Life and Spirit

The difference between a live and a dead body may be very subtle. An EEG machine (see 'Brain Waves') can detect the minute electrical signals from the brain and when a person dies these signals fade completely. This is referred to as 'brain dead' and is a more complete form of death than heart death ('flatlining'), where it is possible to revive the person by restarting the heart. Except for these physical manifestations, scientists really don't know anything about what constitutes life let alone consciousness. Very soon after a body dies decomposition sets in. What it is about life (as opposed to consciousness) that prevents this happening is still unknown to scientists. When cells are cloned the nucleus of one cell is injected into another and the cell is zapped with electricity. In one sense it's this electric spark that initiates life.

So why are countries spending millions of dollars sending spaceships to mars in order to find life when they don't know what life is anyway? They are looking for the building blocks that constitute life in the form that they can recognise it but this is not the only form of life.

It is said in the Koran that Mohummed was sent for man and jinn. Whereas humans and organic life forms are constituted from clay, the Jinn are a spirit life form that is constituted from fire. They have free will in the same way as humans have and have been called the little people, fairies, elves etc. They have also been equated to aliens - the sort who travel in UFOs.

The Sufi mystic Jalaluddin Rumi talked about evolution and said:

I died as a mineral and became a plant;
I died as a plant and rose to animal;
I died as animal and I was a man.
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?
Yet once more I shall die as man to soar
With angels blest. But even from an angel
I must pass on: all except God must perish.
When I have sacrificed my angel soul,
I shall become what no mind ever conceive
Life, according to Rumi, is not restricted to organic life forms. The rock also has a soul and I've mentioned before that the sun, moon and planets have souls, they are like angels ('Earthquakes and Pole Flipping').

Even weather phenomena have a consciousness, and wind movements have a quality about them which is similar to a living being. When a tornado moves through a town it can miss a house whist hitting the house on each side. This has an element of consciousness to it.