[first posted Tue 08\/18\/09; resurrected six years later]<\/p>\n
LuckyDog died a week ago today. Soon, it will have been a month ago, then a year [,then six]. One day, he will have been dead longer than he lived. So it is for each of us.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve categorized Lucky\u2019s blog entries under \u201cThe Atheist\u2019s Pulpit<\/a>.\u201d I created that category years ago to collect entries pertaining to my thoughts about life and death and what, for other people, are religious experiences.<\/p>\n I do not believe there is or ever was a god. I know, you got that from \u201catheist,\u201d but I say it more emphatically because I never hear anyone else say it so baldly. I used to call myself an agnostic and, then, an antagnostic<\/em> (one who is irritated by the belief in god). However, the absurd overconfidence of people who believe in a micromanaging patriarch compels me to speak for myself.<\/p>\n More relevant to my thoughts over the past week: I believe death ends individuality. I don\u2019t really care about the particulars of what happens to a once-living being\u2019s molecules or the energy that animates it. What we call personality, identity, self, or soul, ends at death. Memories and photos aren\u2019t the same.<\/p>\n Even people who reject the notion of a cartoonish heaven where everyone is miraculously reunited with everyone else usually take comfort in something<\/em> beyond death. My mother expected to reappear as a cardinal or a butterfly, although she spoke sometimes of radiating out into space, like an old TV show. Most of my godless friends fill the void with Life or the Universe itself, which I find tempting, but one might as well worship the sun at that point. (I would be in the minority, worshipping the moon.)<\/p>\n So, I don\u2019t believe in god(s), I don\u2019t believe in heaven or hell (but I know where I\u2019m going if I\u2019m wrong), I don\u2019t believe in reincarnation, an afterlife, or an immortal soul. Feel free to feel superior or scandalized, or to pray for me. By all means, rib me gently should we meet on the other side of Death. I\u2019ll owe everyone a Coke. peace, mjh<\/p>\n PS: If I were going to believe in gods, I\u2019d be a polytheist. It is easy to imagine countless petty, incompetent, jealous, and quarrelsome gawds looking for ways to trip us up.<\/p>\n PPS: I do appreciate a beautiful Buddhist image of the river of life cascading over a falls. A droplet of water appears for an instant \u2013 that is your life. In no time, that individual droplet returns to the All. Beautiful, but no comfort, if you like being yourself or want to see your dog again, someday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [first posted Tue 08\/18\/09; resurrected six years later] LuckyDog died a week ago today. Soon, it will have been a month ago, then a year [,then six]. One day, he will have been dead longer than he lived. So it is for each of us. I\u2019ve categorized Lucky\u2019s blog entries under \u201cThe Atheist\u2019s Pulpit.\u201d I … Continue reading Afterdeath<\/span>