Because this:
Is totally true.Yes. Our consciousness is just the summation of our brain activity, the synaptic happenings that occur there. Everything about our consciousness begins and ends with the brain. The idea that these patterns are somehow transferred somewhere else is, as you said nietzche, a desperate attempt by ourselves to rationalize our deaths. Once the brain dies, so does our consciousness, our "self". The other energy that is used by our bodies does not contain some "life essence", just plain ol' run-of-the-mill energy.
I used to be terrified of the idea that once you die you are nothingness. You are no longer anything, you have no ability to analyze the fact that you are not a thing at all. I try not to think about it now, but I have a hard time believe that there can be any other explanation. I can only take comfort in the fact that it has been a privileged to be anything at all.
God... This is some heavy shit to think about.



