[Har-Tru]

Originally Posted by tripwires

What are your thoughts on death?

How about I show you a full course on Death by Professor Kagan.

I'm reading Julian Barnes' Nothing to be Frightened Of where he discusses his fear of death and his lack of religiousness. To me, and to put it simplistically, religion makes death mpre acceptable - insofar as death could ever be acceptable - for people as it gives them some sort of promise of an afterlife. It seems like it's easy to dismiss it when you're young and death is generally quite far away; but what if you're suddenly faced with it, either your own or someone that you love? I can't foresee religion ever being a source of comfort for me (which is why I've taken to reading that Barnes book) but I just wonder what normal atheists think of this. It's okay to think of myself fading into oblivion once I die, but it's hard to really accept this when it comes to the people that I love.

I don't think I've expressed myself well but I hope you get what I mean.

I got what you mean.

There is a quote that is often attributed to Mark Twain (though I personally it to be misattributed): “I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.”

When I die, I will not know I'm dead. Death is only significant insofar as it is related to life. I think you are right in that religious people might have a better chance at coping with death based on their beliefs in an afterlife. But I cannot help what I believe, and I certainly cannot believe in something just because it makes me feel good or I find it reassuring.

What I find rather striking, however, is the realisation that religious people do not seem to fear death less than atheists do. Surely they ought to congratulate themselves in the prospect of eternal bliss in paradise. But they overwhelmingly don't...

Let me ask you something though, what do you mean but "normal atheists"? Are you an "abnormal atheist"? What does that mean?

EDIT: That is one of the main issues I have with Christianity. Christianity has at its core the concept of redemption and the quest for salvation. Life is merely a transitional step, a stepping stone, a test for admission into the real life, the one that we shall experience eternally in paradise or in hell. That is such a limited and limiting view, it is phantasmagorically depressing to the point of being wicked. It deprives life of its meaning by turning it into a sort of a mixture between a rat lab experiment, an agility contest and a puppet show.

You and me and every single one of the 7 billion people on this planet are extremely fortunate to be individuals of the more highly evolved creature on this spec of dust. We exist for a brief period of time in the vastness of history, and then we're gone. Inevitably. I believe it to be not only our right, but also our duty as humans to do the best we can to contribute to the advancement and flourishing of our species. What better way to survive death than by leaving a mark in the memories of our fellow human beings. Is Mark Twain dead? Einstein? Aristotle? Shakespeare?

This is the only life we've got, so we ought to live it to its fullest and make the best of it.

[Filo V.]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

Wow... Good one, ass clown.

How many threads have you started that have you as the topic? How many threads have you started in GM since Miami started?

Go buy a boyfriend, socially-inept loser.

Start thread=attention-whore? Interesting, since you yourself have started several, none of them being interesting. I guess all the mirrors in your house are broken.

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by Filo V.

Go buy a boyfriend, socially-inept loser.

Start thread=attention-whore? Interesting, since you yourself have started several, none of them being interesting. I guess all the mirrors in your house are broken.

You truly are a gay caricature, flyboy.

Do you deny the fact that you are an attention-whore? Don't you think that starting numerous threads about yourself is a sign of major attention-whorism?

It is evident it is just an act. The fact that you spam like there is no tomorrow since your return suggests that you have no life and that your stories are as fake as Johnny Grooves sex threads.

[Naudio Spanlatine]

Look whos talking

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by Rafarta&Grigorior♥

Look whos talking

I know this is supposed to be clever, but what you are trying to imply is unclear...

[Filo V.]

Originally Posted by Rafarta&Grigorior♥

Look whos talking

I KNOW right

So tragic

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by Filo V.

I KNOW right

So tragic

Answer these questions truthfully flyboy

Originally Posted by BigJohn

Do you deny the fact that you are an attention-whore? Don't you think that starting numerous threads about yourself is a sign of major attention-whorism?

then we'll have an idea of what tragic means...

[Naudio Spanlatine]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

I know this is supposed to be clever, but what you are trying to imply is unclear...

Originally Posted by BigJohn

Do you deny the fact that you are an attention-whore? Don't you think that starting numerous threads about yourself is a sign of major attention-whorism?

Dude look at your sigy, and better yet, look at your posts, i mean its obvious that you think you are smarter and clever with your words and the way you try to be more sensitive and wise about your answers and such and such but yet you end up sounding like a jackass and a douche trying to outsmart everyone else with your cleverness.

