Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dave G on November 24, 2009 at 11:06am

Actually, doone, according to jam's page, she is Muslim.

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Permalink Reply by H.L. VanBuren on November 24, 2009 at 10:23am

Well, considering that my plans are for my body to be cremated and then tossed off somewhere in the woods, I personally would be fine with a dump site as my final resting place. Especially if it is being closed off, capped, and returned to a more natural state.

I view this as a far better alternative than spending several thousand dollars to buy an expensive box, a concrete box to put it in, and a fancy stone to mark my burial spot. In 100 years the stone will be there, forgotten, and the fancy box will likely have rusted/rotted away. At least under my plans the chemicals that make up my cremains can help nurture some life.

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Permalink Reply by zoolady on January 24, 2010 at 11:48am

I could've written this! Naturally, I think it's brilliant! :-)

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Permalink Reply by Ronald Pyatt on November 24, 2009 at 10:28am

I don't mind being worm food. Why would anyone have a problem with that?

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Permalink Reply by Scott Hurst on November 24, 2009 at 10:37am

I can only speak for myself (and a little for my wife)......

It really doesn't matter if I am 'ok' with becoming worm food after I die. Objectively, it appears that I am only a molecular machine. My life span is exactly is measured by how long this gloriously complex chemical chain reaction, that I call myself, continues to chain react. Would I prefer a universe in which rules permitted an afterlife (as so many religions claims)? Of course I would, but it doesn't appear to be true. It is far better to face the truth than persist in that fantasy no matter how comforting it might be. I see the harm in holding strong beliefs without (and often in conflict with) evidence every day.

Neither my wife nor I wish to be buried after our deaths. We have arranged to donate organs if possible, make our bodies available to science, and then to be disposed of in the most ecologically responsible way.

Imagine for a moment that it may not be true that this life is just a misery to be endured to achieve an afterlife of eternal happiness. Imagine that all of that might not be true. How horrible is it to waste this only life that a person will ever have on the idea that this is just a dress rehearsal?

Again, it seems to be TRUE that when I die I will just cease to exist and my body will rot. It is not for me to be Ok with it or not, but to accept what is most likely and live my life accordingly.

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Permalink Reply by Nelson on November 24, 2009 at 10:58am

why would you think that whether or not a person is ok with annihilation at death as opposed to the existence of an afterlife has any bearing on whether or not either prospect is reality?

would i prefer there to be an after-life as opposed to my becoming "food for the worms"? at first blush i might, it's true. but then i consider the question more deeply and i come to the conclusion that, no, i wouldn't. that this is the only life we have to live makes my life wonderful in a way that the existence of an eternal afterlife never could. i cherish this life specifically because i will only become food for the worms as opposed to this life being a useless preamble to an eternity elsewhere.

at any rate, and again, it doesn't matter how i feel about it. what matters is where the evidence lies. the evidence certainly doesn't justify a belief in an afterlife.

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Permalink Reply by Wendy on November 24, 2009 at 11:02am

My only objection to being dumped into a landfill is that it would hurt my family. My only concern in my death is the emotional well-being of my family. I've told my husband to let my parents give me a Catholic funeral if they'd find comfort in that. After all, I'm worm food.... what do I care which worms feed off of me?

(In reality, I'd love to donate my body to science.... let the worm food serve to help others)

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Permalink Reply by Scott Hurst on November 24, 2009 at 11:04am

I agree, these are good questions.

I am glad that so many people are answering them with the seriousness that they deserve.

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Permalink Reply by Dave G on November 24, 2009 at 11:05am

Actually, when I die, after any useful organs are harvested and put to use by people who can benefit from them, I'm donating my remains to science, so I can, even in death, be of some benefit to humanity's quest for knowledge.

But no, I do not believe that we have a 'soul', in the metaphysical sense. When we die, we are gone. All that remains of us is the memories of those who knew us and whatever effect we had on the world. No lingering spirits or afterlife.

But that does not mean that there is nothing to live for. Life itself is worth living for. I cannot understand the mindset of theists who seem to assume that this life is worthless, and only a mystical 'second life' is worthwhile.

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Permalink Reply by Jay Catt on November 24, 2009 at 9:28pm

Hey Dave! I'm going to science too!! Harvard wants my brain. ;o?

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Permalink Reply by Paul Perry on November 24, 2009 at 12:06pm

"It is because it comes only once that makes life so sweet"

I agree with what so many others have said, that I believe that it is better to live for this life - both for ourselves and for those around us - than to try to guess which of the myths of afterlife are true.

I would also like to add that our while we (probably) cease to exist when the electrical and chemical signals in our brains stop, that a disinclination to believe in the hereafter does not mean that we believe that the here and now is all that we live for. Many - arguably most - humanists/atheists/secularists - believe we have a responsibility to the wider human species, ecosystem and planet, and therefore to the world after our consciousness is no longer a part of it, something I think is shown by the many people who refer to their wish to donate organs for transplant and bodies to medical science and for their remains to aid rather than harm the environment.

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Permalink Reply by Fabian Kupferschmid on November 24, 2009 at 12:27pm

There are already very good answers but I like to add something. We don't live for a higher power or something like this, but the good thing about that is, that you're the one who can decide what do you want to live for. There aren't some given rules which command what do you have to do or what the purpose of your existence should be.

Look at a stone. Why does this stone exist, what is the purpose of the stone? Well, there isn't any reson why it is there, it just exists. And so do we. There's no meaning or intention by a God or something.

I don't care what will happen with my body when I'm death. Because I won't have the chance to think about it. I'll be switched of, like a machine. We are nothing else then a very complicated biological machine.

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