"Yeah, I know you can't. ;-) But a great many people can. They can very easily imagine it

Oh, I doubt THAT. If pressed as to exactly what they 'imagine', they give vague references which almost always end up as circular word-play about 'souls' and 'heaven' and 'realms'..etc, which they can't describe except circularly.

" It depends on whether you think.....consciousness existed both before and after the physical form...."

Well, yes it does! Of course it depends that way. If you have that opinion, that is, 'believe' it, then... umm.. you believe it. I hardly think implicit tautologies are very convincing, except to those who already accept the linguistic concept.

Yep... we HAVE discussed this and similar things many times. It is not likely for either of us to sway the other much on what YOU refer to as "habitual mental structures and the assumptions in consciousness ...". You state clearly that you can't prove or demonstrate the .... ummm.. reality.. of your beliefs...and you 'sort of' treat that as a defense and justification. Almost like.."Of course I can't prove such things to YOUR satisfaction, but they satisfy ME, therefore they make sense." You can imagine how I shake my head when people talk that way. Ain't no law agin' it... but as an old woman from the hills said about a lot of pop music... "Why, they're just singin' about AIR!"