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by Rafarta&Grigorior♥

Dude look at your sigy, and better yet, look at your posts, i mean its obvious that you think you are smarter and clever with your words and the way you try to be more sensitive and wise about your answers and such and such but yet you end up sounding like a jackass and a douche trying to outsmart everyone else with your cleverness.

Lol?

You might not like what I post, and I do understand why you feel attacked by my signature since it appears it does apply (I thought you were merely a castler, but then you started the last volume) , but what you are doing here is not really fair. I said that flyboy is an attention-whore, your post implied I am at least as bad as him. A ridiculous claim to say the least.

You know who else also lols for not reason? SdG. Think about that.

[Naudio Spanlatine]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

Lol?

You might not like what I post, and I do understand why you feel attacked by my signature since it appears it does apply (I thought you were merely a castler, but then you started the last volume) , but what you are doing here is not really fair. I said that flyboy is an attention-whore, your post implied I am at least as bad as him. A ridiculous claim to say the least.

You know who else also lols for not reason? SdG. Think about that.

How can i feel attacked by your sigy, I think its the funniest thing ever, you're the one whose obsess with the castle, the ACC and CD & SDG, i mean come on, its obvious you dont see that you too are also an attention whore, whose trying to prove everyone wrong. You too need to look at yourself in the mirror and realized that you are an attention-whore.

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by Rafarta&Grigorior♥

How can i feel attacked by your sigy, I think its the funniest thing ever, you're the one whose obsess with the castle, the ACC and CD & SDG, i mean come on, its obvious you dont see that you too are also an attention whore, whose trying to prove everyone wrong. You too need to look at yourself in the mirror and realized that you are an attention-whore.

You are missing many points completely.

[Naudio Spanlatine]

No, im sure i didnt miss any points

[BigJohn]

And I thought we were getting along so well...

[Gagsquet]

Battle of giants

[tripwires]

Originally Posted by Har-Tru

How about I show you a full course on Death by Professor Kagan.

Thanks for this. I didn't know there are multiple videos so I was a bit confused when I was watching that video you posted, until I went to YouTube and found the rest of it. I like the way he sits cross-legged on the table when he lectures.

I got what you mean.

There is a quote that is often attributed to Mark Twain (though I personally it to be misattributed): “I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.”

When I die, I will not know I'm dead. Death is only significant insofar as it is related to life. I think you are right in that religious people might have a better chance at coping with death based on their beliefs in an afterlife. But I cannot help what I believe, and I certainly cannot believe in something just because it makes me feel good or I find it reassuring.

What I find rather striking, however, is the realisation that religious people do not seem to fear death less than atheists do. Surely they ought to congratulate themselves in the prospect of eternal bliss in paradise. But they overwhelmingly don't...

It's this thing that they say in response to news of a young person's impending death from a sudden disease - that it's "God's plan" - and the way they say it that seem to suggest that they are more adept at dealing with deaths than atheists. As an atheist though I can't help but find that highly offensive even though they don't mean any offence by it. Apart from how it makes no sense to me and therefore doesn't bring me any sort of comfort and in fact does the opposite, how do you reconcile the early, needless and cruel termination of a young life with a deity that apparently "planned" for it to happen? Doesn't that make a mockery out of life? How is that comforting in any way?

If it is indeed true that they don't fear death any less than us, then I don't see the point in having a religion at all.

Let me ask you something though, what do you mean but "normal atheists"? Are you an "abnormal atheist"? What does that mean?

Sorry that was badly phrased - I meant ordinary atheists who aren't famous for writing books on atheism, like Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens.

EDIT: That is one of the main issues I have with Christianity. Christianity has at its core the concept of redemption and the quest for salvation. Life is merely a transitional step, a stepping stone, a test for admission into the real life, the one that we shall experience eternally in paradise or in hell. That is such a limited and limiting view, it is phantasmagorically depressing to the point of being wicked. It deprives life of its meaning by turning it into a sort of a mixture between a rat lab experiment, an agility contest and a puppet show.

You and me and every single one of the 7 billion people on this planet are extremely fortunate to be individuals of the more highly evolved creature on this spec of dust. We exist for a brief period of time in the vastness of history, and then we're gone. Inevitably. I believe it to be not only our right, but also our duty as humans to do the best we can to contribute to the advancement and flourishing of our species. What better way to survive death than by leaving a mark in the memories of our fellow human beings. Is Mark Twain dead? Einstein? Aristotle? Shakespeare?

This is the only life we've got, so we ought to live it to its fullest and make the best of it.

I couldn't have said it better myself.