Death, that vicious constraint that awaits us all, transforms life into a very serious business…

but not for the reason that terrorized me as a child…

namely, the fear of what might happen to me after I die.

To be clear, I have no fear of being dead. (although I do dread the potentially horrific process of dying.

And I have no fear of being dead for at least two reasons…

First, if indeed this life is all that there is, I have no more reason to fear my infinite non-existence in “the afterlife” than I had to fear my infinite non-existence in “the beforelife”.

And second, if there really is some kind of existence for me beyond this world, so be it, but I have no heartbeats to waste searching for, quibbling about, or wagering on the unknown and unknowable.

Existentialism Religion atheism Christianity death faith heaven hell immortality Islam mortality Religion the afterlife