I didn't for a long time. Then my dad died a couple months ago and it made me rethink things. I guess I don't fear death itself, but I fear dying before I do certain things that I want to do.

I see life as a single unit. You get one, and whenever it ends, that individuality is complete. Technically atheists should value their lives more, because we don't get to go to big rock candy mountain when we keel over, but really, when the time comes f*** it- I did my best.

@the_Crested_Hogchoker said:

Technically atheists should value their lives more, because we don't get to go to big rock candy mountain when we keel over,

Atheists believe that no one gets to do that. It's the same for everyone, atheist or not.

I think about death all the time. I think the lights are out when you are dead and that is that. True peace sums it up, @the_crest_hogchoker. I do go through periods where I get angry that death will come, and that I didn't or won't get to do the exact things I was meant to, or the career I was meant to have, etc. To me, when death comes, and hopefully at a very old age, It will feel so nice - Peaceful and right.

@twisty_m said:

I think about death all the time. I think the lights are out when you are dead and that is that. True peace sums it up, @the_crest_hogchoker. I do go through periods where I get angry that death will come, and that I didn't or won't get to do the exact things I was meant to, or the career I was meant to have, etc. To me, when death comes, and hopefully at a very old age, It will feel so nice - Peaceful and right.

Thinking about death is pretty much the core issue of philosophy. The fact that life ends makes death the focal point for defining meaning. If you take away the hysteria and mythology surrounding it, its a very beautiful thing to think about. It makes everything mean what it means, in a personal sense.

@twisty_m said:

I think about death all the time. I think the lights are out when you are dead and that is that. True peace sums it up, @the_crest_hogchoker. I do go through periods where I get angry that death will come, and that I didn't or won't get to do the exact things I was meant to, or the career I was meant to have, etc. To me, when death comes, and hopefully at a very old age, It will feel so nice - Peaceful and right.

This basically sums up what I think but I think death is really scary whether it is right or not haha. I will probably change my mind but it is a really serious thing especially when a person is closer to it than further away from it, I'm 20 so I don't really feel like I have to worry about it but simultaneously I do anyway.

Sooner or later, we all dance with the Reaper. Not one of us, no, not one, can claim otherwise. As such, we join ranks with Beethoven, Einstein, Washington, Jerry, and every other great (and terrible) human who has ever lived in history. Ever. While jettisoning this life is not something most of us want to do, take comfort in the fact that everyone is equal before death and bound by it. Regardless of mystical beliefs surrounding it, it happens. All part of the the cosmic dance. Sad, yet certain.

Do the best you can with what you have, and cheers!

@fromsliptofall said:

Millions of years ago the particles that make you up were dispersed among the cosmos. For what is less then a blink in the universes' eye they all met to make you. In another million years they will be back amongest the cosmos. There is something spiritual in that science.

I often think about regular people in history. You know some summarian sheep herder or some greek soldier fighting and losing his life for a cause that I'll never know and to him it meant his life. Weirdly I find comfort in that.

"and the seeds that were silent
all burst into bloom and decay"

I always wonder if I ever drank a molecule of water that jesus or julius caesar or davinci also drank. Then I wonder what the possibility of me drinking the same molecule twice would be. Then I put the bong down.

I had a near-death experience a few years back.
Sounds weird,but it was OK.
No,i am not afraid of death.
If i'm afraid,it is of a prolonged painful time before death.

I'm pretty sure that when I die I'll become an ingredient in Reba's creation, right after worms galore, but before can of some corosive.

I can't wait to see Jesus come down from heaven and punch every one of you so hard right in the balls. And then he'll apologize, and you will finally believe.

@IntoYesterday said:

I can't wait to see Jesus come down from heaven and punch every one of you so hard right in the balls. And then he'll apologize, and you will finally believe.

I'll nut-smack his ass right back. Payback for the last ten months of my life.

My take....

Death is the end, but perhaps a beginning as well. But, what comes afterwards, if anything, is probably beyond our ability to comprehend or describe. It could be a form of reincarnation, but I'd bet it isn't our consciousness as we know it today that will inhabit a frog like being on another planet or whatever, but our essence or lifeforce. A drop in the bucket of the whole of consciousness that is the universe in total. Like a grain of sand on an infinite beach.

Consciousness I think is collective and infinite, encompassing all matter and non-matter. Our brains are set up to limit our experience to a very narrow "slit" or super small amount of this consciousness in order to keep us from either going insane or being so overwhelmed we don't procreate and attempt to better ourselves.

anyway, that's a rough outline of what I think is going on. Most likely I am wrong but I am not concerned about death, only the suffering like someone else mentioned. So, yes, I am an athiest. Have been one since my teens.

"People fear death even more than pain. It's strange that they fear death. Life hurts a lot more than death. At the point of death, the pain is over. Yeah, I guess it is a friend. "
-Jim Morrison

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important."
-Steve Jobs

"The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time."
-Mark Twain

"I don't have no fear of death. My only fear is coming back reincarnated. "
-Tupac Shakur

"The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there's no risk of accident for someone who's dead. "
-Albert Einstein

@the_Crested_Hogchoker said:

@dealgodown said:

I just got "outed" as an atheist today at work. My coworker was asking me all these questions and shit. Bible this...bible that... I did not like it. I think I am going to be treated differently from now on. But I have no idea what happens when we die. I just hope my brain stays intact so I experience shut down.

I wear my atheism like a badge. I don't push it on people, but I'm not afraid to talk about it. The problem is that it is an academic conclusion and not necessarily a spiritual one, so your atheism alone is not just a designation, but also an immediate criticism of any given theist's intelligence. By telling people that you're an atheist, you're essentially stating that you don't believe in god because its illogical, which naturally translates to being called a moron if you're a theist. But the cool thing is, you get to experience what it is to be marginalized, which can be very valuable in understanding other people that you might not have had perspective on before. I'd say be polite, professional and friendly, but stick to your guns. Things are only going to change when the people aren't afraid to believe unpopular ideas.

Definitely stuck to my guns. There wasn't really anything they could say to my "why would I believe?" I think they did feel a little like a moron. He just could not comprehend that I dont care about the bible.

The problem I feel is that I am not trying to offend or change anyone. He was the one asking me the questions that scared him. Now I look like a bad guy in a way.

I always get asked by religious people whether believing there's no god and no afterlife means that life has no meaning and that everything is futile. I always say that it's just the opposite. With no magical old man in the sky controlling everything and no big rock candy mountain when we die (as @the_Crested_Hogchoker memorably put it), life is exactly what you make of it and nothing more or less. I think that's awe-inspiring and a challenge to live a full and moral life. For some reason they tend to find it utterly terrifying.

I don't believe in any sort of deity what so ever. Nothing. Though I don't consider myself atheist or agnostic. I consider myself nothing. If I were to be an atheist or an agnostic then I would be categorizing my beliefs in something which is what I am striving to stay away from. I'm just here to live my life on this planet and do my own thing which is the way it is intended to be. When I die, I don't think anything will happen, I will merely sees to exist. Which is the way I would want it in the end.

I love what @the_crested_hogchoker said, "An lack of an afterlife is a beautiful thing... true peace."

You start dying the day you're born. Maybe you start living the day you die?