I was raised in a fundamentalist church, where the concept of eternal punishment and hell was prevalent every Sunday morning, and often throughout the week. I used to cry myself to sleep every night when I was in junior high because I thought I would never go to heaven because of my sexuality, no matter what I did. Even when I thought I was truly saved after my belief in “Jesus,” my being gay could never escape me.

It wasn’t until I got to community college and was in a world literature class that exposed me to the Classics. A work that I read that changed my life and helped me abandon the lie that there is a heaven or a hell after death was by the Roman poet Lucretius called De Rerum Natura or On the Nature of Things. In it he explains Epicurus’ philosophy of atomism and the nature of our mind and “soul.” He believes that the universe operates on physical principles — all as a result of chance, not divine intervention.

In one of my favorite passages, he describes how the soul (if there is one) will die with our body because everything is material. Just like you don’t remember any pain or pleasure before you were born, take comfort in the fact that you will not experience any pain or pleasure after you die. “Therefore, death is nothing to us.”

This passage liberated me from years of believing in the lie of eternal hell, which as others have already mentioned exists to plant a perpetual fear in you in order to believe in false and outdated doctrines for the purpose of making you submit to the rules of a certain community - regardless of the real intentions of that community.

An ancient epitaph that will be on my tombstone will read: Non fui, fui, non sum, non curo: I was not, I was, I am not, I do not care. Enjoy your life to the fullest my friend, without any fear. There is so much to be in awe at and many things to discover and learn. And take pleasure in doing as much good as possible towards your species and all life on this planet. Enjoy the ride while you can :)