Intelligent creatures, we humans have long recognized the eventuality of death and that fear has spawned belief in a wide variety of gods throughout the history of our species. These deities, according to those beliefs, facilitate our transition to a spiritual existence or into another earthly body (i.e. reincarnation), thereby diminishing the horror of death.
Those of us who doubt the existence of a loving yet vindictive god must learn to face death without the promise of salvation. Most of us simply accept the fact that our heaven is here on Earth and that every year of life is a gift; when death comes, our adventure is simply over. Nevertheless, we acknowledge that we do not fully understand this Universe and the possibility of a "spiritual plane" tempts our imagination and soothes whatever fear we might experience.
Indeed, modern physics informs us that parallel universes likely exist and that time is both relative and multi-dimensional. As the battle between religion and science rages on, such discoveries let us put our faith and hope in our ever-expanding knowledge and in its ramifications regarding life and death in this amazing Universe.
