Julia Sweeney on dealing with death as an atheist
Aug 24, 2012
http://youtu.be/FO6NQKPLPBMAlex's comment: Fear of death is the ultimate anxiety of living organisms. Religion evolved partly to address the problem of death. That is why we have eternal life and reincarnation. Atheism, or religionlessness, as an alternative to religion, has to answer too the question of death.
Julia Sweeney's answer is sweet: people are like flowers in a big field of wild flowers, they grew and then they died. Jesus also employed the analogy of flowers to deal with the issue of worries: "And why are you troubled about clothing? See the flowers of the field, how they come up; they do no work, they make no thread." (Mt 6:28, Lk 12:27) He said that flowers are naturally beautiful without having to work. But we must not forget too that flowers are transient. And so are we. So his saying implies that we shall also learn from flowers to accept the inevitable death peacefully.
My answer to death is in-line with Jesus' implication of accepting death peacefully like flowers do. It also agrees, I believe, with what zen master Thich Nhat Hanh explains in his book
No Death, No Fear. My answer is based on science. I am "born" as a cluster of atoms from star dust. More atoms become part of me when I eat. My cluster of atoms undergoes constant change; every second, some atoms enter me, some shed away from me. Upon my "death," my atoms do not die, they merely disperse and continue their journeys in other things, including other living things. This is my physicalistic atheistic answer to death.
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