The void I felt was nothing like that. It was more that I had nothing in common with the religious around me because when they began in with the God talk I just had to voice my opinion and of course I was the odd one out but that was decafes ago and now more and more folks are catching on and catching up so I no longer feel as alone. As a child I was the only one I knew who didnt buy into the God thing and now I know several!

Reality is not necessarily comforting. You need to make peace with it. I did have a void in friends and family, but that can all be replaced.

Never was that attached to religion. It wasn't a bandage to be ripped off but more of a scab that shriveled and fell away of its own accord. Never provided answers or comfort. Just demanded time and tithe.

Scary huh? Not having anyone to lean on but yourself...If it dosen't work out for you, you can always go back...right?....LOL

No, leaving religion didn’t become a void. In facr, it felt liberating and metaphorically speaking it opened up a vast universe of possibilities. I don’t worry about the afterlife! Rather, I focus on living the best life possible and contribute to the wellbeing of others. We cannot and should not attempt to control others’ perceptions; their opinion ends in the wastebadket shortly after I hear it and process it. Ultimately, we only have control of how we perceive reality and how we react to that perception. IOW, if they don’t understand you it’s OK; they have no obligation to do so

I didn't leave religion as much as I sought out a better truth for myself. I have no regrets, lost nothing and found satisfaction on a better pathway for myself.

No it took the weight of a thousand bricks off my head.

After years of being programmed by religion, I can understand how one might feel a void. I've never felt that way myself, but I think I get it. I have no fear of death though. Having no memory of a time before I was born, I think of death the same way. We live on through memories, pictures, and now social media. Of course, energy cannot be destroyed, it just changes form so part of us will always be around until the end of time. We are stardust.

I did too. My grandfather died and took my belief in god with him. My struggles are different. But I took a lot of comfort in reanalysing what I already knew.

That what we are made of is not new, never was.
It came from the death of stars much older than our own sun. We are all made of star stuff. We ARE, in a way, the universe. We are the way that the universe is able to experience itself (Carl Sagan).

What that means to me is that, as different as every individual is, you ARE everyone. Try to think on that. Every act of kindness, act of hate, or jealousy, anything you have felt or done to another you have inevitably done to yourself. Simply because you experience it as well.

To me this always gave a much lighter definition to "happiness is what you make of it." Be happy, spread it, and you experience it from yourself. At the end of the day, internal change is always the strongest.

Nope.

Honestly, it was like removing a festering splinter.

As to having a void myself... Not at all.

I was probably 19, at university, and decided... "If I'm going to call myself a Christian, I need to get serious about the Bible and really know what it is I believe. Time to grow up."

Wow, that didn't go as planned. I started reading from page 1 with intent of really understanding it. That was harder than I thought, shit was like reading Beowulf. The words were in English, but I really wasn't getting the gist of a lot of it. (King James) I ended pulling multiple translations, including one in plain modern English. I could not believe what I was reading. Who believes this shit? That was circa 1988, so the internet wasn't available for a good while yet. All this was at the university library.

I though I had to be misunderstanding. I then found Asimov's guides to the Bible. Turns out, I didn't misunderstand shit. In fact, I missed a lot of subtle disgusting things. It was even worse than I thought.

I decided my family that subjected me to that nonsense were fools and I just "moved on" for many years. Sept 11 kind of woke me up to the dangers of others believing.

This may be a waste of your time, but have you seen Julia Sweeney's "Letting Go of God"?

Not only is fabulous and entertaining, she struggles with many of same issues. Hearing her work them may be valuable, she's pretty insightful. Worst case, you'd have a good laugh or two.

You are processing the existential nature of life. It does not trouble me that I will never see people I have loved again. I still have them fondly tucked into my memory and recall them frequently with pleasure. It does not bother me that I will soon die -- that is the nature of reality. Why should it bother me that this planet and all traces of human life will eventually be obliterated? The only meaning that our existence has is that which we give to it here and now through our decisions and actions. That is fine with me. It is reality.

Don't forget to love yourself. Letting people treat you poorly isn't conducive to well-being. Life is a very short amount of time, but that's why it's important to live it moment to moment with as much resistance against the negative mental states and as much cultivation to the positive ones in yourself and other people.

Life was crap for me for a while after Christianity. It wasn't better during, but at the time, I suppressed the negative emotions so much because I was SUPPOSED to be a happy Christian. So all of those emotions started to come out slowly over time, and they caused a lot of turbulence to the point where it felt like something was missing, some stabilizing feature to all the mess. Meditation helped and science in the form of medical diagnoses and treatment.

I think the reality is you can fill the hole with anything and everything, moment to moment, and you get to choose, and that's what matters. It doesn't go away until you die, but that's okay because until then it's just available space for whatever interests you.

The second part of your comment is just normal universal paranoia. Everyone gets that. I think Carl Sagan has the best antidote:

"For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love."

Not a void, just a bad taste in my mouth.

Since walking away from my beliefs, I have never felt a void. And, I actually find comfort in knowing that we (our atoms and energy) continue on after we die allowing other life to exist. The thought of eternal consciousness has the opposite effect for me--I find it very unappealing. Seriously--what would one do with an eternity? Both time, and life, would lose all meaning. Life is precious and rare--enjoy it-- and your loved ones--while you may.