From time to time, I start thinking about death, trying to understand what it really is and what’s

going to happen after it. In the context of being a university student, all of the things that make

me nervous and worried begin to lose sense if you look at them from the perspective of how

short life actually is. Didn't submit assignments on time, didn’t get an internship offer, wasn’t

invited to a party - all of this is so meaningless if you really think about the fact that life is not

infinite and you, probably, already crossed the ⅓ milestone…When I was younger, I used to

think about death in this way: “Do I remember the feeling of not existing? Do I remember the

feeling of beginning to exist? No. Darkness. Zero feelings.” This is what’s most likely to happen

if I stick to science, unfortunately.

My attempts to contemplate death are not about the fear of that short moment when I realize that

this is about to end - my biggest fear is that I will permanently lose the connection with my most

loved people: family and my significant other. The idea of “them” or “us” not existing

completely blows my mind and I can not comprehend it. The fact that close people who surround

me fill my life with so many feelings, emotions, and memories makes the idea of “nothingness”

when you die very brutal and irrational. Maybe, this is the biggest drawback of humanity - we

are the only living creatures whose minds are so developed that we can think about death in a

philosophical way. While for all animals, in contrast, death stands in the same line with processes

such as reproduction. In fact, for some animals, these two processes are instantly linked…

We, humans, try to find sense in everything that surrounds us, and if we can not find an

explanation, we start making up some higher creatures like gods that take care of all things that

we can’t explain. This is the point where faith starts making sense to me. I am so desperately

afraid of not entering eternity together with my loved ones that it’s reasonable for me to believe

in God because this ultimately gives me hope for the afterlife.

To conclude, my brain completely rejects the idea of nothingness because I simply do not want

to believe that one day, I will forever lose everything and everyone I love. At this point, I

decided to address this question to you, professor, since you are a person whose research is

focused on the things that can be explained through science. What do you think happens with

your conscious mind when you die? Is there a chance that one’s mind continues living in some

sort of a dream?