The 4 stories we tell ourselves about death

[eliasfrost]

I don't think about existence in the sense of whether you're alive or not. I look at it as being real, and you can be real no matter if you're dead or not. By living on in the memory of others, or in the written word or whatever, my existence (or at least the knowledge that I have existed, proving that I once was) is an extension to my self.

Being an atheist I don't think about it in a spiritual sense or that I am actually going to "live on" literally. The way I think about death is that I die and that's it. But it's nice to know that I may or may not continue to exist for other people, either through memory, through my own words or any other kind of stuff I leave behind, it's the evidence that I once have lived that extends my existence until I fade away in time, just like everyone does. That's legacy, and it's not spiritual.

There's more to death than just "the end", and I don't think seeing some comfort in it through other ways than just coming to peace with the fact that you disappear is in any ways less "true" or a "right" way to view death, I think it's a nice thought that I will continue to "live on" through the memory of my offspring or my spouse until I finally fade, either through that they forget or that what I left behind is lost.

But in no way do I think it's some sort of way to relive, that's absurd in my opinion, but to just leave it at the fact that I just disappear is even more absurd to me. I remember my grandparents and a few friends that have passed away, they exist in my memory, but they are not alive. But I can surely say that they are real, and that's what matters at the end of the day

I don't wish to be black and white regarding questions like this, thus why I said that these kind of things are floaty in my previous post.