I believe in mankind, as long as I give a bit of positive energy/actions in it and leave things in a bit better shape that's enough. Anyway we achieve some form of immortality via our kids, have to work hard on this topic since I believe I can be a good parent and provide loving environment for them.
I guess it helps me being active in potentially dangerous sports and activities (climbing, alpinism, paragliding, diving, ski touring etc) where you are facing your built-in fear of death on very regular basis, and being successful in it lies in great part in constantly overcoming that fear in smart ways. Of course I take great care in doing stuff as safely as possible, within unavoidable amount of risk. But if you are 100% safe and have really everything under control, there is simply no adventure.
When I compare to my fiancee who is hardcore catholic and should logically look forward to meeting her creator and master of it all, she is way more afraid. I presume emotions > rationality even long term.
I feel that I should say to people who are downvoting this comment: You're using the downvote as a disagreement, rather than to filter the content you would like to see on Hacker News.
Content on Hacker News should be: relevant, considered, well-written. I don't see anything above that isn't any of those points. Just because you disagree with something, doesn't mean you should downvote it.
It read, to me, like "I don't see why medieval monks cared about death since I don't." Then there was the dollop of "I am atheist/agnostic," which again didn't seem to be usefully on topic.
That isn't to say you shouldn't discuss these things, it is an interesting conversation to have... But look at where this comment was placed; on a summary of the article.
The whole thing just felt like something that deserved a place on Reddit's "IamVerySmart" subreddit rather than on Hackernews.
I didn't see anything self-aggrandizing in what was written, merely someone describing how they personally related to both the comment and the article. I can't see a reason why it wasn't relevant since the post above it is basically the same sort of thing, just with different conclusions.
There's so much to see and do, and experience, I can't imagine ever having reached a state where I have seen enough, done enough, lived or loved enough that I would be happy to pass. Especially after a paltry few decades.
And yes, on an emotional level, I have a base fear of there being an end to me. I fear dying too - not the pain but the finality. I hope I don't see it coming.
You can look at a map of a forest, but the map is not the territory. A detailed enough map would have to contain all of the detail of the forest and change as the forest does. It would have to be the forest itself.
You can visit the forest, but you are limited by your single viewpoint. You've only got two eyes and you're in one place all the time.
And yet, visiting a forest is a pleasant experience. Although most viewpoints are hidden from you, the one you have is beautiful.
I also smell (the trees, the flowers, the mushrooms, the soil) and hear the birds and the insects and feel the ground under my (bare)feet and taste the raspberrys ...
This is the forest. Doesn't matter if I can't feel all trees at once, I still experience 'the forest'.
(oh and btw. visiting a forest can also be quite unpleasant, like when there is a storm and trees are falling around you and there is no safe shelter)
So ... this was maybe a bit nitpicking, but I still wanted to say it ;)
All we know is our existence. Death is the end of existence as we know it. Other than that, no worries I guess.
You could think of the entire concept of "spirits", either benevolent (angels) or malevolent (demons) as an extension of this idea. Mental processes could be thought of as chatter that takes place in a network of neurons - if you have any notion about modern biology.
But what do you do if you don't have that information? You create metaphors for these things and simply ignore the root cause explanation because it's beyond the boundaries of your knowledge anyway. You represent them as "beings" inhabiting a special "spiritual world" - which is not that far off the mark given the relative independence (to some extent) of many of our mental processes.
Beyond the explanatory power, this also serves a more practical goal. When undesirable mental processes are thought of as being "separate" entities, it does become a bit easier to fight them. Just don't fall into the error of taking these images at face value (literal beings inhabiting a literal other world).
All in all, as long as you keep in mind that these are metaphors for stuff that happens in your consciousness, a good chunk of the mythology that these monks subscribed to actually does make sense.
1. Meditate on death everyday when you wake up. Face the fact that you will die with help of a belief system that helps calm anxieties about death. Termed Terror Management Theory (TMT), it helps reduce existential anxieties. In the framework of the christian afterlife of resurrection and judgement, it also makes you more motivated to do the tasks that promise a better afterlife.
2. Through ruminating on the suffering of others and explicitly realising emotions of empathy repeatedly would overtime make such reactions a second nature applied in real life.
3. Attributing boredom (or rather distraction) to an external malevolent force helps better combat it.
4. Performing 'living funerals', meditating on their life as if they might die now, before going to sleep to help gauge their life and maybe how happy they are with the direction.