I want to
believe that after the
end of
existence here, there's
somewhere else that you find yourself, able to
continue on with your
memories,
ideas, and
beliefs. The total
cessation of existence isn't the best
thought (but there are many, many, many
possibilities that are even worse).
Unfortunately, intellectual integrity prevents me from lending any truth to any of them. Because any afterlife takes place somewhere else, in ways that we really can't imagine, there is no method of finding out what does happen, and then taking that knowledge and returning it here. So, unfortunately, any afterlife must honestly be considered part of the realm of hopes, dreams, and wishes, with little relevance to what does happen.
Though the idea that we're just consciences, being developed and nutured in a computer-created reality, with acceptable ones being put into real bodies after their "end" in the simulation, intrigues me.
Though, honestly, I don't plan on dying for quite a long (centuries) time. I'm participating in the race between lifespan and technology. But if I must, then I'm going to allow this container called my body to become the property of science, to benefit people in death, and not waste yet more ground.