When you've lost God, how do you fill the void?

[Calder Smith]

I don't anticipate death will be peaceful. I anticipate it will be nothing. I will never again have any of the experiences that make life wonderful.

The thought of this terrifies me and fills me up with such dread that I need to put this certain future out of my mind.

I would find a religious concept of heaven much more comforting if I could only believe in it. But no matter what way I approach the question, I always reach the same conclusion. When my mind is destroyed, so will my ability to feel anything. I would love to believe in God and Heaven. I just can't make myself do it.

I feel how you do. For a while, I've had a fear of death and sometimes it keeps me up at night. I just try to enjoy life, and put it in the back of my mind.

I wish I could believe that there's life beyond death but I can't.

[CalmRage]

i was always a skeptic, then an almost fanatic christian, then i went back to being an atheist and this time i've matured so that no convincing will ever make me brainwash myself again. (yes, i've brainwashed myself because i saw everyone believing in god and thought that was the right thing. i just snapped out of it one day)

i didn't have to fill any void, but then again it happened during a 90% issue-free phase.

[Anatta]

I don't anticipate death will be peaceful. I anticipate it will be nothing. I will never again have any of the experiences that make life wonderful.

The thought of this terrifies me and fills me up with such dread that I need to put this certain future out of my mind.

I would find a religious concept of heaven much more comforting if I could only believe in it. But no matter what way I approach the question, I always reach the same conclusion. When my mind is destroyed, so will my ability to feel anything. I would love to believe in God and Heaven. I just can't make myself do it.

Kia Ora Suzi,
Some questions to ponder: People are dying to find the answers 

What would it be like to go to sleep and never wake up ?

Who were "you" before "you" were born ?

When did you become aware that "you" exists ? What existed before "you" ?





Metta Zenda

[Miss_Bungle1991]

What now fills this void ?

Unwavering devotion to and worship of Portia Porcupine.

[dalebert]

I don't anticipate death will be peaceful. I anticipate it will be nothing. I will never again have any of the experiences that make life wonderful.

Nietzsche philosophized that life was suffering. In that sense, non-existence is Heaven for all practical purposes. I don't mean that the non-existence after death will be peaceful. There is no experience of it so it isn't anything. You would only experience the approach of death. There are a lot of accounts that imply a person experiences a tremendous euphoria as their brain is running out of oxygen. Maybe once death is nigh inevitable and there's no avoiding it anymore, one starts to realize that all pain and suffering is about to end.

[V M]

Two slices of bread and whatever you happen to like on a sandwich Void filled

[Sona~TS]

When I realized I was an "Athiest" (< not big on labels but w/e), I started filling that void with research. I would get deeply imbibed into a vast amount of different topics and relearn everything I had thought I learned prior to as a "Christian". With my religious blinders sitting next to my rotary phone and beeper, I was able to genuinely re-asses this cruel and yet so amazing world through my very own eyes not my parents... I'll explain...

I feel that most people do NOT choose their own religion, they just inherit it from their parents and them from theirs and so on and so on. So the key concept is humans are naturally shaped and moulded from childhood and parenting techniques. Whether right or wrong it doesn't matter.  I think that this "Just is". I could be wrong, maybe I am. I hope so, because I could fix myself and improve my assessment again. <<< Actually, that's the whole idea... lol

Just my own feelings. I never liked seeing parents tell their children who are naturally trying to learn and develop say things like "Because I said so"! in response to something as simple as "Why"?
I also find that children should not have any religion pushed on them from an early age. Religion is very serious stuff, right? Heaven, Hell, Damnation, Eternity... It's very serious, serious like most people have died in it's name, right? So why are we as parents teaching things of this seriousness to a child who is about to go watch Hello Kitty Island Adventure afterwards? I believe it's simple brainwashing of society and it mostly promotes a never ending cycle of idiocracy. It's personal, and it's something that one should discover with an open, learning mind and viewed through their own eyes, not a bias, obstinate view forced through by their own opinionated parents. Because let's face it... (Just an example), If big ole billy-bob Christian Rob were born in Thailand, odds are he'd be practising Buddhism while driving a bhat bus around chang mai. Same if our Christian Rob was born in the fine city of Tehran, he's probably gonna be that pretty devout Shiite Muslim. Again, these views are mine and mine only. They are not right, I hope they're not wrong, they're just mine.

