Birdwatcher Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 Today the reality that there probably is no heaven or afterlife finally hit me between the eyes. This very moment is all I know for sure that I have. What am I doing to make each moment count? What am I doing to fully live the time I have left? What legacy do I want to leave? How can I help to make the world a more beautiful and loving place? Sorry for sounding like Eeyore, but I'm kind of bummed right now. When you live for 58 years believing you'll live forever in heaven it's devastating to realize that this is all there is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Babylonian Dream Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 Why not live to see the birds in flight? Live to explore. Why do you need a reason that will outlive you? What point was there to live with a God, since all would be lost in the afterlife, why bother then? For the same reason you will now, except, the rewards are real and they are in this life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♦ ficino ♦ Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 Hi Birdwatcher, I think a lot of us go through this stage (I've been out of Christianity for going on 30 years so I take the right to talk like the oldster I am), and every so often, it hits even us oldsters once more - the grief in anticipation of having to vanish from this warm earth and everything and everyone in it. It hit me the other day, in fact, don't remember why. I do remember cycling back mentally to ask myself once more, OK, do I want reincarnation to be true? God no. So do I want there to be a heaven and a hell? I can't see how the heaven makes any sense given what we know of this life, and I'll leave the rest unsaid. So, once again cool with mortality, what about making life significant? My take is that questions about the meaning of life are false ones. There is life, our purpose is to exist. But what to do now that we exist? I agree with you about the urgency to devote our time to endeavors that contribute something. Like trying to think of what to say to you, however lame it is! Although the people whose lives you affect are themselves mortal, and a time will come when all the contributions you've made will be forgotten, they matter to the people you will have touched. Say, helping to preserve woodland where pine warblers breed... changing the attitudes of the people who, with their children, will benefit from its preservation... I know this sounds trite. Maybe a way to think of it, as Legion suggested on another thread a while back, is work backwards from how you'd like to review your life when you come to its end, and then go forward from year 58... (I'm 59 so in the same boat) The philosopher Martha Nussbaum talked about the beauty of an autumn day, when there's a chill in the air and the leaves are ablaze. Its beauty is partly a function of nature's winding down - no autumn in an everlasting equatorial summer. Knowing that our lives will end can spur us to feel how precious their moments are. Maybe our sense of beauty, love, achievement can be the experience only of mortals. I think you've hit a point of great wisdom. No philosophy of life is truly mature until it seeks to account for our mortality, and for our awareness that we are mortal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Margee Posted June 23, 2012 Moderator Share Posted June 23, 2012 Hi Birdwatcher. I really relate to you and I'm sorry you must face this and feel the pain. I think we all go through this...facing the fact that 'this' might be all there is.....life...while you're breathing. After that....back to nothingness like the billions of years before that we weren't here. Every night I go to sleep and wake up in the morning - it's hits me that death will probably be like sleep. I don't even know I exist until the alarm clock wakes me up in the morning. I was a hard core believer in heaven and meeting all my loved ones again. I had to grieve this in the past couple of years....that I probably won't see them again. It was like I had to 're-grieve' them all over again.......... and I did. I also had to grieve that I would probably not meet the god I waited to meet for many years. It does get better...it will always be a huge disapointment to me until the day I die, but I have learned to accept and live with it. Stay with us - we'll help you through ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galien Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 Today the reality that there probably is no heaven or afterlife finally hit me between the eyes. This very moment is all I know for sure that I have. What am I doing to make each moment count? What am I doing to fully live the time I have left? What legacy do I want to leave? How can I help to make the world a more beautiful and loving place? Sorry for sounding like Eeyore, but I'm kind of bummed right now. When you live for 58 years believing you'll live forever in heaven it's devastating to realize that this is all there is. Hi Birdwatcher, meet Eeyore Depth tends to make one a little introspective, nothing wrong with that. Even when I was a christian I had the impression that the above questions were always in operation whether there was an afterlife or not. For me christianity was a reason for self development, not one to run and hide from it. It is devastating having your basic premises ripped from underneath you, and I hug you tight. For me letting go of this stuff was like dying, but it was a death that needed to happen so I could build a healthier, more balanced me. This dreadful feeling will pass, but the only way to get through it is to continue to process it and live through it. We are here for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdwatcher Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 Thanks everyone for your encouragement. I'm blown away by the wisdom of your thoughts. I'm so grateful for all of you. It's comforting to know that each one of us on this forum has experienced all of these emotional ups and downs, as we lose the faith we once held so dearly. Babylonian Dream said: "Why not live to see the birds in flight? Live to explore." Ficino said: ". . .Say, helping to preserve woodland where pine warblers breed... changing the attitudes of the people who, with their children, will benefit from its preservation..." Not to sound like a tree hugger, but nature has always inspired awe in me. I've had more "spiritual" experiences out in the middle of the woods, or sitting on a rock by a mountain stream, or staring up at a star-filled sky, or trekking through a salt marsh than I've ever had in church. You've helped me define what I want to do for the rest of my life. I want to study and enjoy and work to preserve the beauty that is all around me, and spread a little love along the way. Not a bad way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Babylonian Dream Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 Good to hear! My whole life's purpose is to study languages and hope I reconstruct the ancestor to all if not most if not alot of modern languages. As well as to travel the world. Quite the feat, but its worth it for the amount of time enjoying the adventure I get. I wish you tons of happiness on your adventure, as you only get this one adventure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdwatcher Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 Thanks Babylonian Dream! Wow, your life's purpose sounds fascinating! Please share your findings with us. I also wish you much happiness on your adventure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Babylonian Dream Posted June 24, 2012 Share Posted June 24, 2012 Right now, I've got caught up creating languages, so I've not yet reconstructed anything. I've learned the ancestor to Latin, Sanskrit, and English. ProtoIndoEuropean is weird. It has too few fricatives for my liking though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilith666 Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 No Heaven is better than hell, I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilith666 Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 How do you know there is no afterlife? Humans don't know even close to everything; maybe there is. Don't rule it out. In the meantime, if you want to make your life meaningful, volunteer at a soup kitchen. Sign up to donate organs. Go out for lunch with your friends and see a movie. Visit Paris. There may not be a Heaven, but you can make life better on earth while we've got it. Then again, maybe Heaven is real. Who knows. Just because Xianity is nonsense doesn't guarantee we will all end up brain-dead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legion Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 ... it's devastating to realize that this is all there is. In my opinion "this" is enough. Curiosity killed the cat, but it kept me alive. So many people, so many of my ancestors, followed their thirst for understanding. And though they may not have been thinking of me when they did so, I have benefitted greatly from their investments. Therefore, I will give myself to my passion and greed. I will learn more about those things which I find important, out of gratitude for my ancestors and in hope for our distant progeny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tothemorning Posted June 26, 2012 Share Posted June 26, 2012 I feel your pain...My delusion ran for almost 25 years. This a great site to find clarity of mind. It has really helped me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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