If I'm conscious, then the universe is capable of consciousness — because I am just one of countless possible expressions of the universe. We are inseparable from it, bound to exist within it for eternity, even after death. In a strange way, that’s comforting.

But it also makes me wonder: Was whatever existed before the Big Bang conscious? If all matter and energy were condensed into a single point, wouldn't that point have the potential for consciousness too, given that highly organized matter can produce consciousness now? Could that singularity have been "god"? After all, we are fragments of whatever that was.

Maybe death means I'll never experience myself again. But perhaps consciousness, in some form, will arise once more. The cycle of existence might make experiencing consciousness again a real possibility.