Maybe this part of what you're getting at (in different words), but I like the way Douglas Hofstadter puts it in I Am a Strange Loop. I can't directly quote it at the moment, but basically he posits that we largely exist in the world as ideas in the minds of others. In this perspective, our physical death doesn't mark the end of our existence. Rather, a version of us remains, potentially for several generations (but with decreasing fidelity).
I am not religious, but this understanding of life after death is both comfortable and believable to me.
"Every man has two deaths, when he is buried in the ground and the last time someone says his name. In some ways men can be immortal." - Ernest Hemingway
But yeah, my perspective more about how the stream of life is something we all share. So when I die, I simply return to the stream. It is line with what Alan Watts believed. If I identify with stream of life itself rather than my ego, then the only way I die is when all of life ends.
That too is an interesting line of thought. I quite enjoy the thought of being part of something larger, but I can't shake the idea that when a part is decommissioned, it's not actually a part of the machine anymore.
I don't have time to elaborate at the moment, but wanted to comment and thank you for getting back to me!
Maybe this part of what you're getting at (in different words), but I like the way Douglas Hofstadter puts it in I Am a Strange Loop. I can't directly quote it at the moment, but basically he posits that we largely exist in the world as ideas in the minds of others. In this perspective, our physical death doesn't mark the end of our existence. Rather, a version of us remains, potentially for several generations (but with decreasing fidelity).
I am not religious, but this understanding of life after death is both comfortable and believable to me.
Your interpretation reminds me of this quote:
"Every man has two deaths, when he is buried in the ground and the last time someone says his name. In some ways men can be immortal." - Ernest Hemingway
But yeah, my perspective more about how the stream of life is something we all share. So when I die, I simply return to the stream. It is line with what Alan Watts believed. If I identify with stream of life itself rather than my ego, then the only way I die is when all of life ends.
That too is an interesting line of thought. I quite enjoy the thought of being part of something larger, but I can't shake the idea that when a part is decommissioned, it's not actually a part of the machine anymore.
I don't have time to elaborate at the moment, but wanted to comment and thank you for getting back to me!