The 'aha' moment I had at the end of my last post was one of those times that your brain is working on a problem and hands you the answer when you're not ready for it, and shows no work or explanation, just the answer. Problem is, this was not the first time it had given me the answer, I had let it slip away. But that is tomorrows post, today's post is the final preparation for that.
Quick review of where we're at. The universe is infinite in all dimensions, including time, and it is electric. Everything is, just vibrations in the ether. One topic that has always fascinated me is consciousness, and recently I have combined that with 'life'. I tried to define both, simply and elegantly, and got stuck in a loop, which basically means they are the same thing. Let me explain.
There is a thing called entropy, which essentially means slow decay when left to its own. Mainstream science uses words like 'move to a lower energy state, or more disorder'. Remember we have the ability to think, to use what we see, remember, hear etc to compose new ideas generally consistent with our knowledge but we can always challenge it.
I need to interrupt here as I must relay a fantastic quote from a somewhat famous scientist of last century, Julius Sumner Miller. He would open most of his shows with a great phrase 'lots of people listen, but not everyone hears; lots of people look, but not everyone sees'. I would like to add in a similar vein - 'lots of people know, but not everyone is wise'. An attempt to differentiate knowledge (of facts) from wisdom, which could be called applied knowledge.
Back to our regular program. When trying to solve a mystery, you look for clues, ask questions. Is a rock alive? A blade of grass? A bacterium? A single skin cell of a hueman? Well nothing ever exists in isolation ('a closed system'), so apart from the answer to 'rock' of probably no, the others all depend on their surrounds, the environment, the 'system' they belong to. So maybe explore the reverse - this is the beauty of retroduction, you can time travel. Lets imagine a hueman being who has just 'died'; they were out in a field in the sunshine and were old and expired naturally. So they are not alive nor are they conscious. But the cells in their body are still alive, for now. The gut bacteria will be alive for a long time, in fact they may never die! In time the body would decompose, all the while having much 'life' in it.
Would you agree that a reasonable definition of 'life' would anything this anti-entropic? Anything that can spontaneously control its environment? That's what I have arrived at.
Anyone who has studied microbiology enough to understand how a single cell behaves, obtains and moves nutrients throughout itself, and is an open thinker (as opposed to textbook reader) would have to call that behaviour conscious. As opposed to random. Plants grow up, towards the sun, a very non random and thus conscious effort. I am condensing a number of years of discussions and contemplation into a few paragraphs, but highlighting to absolute key components of that process. There are even carnivorous plants, such as the Venus flytrap. Parent trees can identify and nourish their offspring from others offspring, which they will nourish once theirs is all good. Plants are conscious, individual cells are conscious.
Clearly there are different levels of consciousness, but at the very basic level, life and consciousness are indistinguishable.
And its time to fasten your seatbelts once again. "Everything is light". Everything is vibrations. You ultimately need to unlearn so much and start again, especially if you studied the mainstream sciences like biology and chemistry like I did. In the back of your mind overseeing this process is the nagging issue of why and who and for how long have we been misguided? Just let it sit there quietly, it will tell you the answer in time.
Retroduction now implores us to ask: so what magic is it that makes something alive, as opposed to say that rock? Or in fact a living cell or system of cells - a plant or animal - versus a dead one. Well, that magic thing would have to be called the 'life force' or better 'life vibration'. It is the special form of vibration which allows a thing to manipulate its environment, so grow and heal, to perform alchemy and incredible wonders. And it needs to be fed, constantly. Each cell and the whole needs physical nourishment. And only a special type of nourishment, one that either has or had the life force. You can not eat a rock. What about water? Your seatbelt isn't tight enough for that one yet.
So things live, then they die. Always. The only possible exception to that rule is the universe itself. It behaves anti-entropic and so a strong argument can held in favour of the universe being alive. But alive implies conscious! Lets leave it as a special case exception.
Why do things die? Even stars and planets are born and die, although not in the way that mainstream science would tell us, but they do cycle. Question time: what is the opposite of life? If you guessed death I will ask then what is the opposite of death? Before you answer I will interject 'birth'. Birth and death are opposites. So what is the opposite of life? Does life have an opposite? These are all discussion points for the future. For now, my opinion on the purpose of death, well more the cycle of birth and death, is purely for the amusement of the universe. An infinitely old universe.