How Do Atheists Face Death?

Yesterday, I mentioned the article by Christopher Hitchens about his entry into the land of malady. It’s an article that has been picked up by many people in the blogosphere, including PZ Myers, over at Pharyngula. But what caught my eye was the comment made by “Cuttlefish” on that entry concerning how atheists face death. It’s a short, but beautifully written, statement about the subject. A taste, but do go and read it in its entirety:

How does an atheist face death? By facing it, not by denying or diminishing it. Not by turning it into a transition to some other reality. Not by making up a story to make themselves feel better. It hurts because it’s real, it’s permanent, it’s the end. It should hurt.

And now he lives on only in our memory, and in our changed lives. That is his legacy; that is the good he continues to do. He’s not looking down and guiding; he doesn’t wait for us to join him. If we love him, we can do our best to fight for his causes, to continue his work.

In the real world. The only one we have.

Amen.