From a purely visceral level my answer to this is an immediate yes. I actually find relief in the idea that there is no afterlife. Heaven isn't a source of hope for me; LIFE is. The concept of an eternity anywhere freaks me out and makes me feel like the significance of our mortal time is minimized because of its ephemeral nature in comparison. I feel panicky at the thought of heaven, not comforted by it. It also feels unfair and complex to me. The finite is infinitely more appealing to me than the infinite. I realize that from a theological perspective it's more complicated. I love Thomas Jefferson's The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth because it places the emphasis on how to model your life after the teachings of Christ. I prefer putting all thoughts and energy into this life.
I'm exhausted and just answering this candidly. I don't want to engage in any debate with anyone. If you don't agree with my post - that's fine, but please people don't argue with me about my own feelings.
Pretty much this. I think what you feel may be a bit more common than you realize.
The idea of immortality has never appealed to me, and in fact, it has struck an uneasy fear into me from my earliest memories. I don't want to live forever in some never ending torment ... but I don't want to live forever at ALL. Never ending, never resting, never satisfied. Or what if you are satisfied and the become unsatisfied. Etc. There are so many possibilities of what may go wrong.
What I always sought, was REST. Rest from all of it. When I died, I didn't want to survive any sort of death into an after life. I just wanted to rest ... to cease being. My own childhood was somewhat of a horror, so at that time, I didn't actually appreciate life either. So I didn't want to live, but I also didn't want to die ... I wanted to rest. My earliest concepts of "God", were a being who could perhaps give me what I sought: rest. No punishment, no eternal reward, just rest.
After getting out into the world and away from the nightmares ... and experiencing love for the first time lol
... I began to find value in actually being alive, in the finite and the fragile. In that which could be lost or come to an end. So in some ways, I would appreciate an immortality where there are resting states, but you come "back to life" refreshed, renewed, and things are somewhat experienced "all over again". Something along those lines. So they are infinitely finite I suppose. They end, but can begin again afresh. But most people's version of "heaven" or eternity that I hear ... it seems like torment either way.
