And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh – Ezekiel 11:19 ESV
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” – John 11:25-26 ESV
When we were born into this world we actually were in a spiritual form, and we actually had a physical body but not this physical body…Cells don’t die…because those cells are fused with energy of the material world and they then form a corporal form and we grow into it called this physical body. When this physical body dies those cells remove themselves, go back into the essence, and we have a spiritualized body or a resurrected body.
– John-Roger from Thoughts Consciousness and Manifestation
What is life? Or perhaps we should ask what is it to be alive and living? Ask any scientist and they will all agree that biological life living on earth is a remarkable, amazing, and so far as we know at least, extremely unique phenomena in the known universe. Clearly life is special. But what is life exactly and why is it so important? Metaphysically how can we approach life and perhaps bring forth answers and illumination into the nature and being of life?
Let us consider what we know so far in regards to our modern metaphysics – Beyond Nothing. First we identified the need for a more functional and cohesive metaphysics today. We have established this metaphysics has at least three facets – scientific, philosophical, and theological. As a matter of science we have illustrated that all things reduce themselves to a quantum level which itself reduces to nothingness. Philosophically we have resolved the Cartesian mind/body dilemma and have concluded that consciousness resides within or beyond this nothingness. We have seen from various scientists how biological life operates at a quantum level and circumnavigates classical Newtonian laws as well as thermodynamics in order for life itself to necessarily exist. These are all major considerations to be sure. For one we can see how both consciousness and life both operate at the level of nothingness. Nothingness then is a nexus or inflection point upon which life, consciousness, and arguably the entire known universe intersect, interact, and operate out of. Nothingness then appears to be pregnant with the greatest and most precious of all things – living consciousness and all of creation.
It has been a significant philosophical question for ages – how something could come from nothing? Wouldn’t that mean that the nothing was in fact not nothing but rather something? The answer is that all things come out of the nothing but are not actually from nothingness itself. There is something beyond nothing from which all things originate. On the far side of nothingness lies something quite great indeed – this consciousness of life. Beyond nothing there is life.
In this world we see life living as a biological fact. Interestingly, as we saw earlier in this post, science has now advanced so far as to prove that life itself transcends and overcomes the laws of Newtonian physics and thermodynamics through quantum interactions even within the cell itself. Life is forcing itself into this creation even in spite of any and all odds or obstacles or even physical impossibilities that stand in its way. But what creates life? How does life itself begin? There cannot be an infinite regress to life itself, and there cannot be a random mutation that somehow formed life itself, there must be a point of origination. Science simply cannot, has not, and will not be able to answer this question as to the origin of life itself because life itself comes out of itself which comes out of the nothing which itself is beyond the measure and control of science. Not all things which exist ontologically can be measured scientifically, though they exist nevertheless as in the case of life, consciousness, God, and the universe itself; all of which, interestingly, are connected and interrelated through nothingness. We live beyond the nothing. Who we are is in fact far, far greater than any of us can possibly begin to imagine let alone measure or control.
If life could be “created” then science would be able to provide repeatability tests that prove how matter can create life. But the truth is that has never and will never occur, because life stands aloof of matter. Life operates through matter but is actually beyond matter itself. Life uses the material construction to create for itself a body to operate within. Life, like consciousness, does not have a mind/body dualism dilemma. Just as we cannot cut open a human and find consciousness somewhere in the physical body so too can we not find life either. Life does not reside in a particular organ or physical location. The cells of the body, the blood of the body, the organs and limbs all carry and hold onto life just as much as life holds onto those forms. But alas life itself cannot be found in any of these physical material constructions. Life both is and operates from a place beyond or behind Newtonian laws of physics, of thermodynamics, and even of quantum mechanics. Life and consciousness are both found within and beyond all that is, all that will be, beyond the nothing.
Each form of life, indeed each form of materiality, has varying degrees of capability for interacting with life. All things house, hold, contain, and are imbued with life for life itself exists and operates from a state that is beyond even the quantum which means that life is beyond all measure, is miraculous even, and operates beyond the bounds of science, reason, evidence, or comprehension. Life then is within a rock just as much as it is within a human or a tree or a cloud or a dog or nothingness. Life is pervasive through all of creation both visible and invisible. Now of course all of the various lifeforms admittedly have varying degrees of ability, mobility, and self-awareness in regards to living. For example the carbon construction of lifeforms ranges from amoebas to humans. If life is equally distributed through all forms of creation, that is to say life is literally everywhere in all things and no-thing , then how do we account for the obvious differences in expression and ability amongst the various animate and inanimate forms? The answer lies in the material construction of each of those forms. The human being for example has a carbon construction such that life itself is the most able to perceive itself and utilize itself from the human form more than any other form in the creation. What does this mean then? It means life created humans so that it could understand and experience itself in the greatest way possible in this creation. Life is just as fully present within a rock as it is within the human, however in the rock the form itself is significantly less able to be aware of itself and of life from within that form let alone its ability to express. The human form in contrast to the rock form is far more able to not only be aware of itself but to express itself, consider itself, move itself, and understand itself. Life can experience itself more fully from the human form than any other in creation and as such the human form is the most valuable, treasured, dominant, and alive form on the planet. The human, as the Bible says, is made in God’s image. That is to say it is made to live fully.
Regardless of what material form, life is present and alive always and in all ways. It is the human however that is most able to know this, understand this, act upon this, and articulate this. Interestingly the human is also the form that is most able to not understand, not know, and not act upon this. We have immense potential and capability as humans, far more and far wider ranging than any other creature animate or inanimate. This means that as humans we are endowed with great responsibility to cherish, seek after, and pursue life so that we may become more fully alive. Perhaps that’s a curious thing to say – become more fully alive – but isn’t it rather obvious that each of us can live and be far more alive than just simply being biologically alive? Is it not the case that people, all of whom are biologically alive, are actually living out various different degrees of life, awareness, and being? Are we all truly living life or are we more existing life? These are personal questions and considerations for each one of us to decide for ourselves, but consider as well that no other creature on the planet can really do that either – choose more life. The form of the dog is far less able to choose to live more of life itself, but it can to some degree. The same is true for a tree and a rock and everything else each to its own capability. The more capabilities to choose life a given form has, the more sophistication and ability it holds to articulate and understand life itself. With humans life and existence has a far greater matrix of possibilities, ranges, and depths than another creature. It is up to each of us to discover this incredible mystery of life, this greatest miracle of all, and to live it out in our days most fully and most fully again the next day forevermore. As we do, ultimately we will find ourselves, who we actually are, and we will be amazed beyond belief. At that point we can then begin the next journey of discovery that lies beyond ourselves and into others, into that which is, and that which always will be now and forevermore. And that my friends is most especially divine, precious, and well worth living for. Indeed it is life itself.
Life, by definition, is not death, and therefore that which lives and is alive, is forever alive always. Life is everywhere and in all things. Our resurrection is into life for life is all that is eternal. Life is everything and death is nothing. Life uses death and nothingness to create itself ever further from that which is initially not life itself, but through life all things and anything can and will become life. The stones are alive and will live as freely and as much as you or I eventually and in time. The first is the last and the last first. How else can it be? Let life overcome you for you are pure life itself. Our consciousness is life. Our universe is life. We are all one together in the living, that beingness that is what it is and can never die, never be annihilated, never be forsaken or sacrificed. It is glorious, rapturous, transcendent, eternal. It comes out of the nothing, manifests all that is, all that will be. We are all this. All is this. Life living forevermore.