My thoughts are: is it just human nature to want to believe there is a continuum after this period of recognized consciences has ended, or is it that human nature to anticipate what is to occur after death. And really what does it mean to be human, being set aside from all other species. The only ones to recognize, and question our own existence.
And don't forget machines - what exactly does a machine "need" to be considered human? I have no answers, but I loved the fact that this question was tackled directly in ST:TNG, when Data went on trial.But the problem is that many of those things show up in animals too.
Very good point, which draws up another question: Is this all just about perception? Thinking, looking, feeling, and smelling? If we truly aren't alone in this universe, which is very possible to say that yes we aren't alone, then what is another species perception like of the world around them. Because we have to remember, we are just an extremely complex composition of molecules that has taken a liking to wanting to understand itself, and shut out any alternate possibilities that could deviate us from that path, even if those possibilities could be factual, or right. Maybe, for just right now, for the time that we are aware of this state of consciousnesses, our physical and evolutionary make up is what drives our perception and awareness of our own "human condition". Perhaps we just aren't meant to understand yet, in the line of evolving, what is to come next. This all is very relative to time. Time meaning, on the evolutionary scale, we may be able to look back on this point thousands of years into the future, with a higher mental capacity and understanding, and say " oh yeah I remember when we couldn't comprehend what happened when this part ended."
Yeah man I think he healthiest belief is your own. Gathering knowledge, creating assumptions, and determining answers is the best way to go. Not saying that, for those who need a religion are bad people, I just needed more.