I simply find myself undoing everything I thought I had properly learned before but through someone else's perspective...

Here I am Rambling again... Sorry people. lol I do that sometimes.

p.s.

I do not hate anyone's religion or culture. I actually love learning about them and our world. I appologize in advance if my meaningless words have offended someone by them. However, I'd be fibbing if I wasn't flattered by someone actually taking this too seriously. lmao

[dalebert]

I never liked seeing parents tell their children who are naturally trying to learn and develop say things like "Because I said so"! in response to something as simple as "Why"?

And that goes beyond just religion. That's lazy parenting. A child's mind starts off unbiased and objective. When a child is asking "why", that should be a reminder for us to ask ourselves the same thing.

I also find that children should not have any religion pushed on them from an early age. Religion is very serious stuff, right? Heaven, Hell, Damnation, Eternity... It's very serious, serious like most people have died in it's name, right? So why are we as parents teaching things of this seriousness to a child who is about to go watch Hello Kitty Island Adventure afterwards?

I think you answered your own question. If you believe eternity is at stake, this life is irrelevant. Let's say a person manages to live 120 years. 120 divided by infinity is zero. That's how long this life is. If your life is miserable and you don't explore anything or ask any questions about anything and don't spend any effort on obtaining any knowledge other than your parent's religion and how you need to live your life in order to get into eternal heavenly after life, that's fine. The after life matters so much more than this one.

What's actually true about objective reality matters. The discussion/debate matters. If there's an eternal afterlife of pure happiness, it's extremely important that we live our lives a certain way. If there's not an afterlife, it's extremely important that we live our lives a certain (different) way. The fact that these are serious subject is the reason why religion is such a controversial subject. People feel strongly about these things because the stakes are very high either way.

And it's also why I understand why really serious discussion of religion or politics doesn't really belong here. There are probably better forums for having these debates. Those heated debates can distract this forum from it's more important purpose as a safe place for discussing trans issues. I'm in an ongoing debate just like that with someone on another forum that's much broader in scope for several days now. Somehow we've managed to keep it quite civil but I assure you I would not debate it the same way here. 

[amZo]

I also find that children should not have any religion pushed on them from an early age. Religion is very serious stuff, right? Heaven, Hell, Damnation, Eternity... It's very serious, serious like most people have died in it's name, right? So why are we as parents teaching things of this seriousness to a child who is about to go watch Hello Kitty Island Adventure afterwards? I believe it's simple brainwashing of society and it mostly promotes a never ending cycle of idiocracy. It's personal, and it's something that one should discover with an open, learning mind and viewed through their own eyes, not a bias, obstinate view forced through by their own opinionated parents. Because let's face it... (Just an example), If big ole billy-bob Christian Rob were born in Thailand, odds are he'd be practising Buddhism while driving a bhat bus around chang mai. Same if our Christian Rob was born in the fine city of Tehran, he's probably gonna be that pretty devout Shiite Muslim.

I agree. It took me a long time to admit I was agnostic. The reason it took me a while was fear, who wants to burn in hell for eternity? In the end, it was this very idea (and Deuteronomy  ) that made me leave the church. I am very spiritual, but just not religious. My kids are aware of religion, they've had some exposure to it. But I want them to figure things out for themselves, like I ultimately did.

I've come to the conclusion we have a purpose and we will experience another consciousness again and again, always have and always will. It's just what the universe has designed. Who designed the multiverse? Who the heck knows?? 

[Pica Pica]

If we look at the writing of Samuel Johnson, we would get the suggestion that the void is always there. He talks about how a great many of human endeavours are there to 'fill the vacuities of life', or translated out of Johnsonese - fill the emptiness of life.

