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Why do people worry about the meaning of life and what happens to them after death?
I'm amazed how much time is spent on these two points, but no one asks or worries about pre-birth, where or what was I before my birth, every one seems happy to accept they didn't exist before birth but can't comprehend you just stop existing after death, making room for a new crop of humans to mess up the planet, and worry about the meaning of life rather then living it.
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Life and death
Why do people worry about the meaning of life and what happens to them after death.
I'm amazed how much time is spent on these two points, but no one asks or worries about pre-birth, where or what was I before my birth, every one seems happy to accept they didn't exist before birth but can't comprehend you just stop existing after death, making room for a new crop of humans to mess up the planet, and worry about the meaning of life rather then living it.
Personally I think the only way to truly answer this question is by posing another question first. that question being, Whether or not there truly is a God (creator/designer) who created all things, thus, we could then answer if there truly is purpose or meaning in this life, or whether or not there is an afterlife.
If there is no Creator of the universe then there is no reason (logically) why we would even bother considering an afterlife. And since there is no creator, then life can only have the meaning or value you give it.
the Meaning/purpose comes from the fact that if a Creator did create such a universe, what would be his purpose for creating it? and would he give knowledge of his purpose to his creation (subjects)? Everything has a reason for it being, or else it could not be. even if that reason turn out to be sheer pleasure.
Re: Life and death
I did.
If you consider that you exist now, why would you not consider the possibility that you can continue to exist in some form forever? You can cut your arm off and you are still there: it is not you. You could have your body cut off at the neck and continue to exist without it if someone pumps oxygen-carrying blood through your head. If you exist as anything more than a machine, there has to be something in there that is you, the part that feels joy and pain. If a multi-component thing can feel joy or pain without any of the components feeling it, joy or pain cannot really be being felt, so you are either a soul-less machine or there is something fundamental in there that could be called a soul, and whatever that thing might be will continue to exist and could get back into a situation where it experiences the life (or part of the life of) another animal, either in this universe, or in a new universe reusing the energy and fabric of this one. There's a lot there that people can argure about (and indeed they've already done so), but the point is that there is every reason logically to consider the possibility of an afterlife even when the non-existence of God has been recognised.
Re: Life and death
To be clear, I do not worry about life after or before death.
But;
How can I do something well if I don't know (or have not considered) why I'm doing it or what the end goal it supposed to be?
In the smaller tasks of daily life, the way in which we go about them is highhly informed by the desired result. In the world of work for example this may be, 'to maximise sales' or 'to improve quality regardless of cost'. These factors are relevant to how we approach a task.
So it is with "Life", even if we have to start by deciding for ourselves what these criteria are.
Personally, I dislike the formulation "What is the meaning of life?" and prefer, "How should we (I) live?"
Of course, the 'why' is up to you.
Re: Life and death
Worm food, back into the earth where we came from. Many people can't deal with that.
Re: Life and death
Strange thing is that quite often the type of people who have most difficulty dealing with the notion of death being the final end are the fanatical religious nutballs whose place in "Heaven" would presumably be assured. But, then again, maybe it's not really that strange at all .... religious nutballery and a deep unease and uncertainty about death are perhaps inextricably interwoven.
Re: Life and death
i'm not afraid of dying. i'm afraid of other people dying (due to the emotional pain of loss) but myself? as a christian i believe i will be going to heaven. and if i'm wrong and there's nothing there (which i don't believe anyway) then at least i'll have been happy.
in general i would say it is the fear of the 'unknown'...
MaFt
Re: Life and death
Fear of the unknown is pathalogical
What you know is that you are going to die and that is known so you are scared of the known
You don't want to know that you are scared of the known so you lie which is where your derived happiness from religion is a shoo-in.
Re: Life and death
I've heard it said that a lot of people don't know they are born