Are there atheists in fox holes? Here are a few quick notes on atheists in fox holes, from an atheist who has been in one. Id love to hear yours. First of all, before talking about being an atheist, I need to wonder aloud if belief has been demonstrated to hinder the instinctual evasive response to death (any experts in the house?). I cant even objectively ask the question; is there any science on this? People die on purpose all the time over belief. It certainly seems to be hindering something important. But really, in relation to death, from an outside perspective, theists do seem much less afraid of it than we do, and Im wondering if that is why they think atheists dont live in fox holes. Well... 1. Atheists do live in fox holes, my friend. I would have never thought about god in a time like that...what are they thinking? Heck no, we dont think about god. 2. I think you can die peacefully as an atheist. It works out in thought experiments in my brains death-drills. Oh, come on, if you are an atheist, surely you do your death-drills, right? haha No? Only me? Doug, I know you do. Still, fight or flight and I are good ole pals, arent we? Its all so dreamy. *bats eyelashes at survival instincts* There is our first good reason to be very strong atheists in fox holes. You might really be able to think your way out of it. You are about to be mauled by a bear and you are trying to figure it out. I might be able to make it; run! Look, guys, its been scientifically proven, hasnt it? Sure it has. And yep; Im here to tell you, there was no god interfering with my personal fight or flight response and there was a larger statistical likelihood of survival if I figured out a way to get out. But no, no room for god, Im afraid. I needed to be running the statistics here and fast. I needed to figure out if there was a way to live without just letting the tornado hit me on purpose (which was definitely one of the options available and could have been selected if there was no way out). But ohhhhhhh, there is something you can do. You can run. You cant always run. What about the fox hole where you have no control over what is about to happen? What about the fox hole where Im in the bath tub, running the numbers, Im in a city, the streets are full of traffic, there is no way underground, the safest place is in the house, and it is a coin toss that I have to take? That is a little different, isnt it. No fight or flight to be taken. It might have to accept that it might be over. My first atheistic peace I made with death was about 8 years ago. Also, over the last year, Ive been able to calm myself about a few instances of certain death in my mind, and it has been tremendously beneficial. I clearly do it without Jesus. Isnt that nice? Starting with one from this past year, because it is the lesser of the epiphanies, I used to be terrified of airplanes; absolutely terrified. I didnt like that I didnt know how to fly one myself. I didnt like that I had to trust strangers to do it for me. I didnt like that I had to trust every maintenance worker who ever did anything on the plane to have done it properly. There were just too many people in control and none of them were me. I HATED airplanes. So I got into watching this show called Air Crash Investigations/Mayday (thank you Sam and Rebecca). There are over a hundred episodes and after watching all of that, I feel much much better on a plane, especially considering I fly mainly in the continental U.S. (which is pretty safe), but also, because you CAN do things at the end that might help save your life. You can lean forward in the brace position, calm down and create a game plan of where your exits are. I guess if I have the picture in my mind and I can focus on the next moment existing, I accept the idea that there may not be that next moment. It might be the end, but it might not. This isnt about heaven. Its about staying alive here on Earth. I love being alive. I dont want it to end. Not accepting it is a great way to accept it if you can. If you find that fraction of a statistic in your favor, bam, go for it, atheist! If you cant get out, go with planning as much as possible for the next moment if you get to be that statistic. Breathe and get ready because you might live and you might need to process a lot and your chances go up if you process everything that is happening as quickly as possible. So there is another component of an atheist as you go deeper into the fox hole: 1. Yay! Survival instincts are real and you shouldnt muddy those instincts. 2. If there is even the slightest chance that you might slip through the crack of a statistic, you need to be preparing for the next moment. Calm down, youve got this. But wait a minute. What about if the chance is 100 percent? Here it comes, guys. Get ready for it. I used to have this dream, about 8 years ago. This was the first notable time I made peace with death as an atheist and probably the most profound. In the dream, I was going to a concert in a city with Lyle (my brother). We were already out of the car, far enough away to not be able to get back to it, when a nuclear bomb goes off far enough away for us to not immediately die, but close enough to only have a couple of seconds. We can hear it coming, and see the flames that are clearly coming for us, and everyone in front of us turns and screams and starts to run. Lyle does too, but I realize it is the last moment and this is really it, so I decide instead to jump and smile while facing it. I dont want to run away from it if I cant. I dont want to pretend there is going to be another moment when I know there isnt. I want to take that last second to accept it and maybe just fall in love with all of it one last time. Anyway, the flame hits my body, and then Im no longer in my body and Im outside of it looking at it turn into a blasted away skeleton on the ground and I feel content that it was a good ending. Fin. I couldnt have been more pleased with that dream at the time. Heck yeah. I want to go like that. Wow. Right when it reaches 100 percent, if you know it is, dude, go with marvel. Go with awe. Love the end if you can. I wouldnt be able to actually be outside of my body to appreciate it afterward, but Ive already taken the time to do that part while Im still alive. Im okay with the idea of a last moment. I think it could be pretty amazing just before it swallowed you up and everyone deals with that part however it comes. Your body also has a lot of hormones to deal with that part as well, which is good to know. I have a lot of these. Car accidents, earthquakes, volcanoes, airplanes that broke in half and now Im falling from the sky... My brain definitely kicked in with the plan when it came to the one I wrote out for tornadoes, so... It makes no sense for an atheist to spend any time purposefully pretending there is a god with their last few moments. How could this even be a serious question?
Posted on: Sun, 28 Sep 2014 16:30:55 +0000
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