Merging with all others

There are those that claim that after death we will no longer be individuals, and we will become one with all others — that is to say, our selves merge with an ocean of other selves to become an amorphous undifferentiated oneness. I believe this idea derives from people's experiences on psychedelic trips, near-death experiences, mystical experiences and similar states.

I confess I have never had any such experiences, at least not that I can consciously recollect. So what I am about to say is speculative, though I do feel it's true. Here's what I think. I suspect there might be some miscommunication going on here in interpreting these experiences. After all, these experiences are ineffable. Might it be the case that we lose our sense of being a self — but without ceasing to be a self?

Perhaps after death, or maybe some period after death, we enter into a state where we know all others intimately, nothing is hidden from us. That is, we attain a total and empathetic understanding and affiliation with all others and nothing about any of us is hidden. Yet, for all that, we are still distinct selves?

So it's not a huge assemblage of droplets of water merging into an ocean, rather all the droplets of water remain distinct, yet they become completely transparent to each other.