There’s no way ’round it. Death visits us all.
But wait! Thinking about death is actually a pretty useful way to think about life.
A humanist point of view says that we should rationally assess beliefs about an afterlife.
There isn’t any clear evidence of life after death, but more importantly, would we want it? Would we want to leave our bodies behind and continue on forever?
If we think about what makes life good — like love, communication, or warm sunshine — it’s pretty clear we need bodies to experience those pleasures.
And even the most wonderful things, like cake, would stop being so great after 10 pieces (or maybe 20).
So perhaps it’s important that we accept the end of things, including death, along with the sadness of loss. It’s a natural part of being alive.
Instead of focusing on an unknown afterlife, we can focus on the one life we know we have. And we can do all we can to make it great.
