I don't believe in god...but..

[Rum]

I was talking to an old acquaintance a few days ago. Their father died about three years ago as it happens. We were talking about religion and I assumed this person was probably an atheist - certainly an agnostic.

I said in passing that over recent years I had become something of a rabid atheist compared to the flip flopping I used to do over the issue. The acquaintance replied that they didn't believe in god either but they believed the spirit of their father lived on somewhere..

I didn't tell them to shut the fuck up if you are wondering, but I had to stop myself...

[Thinking Aloud]

It's something that people hang onto - the wish that there was something left. You're right - there's no point contradicting these wishes. We can, however help to let the next generation know that when we die, there won't be any souls drifting about.

If there ever does come a time to give comforting words to someone who's thinking along these lines, then at least we can say that yes the 'spirit' or 'essence' does live on in the children in physical form, and also in the memories of those who knew them.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

As long as they keep making sequels...

[HomerJay]

3 years is a long time though, shirley?

[DaveDodo007]

I was talking to an old acquaintance a few days ago. Their father died about three years ago as it happens. We were talking about religion and I assumed this person was probably an atheist - certainly an agnostic.

I said in passing that over recent years I had become something of a rabid atheist compared to the flip flopping I used to do over the issue. The acquaintance replied that they didn't believe in god either but they believed the spirit of their father lived on somewhere..

I didn't tell them to shut the fuck up if you are wondering, but I had to stop myself...

There is a time and place for everything and even a rabid atheist like me knows when to shut the fuck up.

[HomerJay]

I was talking to an old acquaintance a few days ago. Their father died about three years ago as it happens. We were talking about religion and I assumed this person was probably an atheist - certainly an agnostic.

I said in passing that over recent years I had become something of a rabid atheist compared to the flip flopping I used to do over the issue. The acquaintance replied that they didn't believe in god either but they believed the spirit of their father lived on somewhere..

I didn't tell them to shut the fuck up if you are wondering, but I had to stop myself...

There is a time and place for everything and even a rabid atheist like me knows when to shut the fuck up.

How long is long enough? Or do you never discuss it with someone whose parent has died?

[Tero]

I was more argumentative when I was agnostical. Now I don't give a shit unless a personal issue, my kids for example, is involved. So in a way, the leap of faith to Rum's rabid atheism made me kind of lose an interesting hobby. I even lost some interest in history and culture.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

How long is long enough? Or do you never discuss it with someone whose parent has died?

I don't discuss specific people, but I make no bones about considering that they're not "in a better place".

[tattuchu]

I don't believe in God's butt. He doesn't need one because he's a shithead.

[Jason]

I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of him.

[FBM]

He doesn't have any power over you if you don't believe in him, I heard.

[JimC]

Memories have a power, they seem almost to have an existence of their own. In a tribal society, a collective memory of dead ancestors, talked about around the fire at night would lend itself to a quite understandable picture of a spirit existence.

[Audley Strange]

Yes JimC that's always been my thinking, Spirit is literally breath, Pneuma and Ruach also. The logos is word. I think we tend to place some supernatural mystique on it, (possibly to keep the priest caste sort of relevant) but it does seem to me that it the idea of memory, of the person's words and thoughts ringng about inside our heads long after they have died. The Egyptian book of the dead I have (Romer's translation) mentions this pretty explicitly. The words and our thoughts of others are as real to us as their physical presence when they are not here, whether alive or dead and so they do live on within us, so to speak.

[normal]

Mammaries have a power

A hypnotic power!

[Pappa]

Yes JimC that's always been my thinking, Spirit is literally breath, Pneuma and Ruach also. The logos is word. I think we tend to place some supernatural mystique on it, (possibly to keep the priest caste sort of relevant) but it does seem to me that it the idea of memory, of the person's words and thoughts ringng about inside our heads long after they have died. The Egyptian book of the dead I have (Romer's translation) mentions this pretty explicitly. The words and our thoughts of others are as real to us as their physical presence when they are not here, whether alive or dead and so they do live on within us, so to speak.

Very true. In a way, I still get advice from my mum from time to time, even though she's been dead several years, because I often construct what I expect she would say in a given situation. It's understandable how people could experience something like that and be led to believe the dead are actually talking to them.