Life

 "So far as I know",

the universe is unguided, non-sentient, and impersonal. I could entertain the idea that "just maybe" there is a grand cosmic sentience in-play. But even then, my lived-experience would barely be effected. If "someone" doesn't ever show up for coffee, conversation, or hugs, then we don't have a "personal relationship". Instead, we could maybe have a "relativity". But it's just not the same. Physics generates me. If there is an ancient "someone" behind it all, then it's a shame they lack the power, the will, or the personality to ever show up in a more direct and personal way. We could have had some brilliant conversations. We could have created some meaningful memories. It would all be such a wasted string of opportunities; if they are out there somewhere. But that's not my fault. Nor is it my responsibility to assume, nor to seek. Nor to wave around a bundle of sacrifices; as an offer to pay for their time or respect. Life is too short to spend any of it playing Hide And Seek with antisocial shadows; especially based on mere rumors circulated by troubled souls. I can account for a large messy piles of WHATs that created me; -not every "what". But a lot of it. Is there any "WHO" behind it all?
Who knows? I couldn't speak to their "who";
but I could speak to my own. The linage of every "i" is a chain of gradually replaced new people. I was never a baby. I was never born. I sometimes speak AS IF I were; even though I was not. But this isn't really a dishonesty. It's a "practical frame of reference". The story of "i" is written with a lot of very physically-real materials.
But that story is not a literal truth. It's a metaphorical truth. It's like how we can point to a candle's flame, after it has been burning for an hour, and say "I lit that fire". In truth, only the very first moment of fire was "lit" by a person. A moment later, the heat, the light, and the fuel ... have all been transformed and recycled back into the universe. In fact, the fire is the transformation of those energies. It's that transition we call "death". And that death itself IS the life of that fire. The life and the death of the fire are both the same thing. Death is not an interruption. Death is the transformation. "Life" is just a different way of observing the same. Every moment's flame after the first ... is a new fire. But we SAY it's the same fire, as a practical frame of reference. The fire of every person's "i" is the same. In any fast and fleeting moment, the "i" is a trillion tiny embers of fire flying across synaptic connections. The SHAPE of every brain cell determines the function of that cell. Different part of the brain have their own specific shapes of cells; which produce specific forms of sentience. They all converge as a larger chorus. "i" am that storm. The same as any storm, ... I replaced someone who replaced someone etc etc ... all the way back to "a baby";
a less complex and less energetic happening. Babies have less personhood.
Personhood absolutely does have degrees.
Every person's "degree" ebbs and flows. It does not remain constant. It breathes. It rests. It's sings. It hunts. It even dances, on occasion. All animals have personhood. Right now, I am being replaced by "someone" else; one cell at a time, one memory at a time, one day at a time. Now, if you want to suppose that a Super-Someone designed how all of this works, ... what does that have to do with "eternity"? "i" am a narrative-premise. "i" am a specifically complex happening. This exact "i" won't be "there" in this exact this way. But every part of me will be there, in some other way. Even if there ends up being tens of thousands of people in the future who all share some surface-level aspects of my narrative-premise of identity (tens of thousands of James Appersons) [a copy of the original day 1 James Apperson, a copy of the original day 2 James Apperson, etc] ... those snapshot-people would each only be an altered clone of their corresponding original. So the original version of EACH "me" ... won't really be "alive again". But the many facets of the "me" who was .. will find life anew. It's like how the characters in Star Trek are actually dying and being replaced when they use a teleporter; - except the differences in a "resurrection" would be quite loud (pronounced; strongly evident). Why? Because a "perfected" clone wouldn't have any of the false memories, nor false perceptions, nor faulty personal quirks as the original. So they would be operating from a very different story of "self", and a different disposition, different physicality, different relationships, etc.. So they wouldn't really even FEEL like the "me" they replaced, nor think identically to the "me" they replaced, nor relate to anyone-or-anything with an identical story or flavor. They would realize they are someone else; even if they do echo some of my traits. Perhaps they would choose to honor an original-James Apperson.
Which James Apperson? Whichever day's James Apperson they are based on.
How? By carrying echoed facets forward, with joy, peace, and dignity. They would recognize me as a sort of ancestor-self. They wouldn't mistake their self as me. === Meanwhile, nobody (not any of us) knows anything about some master-designer/creator(s). I can even grant, for the sake of augment, that DEISTS might have it basically right. That still gets us nowhere. If any such Being(s) exist, we can't rationally and honestly factor that in what we expect for the future nor what we should do in this life. Why not? Because we have no verifiable access to what they might be thinking, wanting, or planning. If "They" exist, then they just do. If "They" are presumed trustworthy, then we have nothing to worry about. Ethical beings behave ethically, because that's their very nature; just the same as how unethical beings behave unethically.
Through our attitudes and actions,
assuming and ascribing positive value to other people's life, health, and journey
is what it means to have "ethics".
Ethical beings don't require payment for ethical behaviors. Realizing this,
no properly respectful person would offer any. Obligatory worship is a bill for payments due. Therefore, obligatory worship is an act of mutual disrespect. Religion is panic. And prayer? An act of doubt. I found myself in the realization of being. Anyone seeking a connection to my being will know where to find me; only after finding themselves. Before then,
they won't even know what it means. After then,
the concept of lingering debt dissolves;
along with all the other wasteful bullshit ignorant others taught us to carry.
Hand forward to every next self whatever we find value in; because they'll be starting from wherever we left off.
But to truly honor our "self"
we must also honor the self of others.
We do this
because we know this.

We are not truly separate happenings. Granted, the larger truth is not identical to the local truth. There are things to know about others that are not entirely the same within. But we are each-and-all integral parts of that much larger, living, breathing, and ever-evolving whole.