It's just as plausible that the emptiness of life created God and spirituality to fill it then the absence of those things creates the hole. As such, we then fill it with family, friends, interests and personal projects. We dissipate our lives in these things until our lives end, and maybe in doing so, we have helped others fill theirs.

[Anatta]

I've come to the conclusion we have a purpose and we will experience another consciousness again and again, always have and always will. It's just what the universe has designed. Who designed the multiverse? Who the heck knows?? 

Kia Ora Nikko,

"Designed" is finite, as if there was a limit to the mind's capacity...Better to think designing never stops ....

Metta Zenda

[V M]

When you've lost God, how do you fill the void?

Send out a search party?

[Anatta]

When you've lost God, how do you fill the void?

Send out a search party?

Kia Ora VM,

Or check at the local lost property office ....


Metta Zenda

[Sephirah]

Kia Ora Suzi,
Some questions to ponder: People are dying to find the answers 

What would it be like to go to sleep and never wake up ?

Who were "you" before "you" were born ?

When did you become aware that "you" exists ? What existed before "you" ?





Metta Zenda

Those questions make me think of one of my favourite poems, by Edgar Allan Poe.

A Dream Within A Dream

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

Maybe that's all we really are. A dream within a dream.

[Anatta]

Those questions make me think of one of my favourite poems, by Edgar Allan Poe.

A Dream Within A Dream

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

Maybe that's all we really are. A dream within a dream.

Kia Ora Sephirah,

And so it may seem
tis just a dream within a dream.

But a thought one must keep
"who" is it that's asleep ?

Metta Zenda

[ReubenIsTheName]

I've had God shoved down my throat since I was in school. I think Christianity might have been a pretty pure and noble faith at one time, but now, Its full of hypocrisy and has just become a cult with more members. Did I believe in god at one time? perhaps. I know as a child I prayed to not be a boy. Maybe God is out there and testing me. But I've had to fight for so much in my life that I'd almost resent God if he, or she, were to grant that wish now. So my faith now is in myself. I've put my faith in others and been hurt and let down to often.

I can definitely relate to that entire statement! But, to answer the question that this topic is asking...I didn't "lose" a 'god.' I gained knowledge and understanding that the real world is the only thing you can truly believe in. I now solve my own problems, and take care of myself, instead of praying to an imaginary person in the sky that has never done anything to help me before in my life, especially when I needed it most. It works very well, and I am stronger for it. So...there is no void. Never was. There was only understanding and strength.

[Emmaline]

Again back to the original title topic.  I don't have a void to fill after removing god.  It is a superfluous concept to my being.

[janetcgtv]

AS in a movie, that I had seen a long time about a mayan tribe fleeing another mayan tribe, Yul Brynner playing a native American chief told the mayan chief that you don't have to sacrifice a human life just look around you then you will see ALL the things God created. You don't have to believe in any of the organized religions of the world, Just believe that the creator loves you and wants to see that you will always be loved by the creator. In this world you can concentrate on family or friends who love you to fill the void that you feel. When things go very bad for me I can say to myself. There's no such thing as a God. But i end up surviving somehow than I thank God.

Who Knows (Or who cares)if God is woman or man. AS far as I know no one has seen God. Accordingly to the Bible, Moses only saw a burning bush.

[Umiko]

I'm a fallen angel and feel hard. on a serious note, i believe there is something bigger than us but what that is our ability to continue to advance and grow. i believe its our brain and intelligence and our life expierences that is god so with that, what keeps me going, on some days, is that ability to say "hey, i can do this but i need to push just a little more" though in my exhaustion, it tends to fail

[dalebert]

What's actually true about objective reality matters. The discussion/debate matters. If there's an eternal afterlife of pure happiness, it's extremely important that we live our lives a certain way. If there's not an afterlife, it's extremely important that we live our lives a certain (different) way. The fact that these are serious subject is the reason why religion is such a controversial subject. People feel strongly about these things because the stakes are very high either way.

This pic seemed like a good follow-up to something I said earlier in this thread.