Aside from the question whether we can answer this issue at all, I am convinced that all opinions about it are a matter of belief not of knowledge.

Man falls inevitably into the realm of faith and beliefs, once we discuss this question. Followers of some churches speak of a purgatory, others of reincarnation, the rebirth, others of the paradise, the Garden of Eden, from the board of Allah, and much more.

I personally think our existence, our ego in the form as we understand it now, is bound to our bodies and therefore dies with it. But this does not necessarily mean that we are not immortal.

I know that sounds contradictory, but is it not necessarily on closer inspection. I will try to explain it more clearly in the following content. Our personality, our intelligence, our minds, the way we think, how we behave and how we deal with other people, among other aspects, is ultimately what makes up our existence. And all these are aspects of our body, preferably tied to our brain. You will not believe it?

Then look what happens to people whose brain was damaged by an accident or a disease. No matter whether the Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or a region of the brain does not work correctly as the result of an accident. By the victim as he was before, remains as good as nothing. Highly intelligent business leaders fall back into the stage of a toddler, kindhearted people become aggressive, peace-loving contemporaries suddenly belligerent and vulgar. So I think that we are transient, at least as those creatures and in those aspects that makes our conscious life.

But the fact that we stop to exist in the current form doesn't mean that we dissolve ourselves into nothing. Finally, we are not created out of nothing. Rather, we are the "product" of two other people. More precisely of a sperm and an egg. And these in turn were derived from vitamins, minerals, nutrients and vital substances, etc. that our parents taken in the form of plants and animal food. This thread can spin endlessly, because these plants and animals caused by the involvement of countless other creatures etc.

That is not that easy to grasp, but ultimately everything we know in our world are made from a few basic elements. Finally, only the composition of these components and the speed of their oscillation determine which arises from it - a stone, earth, a plant, animal or even a new human being. So when we die we are likely to fall back into these individual components from which we have emerged, and it is quite clear that out of it is created new life again in some form.

Just as the rain drops together with the solar beam (light energy) let the grass grow, which the cow use as fodder and there milk contributes to the emergence of the seed, the fertilized egg from which human life is created, so can this circle close after the death of those resulting people again.

Viewed in this way everything is immortal, it only changes its form of existence. The only constant is change. Everything is in flux. Each moment is a snapshot. Almost every state can be changed. Everything is creation, decay and reconstruction.

Is that a comforting thought? I think, if you learn to accept that our present conscious at some point have to go in order to release space for something new, then yes. If you really want to deliberate on the present you hold with all memories, all accumulated knowledge and all the things you learned, then no.

And one additional thought may be permitted. Whether the whole thing tends to a certain higher goal, whether that evolution heads somewhere or not, whether a kind of god or larger unit controls everything or that everything emerged actually by chance - that's still open questions, and remains a matter of faith. Everyone has to answer it for himself. Perhaps some day we understand all the correlations and then get answers to all those questions. Until then, it remains exciting;-)

Cu soon

Gerd