One day you will die. You will become nothing at all for eternty.
And that, for many, is when the emotional and psychological defense mechanisms kick in. They pursue them in order to obviate the emotional and psychological states engendered when thinking about being nothing at all forever.
Among them:
terror
horror
anguish
despair
Or, perhaps, science will tap some on the shoulder and say, “wait a minute, matter can neither be created nor destroyed; it merely changes forms.”
In other words, we are assured, “we do not become nothing at at. Instead, we merely go back to being atomic and sub-atomic particles.”
And some will then try to hyperpolize this as the noble sojourn back to “star stuff”.
Below, however, are just some of the things that, as far as I know, “star stuff” can never again know or experience:
the love of children, family, friends
the taste of food
the sound of music
the joy of accomplishment
the rush of creativity
the exhilaration of orgasm
the fulfillment of art, film, theatre, dance
But, sure, some folks are still able to delude themselves into believing death is not nothing at all. Why? Because it is not actually zero.
On the contrary, the most deluded insist, it is actually God.
And to that I say this: Would that I could be one of them…