An Addendum: If That’s All There Is

If that's all there is my friends

Then let's keep dancing.

Let’s break out the booze . . . 

• Peggy Lee, 1969

The question of “Is that all there is?” Is one my best and oldest friend, Dan, and I have been knocking about for decades. From candy-fueled grade school overnights, through 3.2 beer reflections in high school, to twisted fictions in our college dorm room, we would often return to the existential question, “is that all there is?”

Most religions and philosophies posit some sort of existence after this one, or a heightened awareness that transcends the here and now. Heaven, nirvana, enlightenment, olam ha-ba; take your pick.

The question Dan and I struggle with is, “OK, let us assume some sort of higher or different realm exists. What is consciousness like in those realms?” Are we aware of the lives we lived in the many, many, many worlds posited by the extended many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics explored in the previous post?

Ah, ha! I’m glad you asked. And let me say this about that, and make no mistake about it: 

I have no idea.