All is going well I am relatively pain free except when I eat and I can avoid that because the tube feeding is keeping me well nourished. In fact I weigh more now than I did when I left the hospital. I am trying to make these days productive and fruitful since I do not know how many I have left.
Still looking for discussions on atheists handling the final exit. I have not achieved the serenity that I would like to have in preparation for when I will be less functional. Hope this finds someone who would like to chime in on how we non=believers face death.
Bob
Hi Mr. Zimmermann, we can see your posts. But since you claim that you can't see ours, is there a more familiar way for us to contact you to show you how you can find your way around here? We answer your posts through the comments section, and you can use it to answer our comments as well, or you can create new posts to answer...
ReplyDeletehey there bob, this is an alcoholic anonymous from turkey. I found your site through an advise and read your recent posts. I see myself in there when I first started to aa meetings and I feel terrible for you - how can I say? I share your pain- Let's just say, I'm an agnostic who start to believe God's some-works without questioning. You mentioned serenity in your last post which you desire to found before lost your functions. I must say, I'm imperested about your short life story. Maybe we're share the same questions, about life and death. I can't express myself well but I feel close to you. When I scared the hell about dying from alcohol, I give up the free-will and I started to understand what God wants from me. I can say, I'm not a muslim or christian or any other religions. I found my religion inside of me and my God is some-holly-being how I wish to know. I named him Higher power. And It could be come from anywhere to speak to me. Because it's something Higher than me. That's my simple solution. That's also what AA told me so. I'm 4 years sober now and believe me, I walk through hell. Maybe you can talk with an AA member around your town and listen to their simple but working solutions. Maybe you're not an alcoholic but you can read and try our solutions.
ReplyDeleteWish to read about you soon.
Hugs&kisses
Red Hood Rider
Hi Bob. Have you figured out how to read your comments? It looks like several people are interested in talking with you, but I'm not sure you are seeing the comments being left here.
ReplyDeleteHi Bob,
ReplyDeleteI hope you are able to find a way to read these comments.
I am not personally facing my own death at this time, but the death of my grandmother is what spurred me to reject religion and "God" and become an agnostic athiest. She fought with her breast cancer for 12 years and two remissions and when her fight was over, her Christian children kept her alive for almost another month because they did not want to "interfere with God's plan" and engage a doctor for assistance (which is legal where I live). I was able to be with her as she died and heard her sigh in what sounded llike relief as she let out her final breath.
I am not sure what faces us on the other side when we pass but I know that for my grandmother, it was far more pleasant than the suffering she was living through. I hope that that will be the case for you when you are ready, and I also hope that you will be given the choice of when you are ready rather than being forced to hold on out of some twisted belief that endless suffering in life is better than death because "God" says so.
You said you were looking for examples of other non-theists facing the same situation. For an example of an atheist facing death with courage see An atheist contemplates his own mortality on TalkRational. The guy in question is "Ninewands," a long-time regular on the late lamented Internet Infidels Discussion Board and more recently on TalkRational, where the linked thread is located.
ReplyDeleteAnnouncement of his death. Note the dates in the thread. Ninewands faced it for a year. I hope I go out with as much courage and grace.
Bob, vjack tells us you can see the comments here now. Good. I left this comment on vjack's blog:
ReplyDeleteWould you let him know that I'd be glad to talk with him online, via email, or on the phone. I'm also a retired psychology professor, an atheist, have had a heart attack, had cardiac surgery, and am down to less than one carotid, so I'm a little familiar with his situation, though mine is not (yet) not as extreme as his. He (and you) can reach me at the email address associated with this comment.
Thanks!
RBH
I mean it: If you want to talk, don't hesitate to email me and we can use email or I can phone you when it's appropriate.
Regards,
RBH
If I may in all humility intrude on this conversation without diminishing it. I know that whatever happens to us happens to the fish and the fly and the whale. That nature is not so selective in it's processes of death. When we pass it is as seamless and as natural as our entry, and as remarkably forgotten. The fear is in the approach not in the passing for that to me is the most natural thing in the world.
ReplyDelete