Today’s submission was rescued from the comment thread of Hemant Mehta’s post about this topic, submitted by GodVlogger:
STRANGERS: I feel more connected with strangers, somehow realizing that we are all just spinning through space together on this ‘pale blue dot’ of a planet called earth.
SPACE: Speaking of outer space, I notice the stars more, and am more likely to have glimpses of the vastness of the universe compared with our own comfort zones.
FEAR OF DEATH: I was on a commercial airplane not long ago when we hit a LOT of turbulence the pilot announced that we should prepare for a crash landing. We ended up flying through the storm ok, but what amazed me afterwards was how CALM and peaceful I was during that time. I had practically zero fear of death. Not that I wanted to die, and yes I thought about being gone from my role as a son, brother, father, husband, etc., but it was more of a calmly nostalgic “Hey, I’ve had a pretty good run of it here, and if I don’t make it well I think I’ve done a lot of good for others and they’ll eventually get by without me”, rather than a frantic anxiety that would not be able to change the outcome anyway (I don’t know how to make turbulence stop and I know that frantically praying it to stop would do nothing).
GAYS: I find myself much more sympathetic to the LGBT folks, knowing that almost all of the discrimination against them is based on mythology and fairy tales.
NEWS: I notice religion creeping in all over the place in the news, etc., whereas before I mainly noticed the role that religion plays in opposition abortion. Now I notice religion impacting a whole spectrum of women’s health issues, condoms in Africa, worldwide terrorism, the religious blame game after natural disasters, the preponderance of Catholics on the US Supreme Court, laws against buying a car on a Sunday, God Bless You when someone sneezes, national prayer day (days like that I would never have even noticed before), etc. It’s like I see religion almost everywhere.
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I am less inclined to judge others because I realise we’re all human and being human doesn’t mean we’re worthless, despite what they want us to believe.
I tend to see the good in people for the things they do, rather than what they say.
I don’t get any sense of vindication in being proved right in my views by the misfortune of someone else.
I’m finding it more and more difficult to keep quiet about the encroachment by religion into my life. It saddens me that in 2012, hundreds of years after the enlightenment, there are still so many people clinging to superstition.
I was on a commercial airplane not long ago when we hit a LOT of turbulence the pilot announced that we should prepare for a crash landing. We ended up flying through the storm ok, but what amazed me afterwards was how CALM and peaceful I was during that time. I had practically zero fear of death.
Mildly similar situation occurred with me not too long ago: I was flying from Puerto Rico’s main island to Vieques in a little Cessna during a storm. The pilot was flying by instrument because you literally couldn’t see anything out the windows. The plane was bouncing up and down. I wasn’t at all sure that we were going to land successfully. I thought, “In this situation, I suppose, a religious person might prepare for death. But I’m an atheist and my death doesn’t take any special preparation. I think I’ll read a magazine instead.”
So my atheism spared me about 20 minutes of unnecessary anxiety. Not exactly the biggest effect it’s ever had in my life, but a nice momentary bonus.
If only I felt that way about death, but I’m an anxious peron anyhow. I am extremely afraid to go through the dying process because I don’t know how will it feel and also because I may well be aware that I’ll cease to exist in a short period of time (and that bothers me). I don’t care that it’s something that I can’t control (well, there’s suicide, but I’d like to avoid that). I hope that it’s quick and that I won’t even know what’s happening when it does, because I won’t realize that I’m dead when I am dead.
I’ve met religous people when I was a believer and also as an atheist who say they aren’t afraid to die. I’ve always been afraid, believer or not. Any kind of rationalization and understanding about my place in the universe sadly doesn’t change that.