Well, one obvious reason is that it's the loss of everything. Friends, family, loved ones. Future experience, memory, agency. Everything.
If you thought you'd never wake up again, how comfortably would you go to sleep?
If you thought you'd never wake up again, how comfortably would you go to sleep?
If we have no choice but to go to sleep, why would we want to spend those last moments feeling terribly uncomfortable?
If we face the facts that death is a part of life, and that we all must die, what's the practical value in fretting over that fact? (Aside from being wise not to do stupid things that lead to a stupid death)
There's no value at all in fretting over death once it's inevitable. There is great value in fretting over possible deaths we can avoid. And regardless, death for atheists is the loss of everything, and loss aversion is a well-studied component of human psychology, so it should be unsurprising even to a Christian that atheists are not particularly jolly about death.
>death for atheists is the loss of everything
Atheist logic should lead to the realization that from an individual standpoint, there is no possibility for the experience of this feared loss, at all. Immediately before the moment of death, you still have it all. Immediately at the moment of death, you have no conscious ability to experience the loss. Therefore the fear is not logical, it's irrational because your "total loss" is something you can never experience.
Not all emotions are valuable, some are indeed quite harmful and anti social.
Which brings us back full circle to the original point of this comment chain: that western society is extremely emotional about the subject of death relative to other societies. This tendendency leads to unecessary suffering and the prolonging of life at all costs.
The US has come very far from its founding mantra; "Give me liberty, or give me death!" has seemingly been reversed to "anything but death"
I'm not glib.
It's an honest question. This puzzles me.
Also I'm Reitan, not "the Christian" and while you don't owe me much respect, some degree of politeness so you don't call me glib is expected here AFAIK.
It seems like I've struck a nerve though and for that I apologise, I just hoped for an answer.