basically says, “I dunno, maybe we get reincarnated or resurrected or just go be with God. Anyway, do you want any mustard or mayo on that?”
God didn’t put us here just as a test to see if we pass or fail. God didn’t put us here to ignore the brokenness in the world either. God put us here to make things better. Our job is to be the light in the darkness and to leave things better than we found them.
At least that’s what I believe. And I don’t think you have to even believe in God to live that way.
Science as we know it is not equipped to answer the Hard Problem of Consciousness. There is no explanation or path to an explanation for what we are as self aware beings, how we are conscious, how we came to be so, or why this universe exists in the first place.
Religion may not be the best answer to these questions either, but it does offer a way to live with purpose.
Thank you!
to shitpost, obviously
If there is an after life. What is the point of after life?
Because there’s an after-after life as well