Me too, we are the fabric of space and time just as much as anything and everything else, but how do you feel about never seeing your loved ones ever again? Aside from being okay with that (you have no choice I'm the matter) how does it make you feel?

@JimiYugo
I will miss any of my people who die before me, but after I'm dead I won't think about it at all. I won't think about anything. Period.

@Flyingsaucesir Obviously I am asking how you feel about it now, not after you die lolo

@JimiYugo
Yeah I will miss them. ?

@Flyingsaucesir And that makes you sad, yes? As opposed to happy or indifferent.

@JimiYugo
Yes but I try not to dwell on it.

@Flyingsaucesir Me too, I don't want to feel sad.

We will 'live' on as energy in the universe, completely unaware or anything, indistinguishable from being destroyed completely, for all eternity and all the eternities after that..

@JimiYugo And your proof of this is?

@Piece2YourPuzzle Proof of what? That we will live on as energy, or that it is indistinguishable from not living on as energy?

@JimiYugo If it's true (and it seems to be true) that energy can't be created or destroyed then it stands to reason that we will be some form of energy after we "die", but my contention is your claim that we will be completely unaware...or anything. How do you know? What is your proof of this?

@Piece2YourPuzzle Do you stand to reason that energy is self-aware?

@JimiYugo Still waiting for your evidence or proof. It's pretty rude of you to keep ignoring it in every post. If we are aware in this existence and experience then if we have our energy transferred in some way after we "die" then wouldn't it stand to reason that we could possibly be aware then too? Although there is no proof of it. I'm not claiming to know for sure. It would be logical to contend that there is at least a possibility that we would be aware being that we are aware now. We know nothing about the mechanisms of what happens after death. We know nothing about what happens to the inner workings of our energy when we die. Do we cease to have awareness? Is there an energy transfer period along with a period of transfer for our awareness? Do we continue without memories? Or whatever other questions we might have regarding the issue. So please, either show your proof or admit that you don't know.

Do you feel the same about the tooth fairy? Or are you certain the tooth fairy doesn't exist? The burden of proof is on the person proposing the God hypothesis, I reject it and remain unmoved, atheist, without god. Agnostic is atheist.

@Netochka Do you have all the answers to our existence and universe?

There not being a "tooth fairy" can be explained by parents putting money under a kids pillow and lying to them about it. Please prove or disprove the existence of a God.

Is there a study you can direct me to in a science journal on whether God exists or not?

@Piece2YourPuzzle just as people introduce the tooth fairy hypothesis, they introduce the god hypothesis and what you said about the tooth fairy can be said about the god hypothesis. Burden of proof is on those presenting the God hypothesis, if they don't succeed, I don't need to show how their make believe zeus doesn't exist.

@Netochka No, the tooth fairy and Santa Clause and Bigfoot hypothesis is not the same as the God hypothesis. When your teeth fell out as a kid did they magically disappear without an explanation or did your parents take them and leave you money? That you only found out later on means little. The fact is still that it was your parents. There was an actual "Santa Clause" that lived in Turkey too. People took that and created a myth out of it. There was an actual "Bigfoot" too and it was scientifically documented. It is called "Gigantopithecus". I'm also not saying that there is a Bigfoot NOW, but there was. These things are within our realm though and can be researched. The Loch Ness Monster might be a little trickier because most of our oceans have gone unexplored. A God outside of our realm of existence cannot be researched, and even if it could there can still be no definitive answer to whether it is God in the traditional sense or just a more powerful being than us. There are too many variables and definitions that need to be defined first, and it's impossible to do so. Quantum physics is showing us more and more that our senses are easily "tricked". I said nothing about who had the burden of proof. Simply that neither side can prove or disprove the existence of God.

If you can answer the questions then go ahead. I welcome any proof or evidence.

What is wrong with saying you don't know?

I have heard scientists say things like "I don't know" or it's "not probable" or "it might be probable", but I have never heard a scientist assert with certainty for something they had no good proof or evidence. If there is no proof for or against then it sounds like Agnosticism to me. So until there is proof or evidence either way (which I don't think will happen) then we should all be Agnostic in theory.

[thehuxleyagnostic.quora.com]

True, there has to be death for there to be life.

I just wish it was a little longer than 70 - 80 years (if you're lucky), given that there is so much time in the universe.

Evolution requires multiple generations, so the longer the lifespan of an organism the slower Evolution proceeds.

@ldheinz And evolution is painfully slow as it is. From the standpoint of evolution there probably isn't enough time in the universe lolo

@JimiYugo, it's not that slow. We've observed Evolution in bacteria in hours and in insects in decades.

@ldheinz To us it's accelerated, to the bacteria and insects it's as slow moving as human evolution is to humans.

Does the sadness I feel for the loss of my loved ones equate to narcissism?

@JimiYugo grieving has nothing to do with the idea that somehow because we are humans we deserve to live forever. We all miss those who die, be it your family member, friend or pet. But coming up with the idea that they are all floating around out there someplace waiting for us is at best a coping mechanism, but more like a fantasy to allow people to not accept the finality of death. Enjoy the memories you have of your loved ones, time spent with them, and do it often.

@Barnie2years Where do I say that 'because we are humans we deserve to live forever'?

@JimiYugo, quoting you: Realizing this and thinking about it just for a moment quickly brings about a feeling of indescribable sadness, imagining that we will never again see our loved ones, and makes the reason for the desire for more life, the afterlife, quite obvious. Hence, God.
If we think that we are so special that our lifespan needs to be extended forever into another realm, that is the wish to live forever. Whether you believe it or not was not my point. It is however one of the reasons people hold onto their religious beliefs.

