For millennia, people have been talking about what happens after death. Lots of ideas have been proposed, and I’ve sometimes wondered if a desire to find meaning in death is one of the reasons religion has been so popular over time and across cultures.
It seems like, to make a very broad generalization, people are uncomfortable with the idea of human life being temporary, and there is a common desire for death to mean something other than the end of life.
Seeking answers
Religions offer potential answers, whether that’s heaven, reincarnation, a spirit world, or something else (Wikipedia has an article on the afterlife that covers the ideas of various religions). Some people go to mediums to try to connect with people who are no longer alive. Some people go to mediums and also believe in a religion that tells them such a thing doesn’t exist. But humans aren’t the only lives we don’t want death to end; there’s also the rainbow bridge where we can supposedly meet our pets again.
Regardless of the belief system, that desire for there to be something more than just this life seems extremely common.
Not knowing
I was raised in an atheist home where death was treated as the end of life, with no afterlife involved. I can see how there would be some level of comfort in believing in life after death, but it’s not an idea that I personally ever had much of a yearning for. I’m okay with death being the end of life, and I don’t feel a need for it to have some greater meaning beyond that.
I know there are bits that science hasn’t hammered down, like when exactly consciousness ends (or even what consciousness is, for that matter). I think those things are probably knowable at some point, but I’m okay with them being unknown for now. I’m also okay with my death being no different from the death of a guinea pig or any other animal.
Fear of death
Death doesn’t scare me. I don’t want a painful death, but I’m okay with the idea that my life will end at some point. I would prefer that to be sooner rather than later, really; there’s longevity in my genes that I have no interest in.
I’m not worried about what will happen, because I have no reason to expect that anything will happen at all. I have no interest in eternal life; I’ve always found the idea of life having a beginning and an end to be more appealing. Impermanence is good; eternity sounds tedious.
Meaning
I don’t seek greater meaning to other people’s deaths, either. I don’t think in terms of whether or not it was someone’s time, because that concept has never really made sense to me. Sometimes shit just happens, and while I can see that there might sometimes be an appeal to believing that things happen for a reason, that also creates a lot of murky territory.
I’ve always tended to be pretty “out of sight, out of mind” in my thinking. Aside from the permanence aspect, someone being dead and not-here isn’t all that different for me than being alive and not-here. This is probably pretty weird for someone in their 40s, but I’ve never been to a funeral before. Funerals weren’t a big thing in my family. Some people didn’t want a funeral at all. With others, my parents were very practical, as in why should I miss school or travel to go to a funeral? The person’s dead already, so it’s not doing them any good.
Concluding thoughts
I find it interesting how many different conceptions of an afterlife there are. Regardless of what really happens after death, if anything, there are a whole lot of people who are wrong, because not all of these ideas are mutually compatible.
Since I originally wrote this post, I watched a documentary about Evangelical Christians being pro-Israel because they think that once the Jewish people have full control of Israel, Armageddon will happen, which they want. I hadn’t heard that before. Out of curiosity, I decided to read the Book of Revelation. That’s one idea for what will happen. I suspect that if John of Patmos, or whoever it was that wrote it, had those visions in this day and age, he would be considered quite psychotic, regardless of what the source of the visions might or might not be.
So, those are some of my thoughts on death and what it does or doesn’t mean. What does death mean to you?
I think you have a healthy mental view of death. In one sense we’re already dead so what’s to lose? “You will surely die” said God in Genesis 2.17.
It seems we’re already dead to any knowledge or belief in him. So, I credit him for any positive thoughts towards him. If there’s a ray of light, he’s behind it.
In Genesis 1 God said, “Let there be light.” In John 1, ‘the Word became flesh,’ and is ‘the life and light of men.’ That attracts me.
I’m attracted to Jesus Christ because he claims to be God, ‘come in the flesh.’ As senseless as the cross of God seems, I’m drawn.
For me as an African man , deaths means going back to join our ancestors.
Thanks for sharing.
I’m afraid of death although I’ve been an atheist for a number of years. Don’t think I’ll go to hell, but I get existential panic attacks at the end of my consciousness. I hope to do a psilocybin session or two, I read a blog about someone making peace with their death from terminal cancer.
Oh that sounds interesting.
That sounds really powerful.
I try very hard to try not to worry about what happens when we die. I’ve struggled most of my life with anxiety, all of which has been centered in some way around the fear of dying, and in January that anxiety brought me quite close to realizing those fears. I’ve had a lot of time to think about this…how I almost manifested my fear into being. I can’t tell you that I no longer fear death, but what I have gained is a much greater appreciation for life. This helps me stay rooted more firmly in the present and helps to bring me back from anticipating the future, which is where my fear exists. And for that, I am thankful. ❤️
I’m glad you’ve been able to make progress.
infinite peace♾
When you are dead it’s the end , you are gone.
………… well , that is if you are no longer being remembered ….
At which point, it’s not your problem anymore!
Exactly Ashley 🙂
I was discussing this very topic only this evening.
I think life is much easier without worrying about that kind of thing.
I am not worried about it, it is as it is – the discussion l was having this evening was about people’s beliefs 🙂
Death is a weird one to me. I spent so long wanting it, I think I’m at peace with it sort of, I think it will be a long deserved rest. Also I work with a lot of palliative care patients and weirdly I feel a sense of honour being with someone at the end of their lives. It doesn’t have to be a scary experience xx
That kind of work seems like it would be a very good way to see how normal death is as part of the human experience.
Absolutely. Weirdly I love giving palliative care xx
That’s great to have work that you love.
Hey, Ashley: Thanks for a thought-provoking blog. I was raised in a religion in which death was equated with sleep. As in, when a person dies, they sleep in their grave until the second coming of Christ. As an adult, I realized that all bets were off where death was concerned, and I didn’t care much one way or another. When my husband of 22 years died, I suddenly cared a lot whether there was an afterlife or not. I think when you lose someone precious, your ideas about death and an afterlife do a seismic shift.
That makes a lot of sense.