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Permalink Reply by Mark Romano on May 29, 2012 at 7:01am

This denies the grief that is felt by the living. I cannot prove that trees do not grieve when their leaves fall, but I believe that people* grieve when others die. Therefore, death is an experience - at least for those who are alive.

Interesting - my favorite philosopher is Bertrand Russell - who knew a thing or two about Wittgenstein..

* Other animals seem to grieve, albeit for shorter periods than is typical for humans - chimpanzees and wolves have been observed to display behaviors similar to human grief when members of the group/pack have died ... 

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Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on May 29, 2012 at 11:17am

I recently saw a documentary in which a female Chimpanzee carried her dead baby around with her until the poor little thing was barely more than a skin-bag full of bones, before she finally abandoned it.

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Permalink Reply by William Boyd on September 7, 2012 at 12:48am

Pitiful isn't it.

I can't believe how many theists are of the opinion that animals cannot share the same feelings and remorse and happiness that we humans do. That they were put there for us to eat.

I guess only us atheists are of the opinion that they feel life too.

We are awake, and I like being awake.

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Permalink Reply by Unseen on May 29, 2012 at 11:28am

Belief is a wonderful thing, isn't it? You believe something and you give yourself permission to act on it.

It could be that chimpanzees and wolves simply don't know what to do with a member of their circle who won't respond to them in the familiar way. To us, that kind of looks like grief but may actually be bewilderment. Actual grief, though, requires an understanding of death and mortality.

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Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on May 29, 2012 at 12:26pm

I didn't say that she knew it was dead, just that she seemed reluctant to part with it, which could be construed as evidence of love.

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Permalink Reply by William Boyd on September 7, 2012 at 1:27am

We can't really be sure that they do not understand though, can we? Any of the animals really.

They may know a lot more than we have discovered yet. We may never know. I don't close my mind to the possibility of this because I feel that we just don't know. Yet.

just my opinion though.

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Permalink Reply by Karen Loethen on February 15, 2012 at 3:44pm

Not to be flip, honestly.

I don't have a problem with this.  But in the beginning for me, I reminded myself that I didn't exist for an eternity BEFORE my birth either.  It won't be any different.
I also used to need to remind myself to live this life fully in order to make a difference now.

Keep connecting, thinking, talking.  It will get so much easier after alot of the religious dogma falls away.

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Permalink Reply by onecae on February 20, 2012 at 9:12pm

These ideas of time, life, and mind are not necessarily theistic. One can have an opinion that there are minds other than the human one, that universes can be infinite and parallel, that life is a purposeful agreement between similar beings, that the concept of "nothing" is unreal, or the subjective identity is primary etc., without being theistic.

I think the Catholics are exploiting and usurping something that can occur to any living thing.

There is a common agreement that no one living can prove what it is like to die - whether there is nothing (whatever that is) or more than nothing, the rules, as I know them, say we cannot know.

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Permalink Reply by Reason Being on February 22, 2012 at 1:12pm

For me that was a hard concept to grasp at first.  Once I got my head around it, I was okay.  I just try to make the most of each day.  Try to be a good person, husband, friend---and to enjoy life.

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Permalink Reply by Biniam on February 24, 2012 at 5:51am

The brain has different ways of distracting itself from full awareness of unpleasant thoughts, and feelings. These ways are called defense mechanisms. The way I dealt with mortality is rationalization, which is one of the major defense mechanisms. I think that living forever, and ever in a utopia where there is no conflict is very boring. So, if you just found out you are an atheist, just give yourself some time to get used to it. You might use a different defense mechanism than i did, but it will happen sooner or later. 

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Permalink Reply by Grady Jean on February 24, 2012 at 6:11pm

It may have been easier for me to handle the idea of death because before choosing Atheism, I was convinced I was going to burn forever in hell. I was already becoming jaded and disillusioned with the whole idea of the Christian Religion. I didn't care to convert to any other faith, and at the time I hadn't really considered Atheism as an option. When I finally did become an Atheist, the knowledge that I'd simply "cease" to exist was a heck of a lot more welcoming than the idea of spending all of eternity burning for some small sin or trivial mistake.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Holm on May 1, 2012 at 5:57pm

That's exactly how I felt

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