My Peace with the Idea of No Afterlife

I am one who is completely at peace with my belief that there is no continuance of my life after my cells stop metabolizing. What is so difficult for many to entertain (that there is no continuation of one's life or consciousness) is easy for me to accept.

I don't believe any of our lives matter at the cosmic scale. I don't believe there is any god/cosmos defined purpose for anything. I believe it is possible, as some Buddhists have done by overcoming attachment, to continue to live without a sense of purpose. But, many of us need meaning and purpose. I matter to my wife and child(ren). My life has meaning to those I live and work with. I have given my life purpose to help others in their lives. So, although my life may not matter at the cosmic scale, it does matter locally in space and time, and that is enough for me. I don't need or desire my life and influence to extend farther than that, infinitely in space or into eternally in time.

Comments

Travis Whitney said…
I'm not there yet, but I'm trying. I can't get the idea out of my head that there has to me something more. That is really the only part of me that keeps me from being 100% atheist.
Thu Jan 31, 12:18:00 PM PST
Anonymous said…
Instead of just coming to the conclusion that there is no spirit - if there is no afterlife, there is no spirit. If there is a spirit inside each human being (or animal) then there is an afterlife. It would be best to find out what scientific experiments have been done to show the possibility that there is something attached to our minds. The notion that we have a mind we can't see by opening up the brain to look at it should be reason to question what "propels" the mind to function and give life some sort of meaning. If the mind is just brain connecting cells and forming thoughts, maybe that will all cease but most people feel that they are more than just the mind. What do we really know about the mind and how we think and reason and have a sense of 'self'?
Sun Apr 27, 02:44:00 PM PDT
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