>>507824285 (OP)I was reminded today that when ISIS was going mental a few years back, they had some of the same kinds of delusions that Evangelicals do about the place Israel has in the end times. ISIS knew they would be defeated, and it was supposed to take place in the area they got their asses kicked. The end didn't come, their Mahdi didn't show up. Disillusionment must have been pretty intense, though it's pretty common for cult members to rationalize away any such setbacks and remain true believers.
I think that last sentence is the answer to your question. Religious nutjobs will figure out all kinds of ways to get around the fact that they are actually full of shit. That is the secondary purpose of religion itself - rationalization - where the primary is the denial of death's finality.
Mentally healthy people can allow themselves to contemplate our past non-existence and find that our fears about returning to it simply fall away. Far from being incompatible with a realistic awareness of death, peace of mind can come as a direct result of it.
