Okay..... I really wanted to hold off on starting a discussion on this topic, but I couldn't wait.
Since I'm not a true atheist, I'm curious to know how those who are view death. The process of dying, the actual event, funeral arrangements, how you want to be remembered, etc.
To me, a non-atheist, it all seems so anti-climactic to just die and be buried or burned.
I was thinking to myself that if I
were to become atheist, I would need to compensate in some way for the lack of promise of an afterlife. So I decided I would have a huge, elaborate walk-through mausoleum built in my honor (don't laugh, I'm serious), complete with carvings of griffins, scrollwork, words carved in Latin, etc. Perhaps the remembrance would be compensatory. I would have little plaques and glass enclosed trinkets (things I held dear, that held sentimental value for me) strewn throughout, and maybe a wax duplicate of me enclosed in a glass coffin. Something people would talk about. See, I'm pretty certain that I'll never be famous, so why not? Why shouldn't I be as revered in death (however simplistic my life) as a celebrity? Shouldn't we all? Our lives are as important as anyone else's. It's depressing and unsatisfying to think of being buried in a plain 'ol grave, eventually all but forgotten.
So what are your plans/views/perspectives?
It really isn't as boring (lol) - or simple - as just the event of death itself, do you think?