I feel like the atheist perspective is more sad than the Christian perspective at first, but I believe that is because our brains (that were programmed with Christianity from our youth) aren't adjusted to the atheistic paradigm. Now, after processing and internalizing the atheistic paradigm, it seems like death is much more meaningful - like, with religion, death is no big deal, its just a "meet you on the other side" issue of patience. But with the atheist worldview, the death becomes more solemn, meaningful, and poignant. It's like, this was a person who came into existence and lived a rich life in the best way they knew how. They existed in opposition to all the laws of nature and entropy and still managed to find a way to survive and thrive despite all that was against them. They were an emergent hero in a universe of chaos. Their life will never be replaceable in space-time. They were unique while they existed and they made the universe a bit more beautiful by painting their life onto the fabric of space-time. Their life was something we can honor and appreciate the gap between life and death even more due to understanding how easily it can slip away.
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