If there is no heaven or after life, what is the point of living? - Lemmy Today
(If you have anxiety about death then maybe you shouldn’t read this post, just
letting you know!) Before joining Lemmy I used to be a devoted Christian since
my family raised me as one and have been Christians for generations. And to add
important context, I’m not talking about judge mental homophobic trump
supporting Christians that judge gays and everyone else they see who don’t live
the way they live. I’m talking about being a real follower of Christ who loves
thy neighbor and knows we have no right to judge, not what most church’s are
today who just exist to make a profit. My family are bible based Christians and
raised me as one too, not by propaganda machines. (Or at least the propaganda
that politicians or “Church’s” who exploit vulnerable people for their money
like to spread around. The “buy my book to change your life” or “plant your
$1000 seed” type of shenanigans makes me sick.) Anywhoo, while being on Lemmy
and learning a lot about U.S. politics I just have never seen on other social
media sites like X and Reddit, and talking about science, capitalism, global
warming, and so on and so fourth with the incredible people on here, it has
really broaden my view on certain subjects and be a lot more open to a lot more
ideas, one of which is Atheism. I haven’t thought about it too much, but
recently my Grandfather died and so my emotions and thoughts have wandered about
him and about loosing someone I care a lot about, and then a question popped
into my head; is he truly in a “better place”? Do they actually go somewhere?
What will happen to my Dad? After that random thought, my brain has kind of
spiraled out of control about this topic and I haven’t been able to sleep well
since I’ve been having anxiety thinking about death. What is the point if all of
life (our life) is truly just our brains, and our brain stops working? Is it
really just, nothingness? What is the point of making all these amazing memories
with family and friends that I cherish more than anything in the world, if all
these memories are going to be forgotten? Whether its today, or 80 years from
now? With this ideology, when I stop breathing, I will quite literally become
nothing. There will be nothing. I am dead. It’s made me into this “why should I
care” mood about almost everything. I think I’ve kind of made my anxiety worse
during the last few nights since I also decided to look up what its like to die
and what scientists have said about the topic, whoops! Turns out our brain can
still think 2-15 minutes after our hearts stop beating! I know I’m joking here
which I tend to do when I’m in these situations but I have been extremely
anxious when it comes to the fear of death. Not in a “I’m scared to use this
knife to cut a slice of tomato” kind of way, but a “when we’re gone there will
be nothing and I will remember nothing and become nothing” sort of way. Not
trying to get political here, but with this thought in my mind for the last
couple of days and hearing about situations like Palestine has made me
completely rethink everything like life itself, and now every time I hear about
Palestine or Ukraine or whatever else going on in the world, I can’t help but
burst into tears. Sorry for the rant or whatever this is, just asking what you
guys think or how you live your life if thats alright. Take care of yourself!
