Birth and Death are Misconceptions

Humans tend to regard themselves as supreme by nature, in contrast to what is generally viewed as a primitive world. Our lives are virtually encased in a sense of divinity, assumed to distinguish us from everything else. This sense of division is also connected to the belief in an inherently separate self.
Humans commonly see themselves as at least subtly God-like, marked by what is called consciousness. A dividing wall is imagined to separate mind from matter, the animate from the inanimate. Consciousness is seen as our divine self, and death, a fall into lowly materiality. The inseparable interrelatedness of people to everything else generally goes unacknowledged. The world provides us with things, but we are not of it. This dualism requires that we either accept eternal selfhood or be doomed to oblivion, death, as a descent into an incoherent abyss.
While the notion of human privilege appears to be an advantage, it is our affliction, resulting in an outlook of separation, conflict and defensive fear. The idea of birth as an independent point of origin and death as a final endpoint, is a misconception. An altogether different understanding of life and death, and of the relationship of consciousness to the world is necessary.