We spend most of our lives accumulating. Things, reputations, achievements, and ultimately identities. We create ourselves by the choices we make. And then we let go of it all, or it let's go of us. Ironically our very success in surviving -- our learning to master ourselves and our world as best as we can, makes us poor candidates for handling the way things end for all of us -- returning to dust. I think religion tries to make this bearable, some by suggesting detachment, some by suggesting immortality, etc. But to quote Bono, "I still haven't found what I'm looking for."