The End

Every person must deal with death at some point in their lives. Including the thought of their own death. Some people are able to face it much easier than others. I myself have had a rather difficult time understanding and accepting that I will die. But with the birth of my daughter, and a new found lust for knowledge and truth, I'm starting to be able to face my inevitable end with much less anxiety and fear. What I've found most comforting are the words of scientists and philosophers who have a great respect for the natural world. They have shown me just how precious my brief time on earth is, and they have done this without any metaphysical or divine reasoning. I am proud of this fact. I have no use for any conceptual security blanket offered by religion or spirituality. Though I am able to live with the idea of death much better now, I know that it will take a lifetime to completely come to terms with the end, and I am confident that the beauty and wonder of our world will always be my guide.

(Because of the relevance to my life and geographic area, I am directing this next part to Christian adherents)
I now would like to ask those of you who believe in an afterlife to think about something. Have you ever truly thought about the claims your faith presents regarding the afterlife? More specifically (for the purpose of this section) the idea of an eternal existence? The Bible tells us that whether you end up in heaven or hell it is for eternity...ETERNITY. Human beings are not capable of comprehending "eternity." We have evolved in and are accustomed to a medium sized world. The mindbogglingly immense size of the universe, and the truly bizarre realm of the quantum scale are nothing we can even begin to know without the aid of powerful and advanced technology. And as for time, our primate brains do not have the capacity to understand what it means to experience 1,000 years, let alone a million years or a trillion years. So, if we're annoyed at the vast expanse of time demanded of us when waiting in a fast food drive-thru or the unholy suffering we endured while waiting for a web page to load before the advent of high-speed internet, imagine your holy chagrin when you're forced to worship, FOREVER, at the feet of a deity you'd just met. To me, the thought of doing this is an even worse fate than death.