Like Marcus Aurelius wrote, we live on in the memories of those who knew and loved us. I’m paraphrasing, of course. But that’s our shot at immortality. Some do things that last longer, like historical figures, artists, writers, and so forth. Even they pass out of memory eventually. It’s just reality.

Do what I did. Go on a vision quest at Burning Man and come back completely unchanged.

Buy a motorcycle and stare down your mortality with steely resolve and reckless abandon!

Just kidding though! posts motorcycle for sale on Craigslist

Life is fun and death? Nothing to be worried about... death is the one thing we have in common with every single living organism on this planet.

I bought and use a reusable grocery bag at Aldis so I'm pretty well set on the legacy scale.

I am 74. Been an atheist for 53 years. I used to be sustained by hope for the future of humanity. Events in the past two decades have extinguished that hope. I do not wish to hang around and watch humanity destroy itself and the biosphere.

Forget about immortality, it’s over-rated! You have a life to live and a lot more to enjoy.

No human shackles so you can forge your own way for the rest of your life, wise enough now not to fall into the traps your 20 year old self set for you.

Welcome to the asylum. Enjoy your stay.

I have neither gods, nor children. Frequently feel like I've dodged bullets
by not having either.
I'm pushing 60, and I honestly can't tell you exactly when I accepted the
fact that I'm going to die. Immortality has never appealed to me. Maybe
because I know it's not even within the realm of possibility, or maybe
because even if I could, I wouldn't want to be immortal anyway.

Don't really know what to tell you. We each have to figure this shit out for ourselves.

I am 81 and have no thoughts or desires to be immortal. I have no death wish, but I am ready to go on the day of my demise, be it today or any day henceforth.

My husband had a meltdown the month before he turned 40. When he looked back at it at age 45 he found it funny.

What do you WANT your legacy to be? Friendships? Making the world a better place? Help people or animals?
You don’t have to have children or imaginary friends to have a legacy.

I have neither also, welcome to the freaking club. If you are estranged from family, as I and apparently most of us on Agnostic are, your friends are everything. Hope you have some good ones.

I'm 45 and I have neither. I have 150 teenage students during the school year, and feel I am purposefully adding positivity to humanity that way.

But you should find something where you contribute and feel like what you are doing is valuable (beyond money) and has a purpose for someone in some way.

Whether that makes you feel immortal or not, I don't know. (I'm not sure if any of us are really capable of imagining what life would be like if we were dead, as we generally only imagine what OUR life is like. Everything else is hypothetical in some way.)

We, like every other living thing, are supposed to die. Therefor it must be right. Once we're dead it won't bother us.

I think this one of the areas where belief, no matter how irrational, continues to sell. It can offer immortality, reunited with all your friends and family who passed before you, and all of your ills cured, for the low cost fee of just not asking too many questions with respect to whether any of it makes sense.

I'm more inclined to go with what's in the attached pic.

Relax, it's out of our control. Enjoy the moment.

When I die and my remains are put into an urn and given to my children I want words on the urn that say "if you ever need me just add water." Immortality changes as your life goes on. I was once ten foot tall and bullet proof.

I guess the first thing is really understanding that there is no reason to want to feel immortal. When I'm gone I hope my friends who are still living will have loving and/or fun thoughts of me. But let's face it. In 50 or 75 years when everyone who knew me is gone - well what's the point of worrying. I will live on as a mark on the US census page or some obscure piece of info floating around on the internet.

Register as an organ donor so at least a piece of you can live on after you die

People die, it is a fact of life, you can grapple wirh the concept as much as you want but you will eventually die anyway and there is nothing you can do to prevent that. Now, what you can actually do is to choose to be the best person you can be while you are living, choose to leave this planet in a better shape than it was when you were born. Those are choices you can actually do and accomplish, and if you so choose, then they will happen.

Why is immortality important to you? Suppose we live our lives as fully as possible and let it go at that?

Number one, unless you plan to die at age 80, this isn't your mid-life crisis. I plan to live to 102, which is why I had my mid-life crisis at at 51, haha! Well mid-life correction, anyway. But yes, a mid-life assessment is wise, I feel.

We all wonder what we might leave behind as a legacy, but the reality is for most folks, the way you treat other people, the things you stand for and are passionate about, the lasting impressions you leave with people in your interactions... sometimes that's all that really matters. If you are a fair minded, softspoken or outspoken, it doesn't matter, if you contribute to society in some way that is positive, that is your contribution.

Those who catch your nuances or agree with your outspokenness will absorb your personality into their own and you live on through the generations that way. That is my feeling anyway.

Well, yes, technically having children is a way to sort of feel immortal but mine have mostly reminded me just how mortal I am.

I never gave my mortality a whole lot of thought until I turned 70. Now it weighs on me quite a bit, and it sucks.

I'm 65 and I also have neither. I don't even have anyone who loves me.

I guess the best we can do is to be remembered well. Our precise DNA won't be carried forward, but even an offspring only carries half of our DNA. At least there will be other humans - creatures like me - that will be left behind, and I hope they don't go extinct.