Humans are complex things and as I was thinking of all the parts of me that make up what I perceive as myself, I realized that some of my 'better' attributes are viewed negatively by others. Eventually I wondered how that would work in any potential afterlife.
So, pick your afterlife - whether you ascribe to the notion of the three heavens in the bible, an earthly paradise or the pre-Christian Germanic notions of multiple realms for you to enter, some combination of 'heavens' or anything and everything in between - are you still you?
What makes you 'you'?
When the evil flame is returned to god's cleansing fire to be burnt away, are you still you, just 'better'? How so?
When your spirit flies apart with each aspect of the self going off to do whatever it does, do you somehow still exist as a singular conscious being?
If you exist in earthly paradise where there is no suffering or pain or general unpleasantness, does the part of you that can't relate to those who believe differently than you cease to exist? Are they simply not present? Is everyone else there a mirror image of you or are you a mirror image of them? Is the creature, deity or natural process that manages this existence a mirror of you or you of it? What if you disagree with it on a matter, simple or serious? If you prefer blue and it prefers green, does the part of you that prefers green cease to exist?
Will you, no matter where 'you' go, still be you?
What if others don't like 'you'? Would they still have that option? If they do not, would they still be themselves, however they view and define themselves? What if you don't like someone else? Are you the one who is changed or is it the other? Why?
What happens if you are not able to remain you and still exist in this afterlife? Do you cease to exist as you, or is the whole of you removed from the afterlife?
