Is death something in the future, when you will no longer exist?

Or is death just the fact that lots of moments of experience exist, and some of them include the experience of being you and others don’t?

The experience of being you right now is not the same as the experience of being you a few moments ago. Similar perhaps, but not exactly the same. Did the “you” of a few moments ago die? Or is it just another moment of experience, with its own place in time?

Has the past gone? Does the future not yet exist? That’s how most of us think about time, but why? Just because past and future moments aren’t this moment, why do we assume that they don’t exist? Might that be as naive and self-centered a point of view as thinking that the only location in space that exists is the one you’re in?

Do you only exist in this moment, which keeps becoming a new moment?  Will you cease to exist after you die?  Or do you exist in all the moments of your life, from birth to death, with each moment having its place in time – each being equally real?

René Descartes famously stated “Cogito ergo sum” – Latin for “I think, therefore I am“.

Do you agree?  As you think about whether you agree, does the act of thinking prove to you that “I am” –  that you exist?

Clearly something exists – the experience, or appearance, or sense, of being you – thinking (and reading) right now.

But is what exists “I“?

Was Descartes making an assumption that what exists is “I“?

In the experience of being you, is the sense of there being an “I” really primary?

Is “I” the field within which experiences arise – or is “I” actually a feature of the experience itself – part of the form of the experience?

Suppose each moment of experience of being you is like a painting on a canvas.  Is “I” the canvas itself, or an aspect of what’s painted on it?

Or if you prefer a more modern analogy…

Is “I” like the screen of a TV (or smartphone or tablet or whatever gadget you watch stuff on!) or is “I” part of the show playing on the screen?