I am an irreligious Spinozist. I gravitate to Baruch as he has enunciated a philosophy closest to my own beliefs: No afterlife, no survival of consciousness upon the deterioration of the person, no purpose in life, no God. But nature goes on eternally, infinitely [Deus sive Natura], and everything that exists corporeally or incorporeally [natura naturans, natura naturata] is the inevitability of that nature acting by its own self-cause. It cannot do otherwise. In this I find comfort – to be part of an eternal and infinite universe.

Conatus plays a major part in Spinozist philosophy. It is that unexplainable tendency of the universe to move toward evolution, to organize, to thrive, whether animate cells or inanimate atomic particles. Here is where I find your essay intriguing. If there is an “afterlife,” it may be a continuation of conatus into a new and different phase of thought and extension; an essential part of Spinozist metaphysics. It may continue simply because it cannot not continue. Eternity is eternal. Infinity is infinite.