What is Life

Questions aimed at uncovering the meaning of life have been floating around for a long time. And, as with most complex things the answers evolve with time. Today, depending on who is asked, life could mean one of many things. It could mean the existence of animate matter only. Or the definition could be broadened to encompass the existence of both animate and inanimate matter. Some however, see life as possessing many aspects, with all perceptible phenomena constituting one aspect and non-perceptible phenomena constituting different aspects of life that may or may not be relevant to us as human beings in light of the fact that their existence cannot be proved or disproved.

These differing views raise many questions concerning the nature and purpose of life. For example, where does life begin and where does it end. What is death? Does death constitute an end to life or is it symptomatic of something more? To understand the answer to these questions, perhaps the simplest approach would be to identify the common link that runs through all the views held by the various schools of thought and use this as a starting point. After doing just this, we find that the common link is the term existence. Despite the fact that there is no universal consensus as to what exactly constitutes existence, it is possible to arrive at an understanding by using the tried and tested method of starting from a baseline and building upwards. And, with regards to existence, the base line is creation. A naive definition of creation would be the sum total of all that exists in the physical world. Since the physical world is made up of matter, this would imply that creation is nothing other than one huge soup of matter. Science has shown us that matter is made up of particles. This would imply that creation is a gigantic soup of particles. Now, if creation is made up of matter, this would imply that creation by definition must have had a beginning and will therefore have an end. Or does it? Not necessarily. Because science has shown two things; the first is that what were once thought to be the basic building blocks of matter may not necessarily be basic after all; the second is that our perception of what actually constitutes physical matter is deceptively misleading. The spectrum of matter stretches far beyond the range of any optical technology we posses today. For example, scientific discoveries have shown that an in-depth study of an object, say, a table using an unimaginably powerful magnifying apparatus would show, not a table, but an immense cluster of particles with empty spaces in between and all held together by forces of varying strength. The same applies to any solid matter - trees, cars, the human body and so on.

Thus, science makes very clear that strictly speaking, in the world of matter, there is no such thing as an absolute beginning or end. There are only boundaries. And these boundaries are constraints within which an object is described as exhibiting certain properties with the highest degree of certainty possible. For example, using the concept of distance as a measuring tool, the length of a chair can be measured with a high degree of confidence as having a beginning and an end but only within a certain degree of tolerance. The more precisely one tries to measure the length – the beginning and the end of the chair, the more indeterminate the result. Therefore, the notion of a beginning and an end can, in truth, only ever be measured relative to a prior condition or state. This is also true when one considers the dynamics of any element within creation such as organic matter. Scientific observation shows conclusively that life of organic matter is observed to unfold in cycles of birth and death. In other words, it unfolds in cycles of continuity. Animals reproduce their kind, who mature from infancy into adulthood, reproduces more of its kind, before dying and passing the mantle to its progeny. And so the cycle continues. This lends weight to the notion that the concepts of beginning and end are not absolutes but relative.

Now it is known that matter isn’t the only thing that exists, Mind is another concept that describes a state of existence that is associated with the non-physical part of the human body and which by virtue of its existence, forms a part of creation. Since this is the case, then our naive definition of creation as simply the sum total of the physical world would need to be adjusted to encompass all possible forms of existence. And so, having established that matter, which is one form of existence, has neither beginning nor end in the absolute sense of the word, what does this tell us about all other possible forms of creation? It tells us that since it is logical to assume that all aspects of creation must be interconnected in some way, then the theory of continuity implies that all forms creation must exhibit the same property of continuity.

This implies that in order for creation to uphold the property of continuity, the evolution of creation can only take place through transitions. This is exemplified, at least in the world of matter by cycles of birth and death. This implies that the phenomena of birth and death are only transitions that take place within the continuity of creation – of life.

With regard to the concept of an after-life – heaven, hell, purgatory or what have you, it is clear that the realization that birth and death are simply transitional states in the continuity of life lends irrefutable evidence that there is such a thing as the after-life. In fact, it is worth noting at this point that if we are to go by our definition of creation as encompassing all matter - animate or otherwise, then the term after-life is incorrect. It is incorrect because the after-life is generally thought to refer to existence in a non-physical world. Therefore, in the strict sense of the word, there is no such thing as an after-life. In any case, it is clear that the dynamics of existence in the after-life is still very little understood. The reason for this is simple, since existence in the after-life revolves around a world that is non-physical, it is difficult to measure or verify because to do this would require an understanding of how to move back and forth through the transitions of birth and death. To take a first step in this direction, humanity must first understand the dynamics of creation. This will entail a subsequent understanding between the various manifestations of creation, two of which are Matter and Mind.