Dealing with death as an atheist

If your strong in your beliefs look him dead in the eyes and be like don't worry you will cease to exist soon too. I mean it won't matter how you put it since you are gonna cease to exist and won't remember even doing it righhht??

 

[quote name='"Packey"']If your strong in your beliefs look him dead in the eyes and be like don't worry you will cease to exist soon too. I mean it won't matter how you put it since you are gonna cease to exist and won't remember even doing it righhht??[/quote]

Right on man. Just gotta do it fast like taking off a band aid.

 

comeon, don't be a dick to a guy who just lost his son.
u can saying things like im sorry for ur loss or something but now is not the time to take an atheist stand.
generally speaking i think death is easier to deal with as an atheist. religion imo gets in the way when getting over a death.

 

I have this same problem, and I believe in a God and the occult mechanics of reincarnation.

I have had friends die, and it just doesn't bother me, the only suffering from death comes from selfishness to some degree, otherwise "my loved one is in paradise" would be enough comfort. They are not truly concerned with where there loved one is though, it is the fact that they feel abandoned and knowing that person is never coming back the rest of their life that saddens them. It is the attachment to the person.

I have a hard time with it, I cannot just say "oh don't worry, they'll be back within 100 years, maybe much sooner, you just won't know them and they won't know you if they're even born nearby" because that doesn't help them in thinking their loved one has found everlasting peace. It's also hard for me to give advice on what I would do, because well, unless it was someone extremely close to me, I wouldn't be all that affected so it's difficult to relate. There is a heaven for each religion for one who is actually devout and not just in it because of social pressures, but that heaven isn't eternal at that stage of evolution, and that certainly isn't something to tell someone either in that case. Just expressing my occult beliefs, no need to debate whether what I believe is true or not and derail the thread.

I think the best thing you can really do is just listen, let them unload their thoughts and feelings so they aren't suppressing them.


edit: Packey, I'd like to see you say that to a grieving father, you'd get all of your teeth knocked out and for good reason, cops wouldn't even file charges I bet, and if they did the judge would throw it out as "a crime of passion"

 

i am not supportive of this advice.

i'm an atheist and i'll tell people how i feel, even though no words are really worthy of any kind of comfort.. but i'll tell them i'm sorry for their loss and wish them the best.

personally though, i've come to a point where the way i think about life, and my general worldview, are actually very comforting to me when it comes to the subject of death.

if anybody's genuinely interested, i'll go into more depth.. just say the word. but not tonight.. i'm too high and invested in other forms of entertainment to spend the time on explaining myself. lol

 

You don't have to believe in a God to pray. You can still claim your Atheist title if you have prayer.

 

I got a little bit afraid of death, so I got my spirituality on, told myself that conciousness keeps living and death is a disconnection on of conciousness to your physical body.

It helped, a lot actually, that's when it was a =big= death.
When a pet dies, I simply say " ah well, we all go eventually, make the most of it "
And I still stick to that, but in hard times I sort of resort to spiritual stuff.

I'm not sure what's for you, accept the fact that (s)he's dead first, then move on to the next step, grieving works wonders too.

 

Woah.. I never thought of that.
In all of my near-death experiences I always end up making a prayer as a last -hope thing, like "god if you're there or whatever, just give me another chance."

But I guess, you can send a prayer simple out into the universe, not believing in anything?

...this is kind of groundbreaking for me, swear there's like 10000 rules for religion.

 

Just let them know youll be there in any way possible for them during their difficult time....be supportive..

...thats all you can do as you dont relate on a spiritual level....wouldnt exactly be the time to express a personal view to someone that is going through a bad time either.

 

Just tell them you are sorry for their loss and that if there's anything you can do please ask. (Unless you don't want them to ask anything of you) Just be sincere.

 

2pac



I believe that, you know, this is all in God's hands.
And I'm very appreciative to God for everything I've gotten to do.
But also, about death, we look at death from the selfish side, like:
"That guy died. Oh, it's so sad." Why is it sad?
He's away from all of this bad stuff that's here on Earth.
I mean, at the worst, he's just somewhere quiet, no nothing.
At best, he's an angel... or he's a spirit somewhere.
What is so bad about that?

 

Lol I wouldn't because I believe in God I feel sorry for anyone that dies. However if you truly believe that you just shut down no point lying to the guy. Look him in the eyes tell him the "truth". See if it weren't for his beliefs I would simply tell him to tell the guy that heaven awaits and that he is with Jesus.

 

[quote name='"Jaurk"']

Woah.. I never thought of that.
In all of my near-death experiences I always end up making a prayer as a last -hope thing, like "god if you're there or whatever, just give me another chance."

But I guess, you can send a prayer simple out into the universe, not believing in anything?

...this is kind of groundbreaking for me, swear there's like 10000 rules for religion.[/quote]

Yeah, that's how I do it. One to Mother Earth and the other to Father Sky. But everyone has their different views on prayer.

 

As a Christian I would want to hear you sympathize with my loss. Knowing that you might not understand what I am going through (or if you've experienced a similar loss, to know that you do understand) might give me a little strength. I wouldn't prefer to hear you say, "he's really just non-existent", albeit I'm a very strong person and can handle this rather well, there are certainly religious folk who would take offense to this.

Just give your condolences, say you're sorry and you hope the best. There's no need to include your worldview.

 

I'd just tell them to be strong and to pray, meditate etc whatever gets em through the loss

 

I'm with upfromtheskies on this. Just because we're atheists doesn't mean we gotta be straight up, "It's okay, your son has ceased to exist." At that moment in time I would want to comfort the person; saying this might not be the most comforting thing...