@Barnie2years Feeling sadness caused by having to part with loved ones, and wishing we could have more time to be with each other, does not make me a greedy narcissist who thinks that I deserve to live forever, that I am so special my existence needs to extend beyond the life that I am living. I'm just intensely sad, for very brief moments of time, that all this incredible love will one day forever be gone. Am I demanding I be given eternal life? No, nowhere did I write that. Do I believe that I deserve immortality because death saddens me? No. Am I struggling with my mortality? No. All this other stuff that you are talking about has nothing to do with the point I'm making, it being melancholy that is caused by thoughts of the eternal void.

By the way, you may think of the human race as this powerful destructive entity, polluting, killing and destroying (and we certainly are, there is no denying that) but the only harm we are really causing is to ourselves. Beyond our own planet we don't stand a chance. As far as the universe is concerned our efforts are about as significant as those of an ant trying to pollute the universe. As bad as we are (and we are) we might as well be ants, the immensity of the universe (and possibly universes and multiverses) is beyond our comprehension. We are more insignificant than we can imagine, and so is our millions of tons of pollution, even if it existed forever. The universe would hardly notice any of it.

What were your great plans?

@JimiYugo -- One was to be around when the Galactic Federation was formed. Another was to be among the first settlers to land on Proxima Centauri b, then a bit later to land on Gliese 581g. I suspect I may have to forego those if dead I shall be.

@evidentialist Those were rather modest plans. I'm disappointed that my death will prevent me from seeing how the history of our universe, and all the other possible universes and whatever else lies beyond, will turn out.

@JimiYugo -- It's a result of my upbringing. Moderation in all things, ya know.

@evidentialist Good quality.

You are right, I shouldn't have used the word 'fact'. I always choose my words carefully and would have corrected the text had I proofread it a couple more times.

UPDATE: I've made changes to the following text:

'Realizing this and thinking about it just for a moment quickly brings about a feeling of indescribable sadness, imagining that we will never again see our loved ones, and makes the reason for the desire for more life, the afterlife, quite obvious. Hence, God.

What are your thoughts on this? How do you cope with the realization that this life is all there is, and all that there will ever be, for all eternity and beyond?'

@JimiYugo
Kudos for making those changes.
I try to make the best of my one chance of life and try to have a positive impact no matter how small, even if in the end it means nothing. I stare into the abyss and let the darkness consume me. I look directly into the infinite void and throw my litte rock at it with a smile and the knowledge that for a time the nothingness will not be complete.

@Dietl Thank you.
We, of course, have no choice in the matter. We can do nothing but accept our fate.

Not very exciting at all. As a matter of fact it is entirely uneventful.

@JimiYugo Yes it is uneventful. When people experience trauma, the mind removes the person from the reality of it. You may have a limb severed and immediately you go into shock , Meaning the experience itself is NOT experienced the way everyday life sees it. Uneventful is the way it goes.

@EMC2 By 'exciting' did you mean that you find it thrilling, or that it increases energy in the universe?

Thinking about it isn't a waste of time to me, it is food for thought. Besides, I can't help but think about. All but the most ignorant of us think about it from time to time.

'for all eternity and beyond' means 'forever and for all the time after forever' or more simply put 'forever and ever'. Nothing more and nothing less. I could have written just 'forever' but I wanted to highlight just how much time will pass after our time passes. A lot of time. And although I can't say just how much of it will pass, I bet that it will be more than, let's say, ten thousand years. Or ten million years. It certainly is a fact that that much time could pass and I don't think anything will prevent it from passing.

What did you think I was trying to pull with that expression? Manipulate the reader into thinking what? I can't figure out what 'eternity' could mean other than 'forever'.

The eternal void that awaits us brings me tremendous comfort too, but don't you feel sad now knowing that you'll never see your loved ones ever again. Do you feel happy knowing that? You can't say that you feel neither, unless you're apathetic.

I think you'd be entirely disappointed by how your atoms continue on without you. It would surely be quite uneventful.

Mike, I'm sorry for your loss. I've lost a wife and I'm a former hospice worker, too, so I know the drill. Hope you enjoy your interactions here.

I agree, and too often do they read something into something that isn't there.
I feel sad and depressed when I think about the death of my family, but only for a moment, I don't dwell on it. I do not worry about it and it doesn't make me angry. Sad is the correct description of the way the end makes me feel, most humans feel the same way when things draw to a close, things they like and love. It doesn't make me feel happy to think I'll never see my family again, and it certainly doesn't make me feel nothing at all.

Those who die are with you in in spirit. They are in your memories and the memories of your children, family and friends. I have had an ex wife recently die. We were divorced and had a very up and down marriage for over twenty years. But for all the bad times, we had some good times. I have been going through some old photo albums, and remembering some of those good times brings a smile to my face. That is how she lives on. When I am gone, my son will look through these albums and remember good times we had as a family and maybe talk about them to his boys. In this way we live on long after our physical selves are turned to dust. Life never goes backward, but our memories can.

It is definetly comforting but also quite saddening. It is bittersweet.

While there is no conclusive evidence that points one way or the other, from what we do know about reality and everything contained within it, it is entirely unreasonable to believe that consciousness can and does survive the death of the body.

None of which posses consciousness at a human level, so we might as well come back as a blade of grass or a cloud or grains of sand.

'I believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my ego will survive. I am not young and I love life. But I should scorn to shiver with terror at the thought of annihilation. Happiness is nonetheless true happiness because it must come to an end, nor do thought and love lose their value because they are not everlasting. Many a man has borne himself proudly on the scaffold; surely the same pride should teach us to think truly about man's place in the world. Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cosy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigour, and the great spaces have a splendour of their own.'

I am actually a fan of noise, the genre of music, that is. I don't know about eternity of harps, though. It would be too repetative.