I like to lean towards the concept that objective natural law is the basic state of existence, and that it is then observed by consciousness and subjective experience/sense. This provides two perspectives of the universe: the objective and the subjective, which are both equally important IMO.
Objective/big-picture If life and/or humans never existed, or if we weren’t there to observe it, the universe would still run its course and end in eventual heat death, observed or unobserved it remains the same even if some of the atoms are re-arranged.
We may be able to use our free will and/or consciousness to re-arrange some of the atoms and direct some of the energy with the concept of cause and effect, but natural laws will remain unchanged, and in a big-picture sense, nothing (in terms of natural law) will be very different because of consciousness or human will. The laws of physics will remain the same, the end remains the same, the universe will be relatively unchanged; conscious or not.
In terms of after-death, it remains true; there may or may not be an afterlife, but just because we cannot sense it or are conscious when we are present in it does not mean it can’t exist or does not persist after we are unconscious. If there is a world after death, it too will continue to work despite consciousness, observed or unobserved.
Subjectuve/Individual Bringing in some psychology, humans absolutely love to assign significance to things. It’s in our nature. Thus our whole subjective worldview is based on our senses and how we assign significance to our experiences so in a subjective sense it would be impossible to know something outside our knowledge or current mode of operation.
But unlike the objective view of existence, this perspective adds purpose and importance to the world. A vital part to self discovery is forging your own purpose in life. Whether that is serving a Creator, investigating the secrets of the universe, or simply being happy, the essence of being conscious and sensing the world is about what you make of it, and how you forge it into something valuable to you.
In the end, we have the natural law that dictates what the universe is, independent of consciousness, then we have the subjective senses that feed into what we know to be consciousness, thus creating individual worldviews. In my opinion, both perspectives are important to understanding what it is to exist and to be conscious.
TLDR: Objective existence is the natural state, and is then observed through subjective consciousness– Objective existence will persist regardless of consciousness or perception– Subjective existence is based on humans assigning significance and forging their own purpose
I second CalyxOS, been using it for about a year now and I think it’s a good compromise between privacy and convenience. Is it the absolute most secure and private? Maybe not, but my threat model is low and I don’t mind trading a little bit of privacy for a bit of ease of use.