A tenet of nonbelief

October 21, 2015 • 11:45 am

Matthew Cobb sent me this tw**t that pretty much emphasizes a tenet of atheism: make the most of your life in the here and now, for you ain’t going anywhere after you die.

One of my other favorite anecdotes about our brief tenure on Earth comes from The Venerable Bede in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People. As Texified reports:

In Northumbria of the seventh century, King Edwin called a meeting to decide if missionaries should be allowed to preach.  Paulinus had tried to convert Edwin to become a Christian, but Edwin wished to consult his friends and advisors.  The chief priest Coifi recommended that Edwin follow the teaching of Christianity, and another advisor agreed saying:

“The present life of man upon earth, O King, seems to me in comparison with that time which is unknown to us like the swift flight of a sparrow through mead-hall where you sit at supper in winter, with your Ealdormen and thanes, while the fire blazes in the midst and the hall is warmed, but the wintry storms of rain or snow are raging abroad. The sparrow, flying in at one door and immediately out at another, whilst he is within, is safe from the wintry tempest, but after a short space of fair weather, he im-
mediately vanishes out of your sight, passing from winter to winter again. So this life of man appears for a little while, but of what is to follow or what went before we know nothing at all. If, therefore, this new doctrine tells us something more certain, it seems
justly to be followed in our kingdom.”

Well, the Christian overtones are unpalatable, but if you leave off the last sentence it’s lovely. Provided, of course, that you realize that we do know what is to follow: nothing.

19 thoughts on “A tenet of nonbelief”

  2. Holly crap. You mean there’s no maker to meet, no one calling us up. I have to stop reading those Obits.

    1. Of reason and reality, a favorite opening line for my obituary shall partake of the likes of the one I perused inside the Des Moines Register’s back pages some 4½ years ago now: “So – and – So died Such – and – Such 2011, from faulty parts and too much old.”

      Then? Then any alleged So – Called Aggrieved ‘ll party on. At some o’m’old haunts to include all of their dancing over to the concrete of the Animal Science Department’s Animal Pavilion and their settin’ – a – spell inside the B Gym’s Steam Room.

      Such is all already arranged by way of the efforts of the six members of Blue’s Grim Reaping Committee. And … … made legal.

      Period.
      Blue

      ps Six it likely takes on said committee … … so as to have ‘enough’ members left thereon it still themselves breathing for when … … I no longer am.

  3. To ensure against misrepresentation by well-meaning relatives, we should all consider writing our obituary in advance. Beyond name and age, mine is simply this…

    “In lieu of prayers, please consider the thoughts of the Roman philosopher-poet, Lucretius:

    Life’s a gift to no man, only a loan to him.
    Look back in time. How peaceful,
    How carefree, before our birth.
    In this way Nature holds before us
    A mirror of our future after death.
    Is that so grim? So gloomy?
    Is it not a rest more free from care than any sleep?

    Or, less eloquently… After we die, it will be just as it was before we were born. That wasn’t so bad was it?

    1. This is interesting b/c I read a simplified version of the last part of this passage when I was maybe 10 years old. This was when I was first feeling the inklings of atheism, and that passage really struck me and stayed with me ever since.
      It is nice to see the whole thing, finally!

      1. Mark,
        This is a brief passage from Lucretius’ “The Way Things Are” (or “de Rerum Natura”). Essentially, his extended poem is a presentation of the ideas of Epicurus. For a truly wonderful(!!) book about the ideas of Lucretius I highly recommend “The Swerve” by Stephen Greenblatt, rather than Lucretius’ original text.

  5. “Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.” – Isaac Asimov

    “I’m not afraid of death; I just don’t want to be there when it happens” – Woody Allen

  7. Funny stuff, but my all-time death-related favorite is the tombstone epitaph I saw on Richard Wiseman’s Quirkology blog: “always finish what you”

  9. And remember you are not the only dash. So find some time and have some tea with another dash.

    1. I do find it slightly galling to have been named for a Northumbria-based saint. But it still feels slightly peculiar when I meet other people called “Aidan”, having grown up in a different part of the country and literally never having met another “Aidan”.
      (Dad’s logic was simple : if I hadn’t been named for a saint, then there would have been endless wailing and earache from “Sister” Agnes in her penguin suit ; similarly, an Irish saint was pretty much a given. After that, an uncommon name was considered a necessity. Down to the library for the dictionary of saints and a shortlist came together for Mum to choose from.)
      My namesake left Ulster under somewhat obscure circumstances and went to Northumbria where he indulged in much conversion. Considering the times, the presence of large swords and thugs was probably a major part of the conversion process.

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