I hope that does not damp the conversation.

Here is a searing question; Is there really any form of life after death? I wish someone could convince me, after all, who wants to die and be the end of it all?

The long habit of living indisposeth us for dying. -- Thomas Browne


"Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." -- John Donne

"Because I could not stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson
XXVII

BECAUSE I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste, 5
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.

We passed the school where children played
At wrestling in a ring; 10
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible, 15
The cornice but a mound.

Since then ’t is centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses’ heads
Were toward eternity.


What is the feature of continuity we want in Life after Death? Continuity of memory? We barely have that in life ! Do you remember your childhood well now?
Are the memories not already fading?
How about Continuity of the problems? Do you wish to continue to have your current problems and the new problems that come with continuing life? And occasionally, there comes a real doozy !
How about defining what is being continued?
My ego? My corporate pension? Okay, these are counterpoints to the real question. Who are we in relationship with that we wish to continue to be permanently in relationship with? Would they be allowed to ever absent themselves or change while we are in relationship 'til the end of time?
I say we are already in life after death. There have been Death after Death in the past and time stretches to infinity sideways from this moment. We shall always have lived in this lifetime and our universe shares with us the same mortality, since we are the Universe itself. Poignant. God, aka Ultimate Reality, too, must experience change. Do you disagree?
And if you agree God must experience change, then we are no more temporary than Ultimate Reality, for we are part of God. Poignant. Enjoy.
Mike