Every Morning, you wake up...

...and I do mean every morning. Every single morning until the end of time, you continue to wake up. Long past when even the concept of 'morning' ceases to have any meaning, you still wake up.

When we discuss immortality, we have a tendency to place qualifiers on it in an attempt to make it palatable. Of course, it's easy to agree to just about anything if you're allowed to place your own conditions on it. One of my favorite qualifications was the ability to choose, at some point in the far-flung future, to go ahead and die. "Immortality has been fun, but I'm done now." Of course, that's not immortality. That's just a really, really, really (etc.), long life.

So, let's dispense with all of the conditions, and qualifiers, and choices. You don't get to have a say. You're immortal. You will never die. Ever. Period.

Now what?

We're going to look at two different cases of immortality, and the impact that these situations would have on us and our beliefs. How do we cope with our immortality emotionally? Spiritually? Intellectually?

The first situation is one in which there is only one immortal creature in existence. Congratulations! You're never going to die. Everyone else, however, is.

The second situation, you get to have a little company. Perhaps a few dozen or a few hundred 'fortunate' souls get to take the ride with you. Is this better?

There are only a few things to keep in mind. You don't wake up one morning and revealed unto you is the fact of your immortality in a divine or medical miracle. No explanation is given to you. You just get to be immortal. On the other hand, you are not ignorant of the fact. That's too easy. It's only full awareness of your plight in this thought experiment. Finally, you don't have a choice. It's happened. The milk hath been spilt.

So, I'll return to the deep and probing question posed before Freddie's serenade.

Now what?