Probably, this life was never meant to end. Probably we were meant to grow mentally, spiritually, and in physical capability, way beyond what we understand. Probably we were meant to populate the stars at some time in a future time of this eternity.
The thing that we did was to turn from God. We listened to some words from another of His creations... the snake. The snake deceived us into following it rather than God. When we did this, we not only lost life (essentially) but we also lost the growing up to take hold of the stars and the universe. More than that, we gained death.
At some point I realized that existence is identical to having an experience. In that sense physical death is just one of many experiences of the Infinite Creator. It is like waking up from the dream, physical dream that is. But experience doesn't stop there, because non-experience cannot be had.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DLSyU7y97M
God isn't only a collective. He is also an essence. He is also a personal identity to Himself. He invites us to become part of the collective that He is, but if we do not follow His essence, we cannot. Those who are part of His collective now, if they turn from His essence, will fall out of being part of the God collective. God in His person will never fall from the essence. He is the only one who can never fall from His own essence.
It is probably easier to understand from perspective of vibratory spectrum and resonance. One might argue that God is the whole spectrum of vibrations, others will say that God is an infinite frequency, that's what allows it to sample any other frequency and be omniscient in that sense. But one cannot exist without the other.
All numbers exist at once, there is no infinity without finite. Carrier frequency always needs to be higher than the signal it carries. In that sense "I am" presence is the infinite frequency we all share, but we can only know ourselves as a particular finite frequency. In other words, in order to be, you need to be specific. Infinite frequency is static all other frequencies are alive.
Thus by increasing your frequency you learn more about yourself (turn to God), lowering it makes you more forgetful (turning away from God). It is possible that there are barriers between certain frequency bands and it requires some effort to push through. Physical and spiritual experiences might be those frequency bands separated by the Veil.
The idea of Prime Radiant might also help shed some light on the matter (pun intended):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSzyWcn2qIk