Reply #26: I'm sorry for your losses.

[BurtWorm]

While we live, it makes sense to believe in an afterlife, because life is all we know.

Personally, I believe that when we die, all our consciousness goes the way of our flesh, so it won't matter to us if there's an afterlife. The only afterlife I believe in is the one that goes on when we're no longer alive to partake in it. I find that comforting, oddly enough. Sad, in some ways, true. For instance, I was sad to think my father wouldn't see the turning of the millennium. I thought he got gypped out of life a little on that score, even though I knew 2000 was just an arbitrary number assigned to that year. On the other hand, he was fortunate enough to miss the Bush II era. Similarly, I feel that when I die, the party is over for me, anyway. But I firmly believe it won't matter to me.