I have felt intense grief and loss in my life, and as such, I know that they are real. I’m not dis-acknowledging “feelings” and their reality, not by a long shot! And this is what I come around to when thinking about death – it’s not the death itself that has negative connotations, but rather, the effects it has on others. Again, I’m not saying that the “self” does not exist – rather, it is a different sort of beast than most humans take it for. By example, let’s say you have a piece of code, and you compile it, and it’s now something else, and then you run it, and it’s something else. What “is” the “thing” of the code? Is it the original code? Is it the program you compile? Is it what you do with that compiled code? Is it the experience of running that program? Is it all of these things? None of these things? Sorry if this sounds like a ton of existential bullshit… 
