Afterlife

There are people who need to obliterate their fear of oblivion after death so completely that they create an entire structure of an afterlife, with both a utopian reward system for good behavior and an eternal punitive state as retribution for any perceived exception to a created moral code. This moral code is necessary to keep those who follow their belief system from committing any offenses against morality, because they are not trusted to do so themselves. They place a deity as the highest rung on their hierarchical ladder; this system gives way to a social structure that allows its members to perceive themselves as superior to those they feel as lesser than they in any way dictated by their beliefs as laid out in cherished writings. 

Then there are those who cling to the idea of rebirth. The wonder of a second, or third, or tenth chance at life, never having to face oblivion at all. They dream of spending a life finding a beloved soul-mate or the potential of a wealthier existence. It seems never to be considered that a person might return as an infant that dies after taking only a few first breaths; or a five-year-old who starves to death; or a ten-year-old whose arms are cut off so he cannot carry weapons in a civil war. 

The possibility that the energy that drives the flesh cannot be destroyed must be considered. After the death of the body that energy must go somewhere; whether that is to a particular destination or there is a dissipation into the greater universe, the ultimate comfort can be found in understanding that there is a continuation of that energy. Is that energy, that life force, the essential us? Can we cling to the idea that we somehow go on after death with the eternal existence of our energy? It cannot be that our entire self is locked within the cocoon of flesh we are born into—every belief system appears to agree on that. 

These are simply all different philosophical ways to avert the constant nagging fear of oblivion that haunt us all.  If oblivion is not the absolute outcome, then why does every form of life fight so hard to avoid death?

Ultimately, the answer is that we will never know. If oblivion comes at the moment of death, our consciousness will be gone and completely unaware of the onset. Any rationalization is unnecessary and only for the comfort of the living.