what happens to your memories when you die, how does this affect continuity

[patricknotstar]

Ever since I was a kid I could lucid dream , but conversely I had dreams that were way more dissociative than the average dream. I would become a woman , or an old man and have a completely different set of memories and life in my dream. 

This scared me because this experience made me feel that my Self, is my identity and to lose this identity is to die permanently. No different than an eternal void. Reincarnation which comforts others as an afterlife was unacceptable to me. You are telling me if I die and come back as a bee and have the consciousness of a bee with no prior memories of this life that I have survived death? NO! 

I would have died, that bee is not me. Death haunts me, I don't want to lose this identity for it feels like losing myself in totality.  Now if I die and I am a bee , but there is a continuity, i.e. the same sense of self and past memories, that I can accept. 

Nobody seems to get what I'm trying to say here. I understand there is an awareness that continues, I have experienced it first hand when I had vivid dreams that I am a middle aged woman with a family ( I am a male in my young 20's). I know there was still an awareness there, but it wasn't me. Yes I understand all identities are equally valid and real since reality is relative. This whoever doesn't solve the fear and attachment this current ego feels to it's current identity. Even referring to it as "this ego" feels weird because I am going into third person when all I'm referring to is myself. 

 

Yes yes I know what you will already say, but it is not comforting, because I am selfish and only care about the continued existence of this present identity I feel to be ME. 

 

[James123]

Same as before your birth.

[BlueOak]

If you want, like billions of people, you just remake the life you've had now with a few differences. Then your memories will be experienced the same. Sure the names/pictures etc will be different, but what you experience will be similar. 

This is why barely anyone ever leaves earth. Some of course pick the exact opposite experience and just take the other half of an event, which they could have done already if they took the other perspective on here.

[Hojo]

You experience it everytime you finish a thought. It will be like never thinking again. Try it right now. Thats all the identity is. You are still there and you experience life without identity every time you finish a thought. Every  haunting thought of death is coming from a fake voice thats scaring you. But you are not the voice and you already forget your entire life right now. Its just a trick. You are scared of fear thats it.

You dont remember your entire life every second of the day you are just making up that you have the memories and everytime you think of something you make up whether it happened to you or not.

You could re live your life 1000s of times so you can have the same ego all you want. You are stuck with your identify for ever how do you like that?

Ego is limiting you can pick and be a different person and have different thoughts everyday and you would still feel like you it dosent matter you are scared of nothing.

Are you scared of not thinking about specific things?

The identity is just an algorithm in a metaphysical realm.

Edited December 10 by Hojo

[Breakingthewall]

The whole issue of spirituality is to increase the identification, perception, of your essence and decrease the identification with your circumstance. At a certain point you may realize that the difference between you, Hitler and a fish is merely circumstantial, you are essentially the same.

So you realize that your essence is immortal, and your circumstance has a relative importance that becomes zero when you are dead, but your absolute essence is reality itself, and remains immutable. If you are totally identified with your circumstance, as it's usual, this sounds weird and impossible, but if you are not so , sounds more normal and real. The spiritual work is moving yourself to that direction until you are one with the absolute and the circumstance is irrelevant (not my case ofc)

Edited December 10 by Breakingthewall