As an adult, I realize that a big part of the issue is that most people would not want to live forever, as we live now, on this Earth, and find it very, very hard to imagine anything better. We get the image of the cloud, and the angels, sure, but seriously: is that attractive? Other than sitting in a glow, what is Heaven? We have no idea. We just know we don’t want to go to hell, because eternal torment is not hard to contemplate. It is almost like the pleasure of staying in a four star hotel, or so I would imagine: it’s not worth $1,000/night, or whatever, but you get the pleasure of knowing you are living so much better than the plebeians.
It might be useful to summarize the work of spiritual growth as that of evolving an answer to these questions, to feeling, deeply, how one lives forever, how a form of life can be fashioned in which every moment is a joy, where life unfolds richly, and interestingly, and where you never tire of wondering where it is all going, while enjoying the process.
I don’t have the answer. I am still afflicted at times by many things. It is still not easy being me. But it is what it is. In my understanding of the universe, I signed up for this, and it is slowly getting better.