Can anyone explain to me the meaning of life and death(from an atheist’s point of view)
I lost my grandmother to Covid19 some months back and this event in my life has resulted in various questions, especially due to my shift from being a Christian Believer to being an atheist in the recent past.
In the past, death had a meaning because of religious beliefs, but it no longer makes sense to me. So I’d appreciate a non religious person’s viewpoint on death.
Welcome Rowena, I can really empathize with your feelings of loss.
In the end, it is merely a fact of life. We all die from some causality, some sooner than expected and that brings grief to the surviving family and friends.
The living miss the departed.
Perhaps that memory may be used to good purpose by those who survive.
Perhaps therein lies the meaning .
I can’t give you the meaning of life, but life is what you make of it. See my response in your intro thread.
I am so sorry you lost your grandmother to COVID-19. That’s a horrible way to go and not one I’d wish on even my worst enemy.
Here’s my question for you though- have you actually lost your belief in god or are you angry with the concept of deity you were taught? Many Xian sects have various concepts of God. They are not all the same, but many are similar. If you are angry at that concept, then I’d say you probably still believe, but if you truly have lost belief, then it applies across the board to all definitions of deity. I realize that is confusing, but only you know if it’s anger with the god concept you were taught and if it is truly a loss of belief.
This goes back to my rose garden philosophy. All things go back to the earth. We are part of nature, the earth, and the universe as a whole. As a vegetarian, I see it as giving back to the earth what I took from it. Is there meaning in death? For me, the meaning is just what I said. My body, what it’s made of, will go back to the earth and feed the plants and even the cows I took milk from (though dairy doesn’t set right with me anymore, so I drink more soy milk now days). I don’t believe there is an afterlife- no heaven or hell. It’s just as it was before I was born and I won’t know a thing about it.
@rowenapereira , welcome to the forum. It’s a great question. I’ll expand on this, but just asking the question is meaningful. Whether or not it’s a chemical response, an evolved survival mechanism, or something about universal consciousness, just that we are here, asking the question, is part of how it feels to be alive.
