What is Life?

Quahom1 · 06-15-2005, 07:42 PM

I wonder if we truly understand what "life" is.

Do we? Who are you? What are you? How are you?

I have a body, and a mind, and a "Spirit" (my belief).

But my body is composed of trillions upon trillions of "little lives" that make up my physical form. And I have a brain (again billions of billions of "little lives") that allow me to function and THINK. Then I have this ehteral part that has no cells, no physical substance, that carries my essence.

I live and die every day. I am renewed every what, year or so? Or is it every 45 days?

We are pretty selfish in our living, once we realize that we are composed of so many little life forms that keep us intact. We treat our bodies with contempt (guilty as charged), while the body fights to keep us alive (selflessly).

Single cells, dedicated to keep a "complex" conscious life viable.

What is Life?

What are we?

v/r

Q

foreversearching · 06-15-2005, 07:49 PM

Hello Quahom1,

I have never looked at life in that way before! It's so weird to think that there's loads of little lives inside one big life, but it's true. I guess it's just another part of the great mystery life.

Lisa x

Quahom1 · 06-15-2005, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by foreversearching

Hello Quahom1,

I have never looked at life in that way before! It's so weird to think that there's loads of little lives inside one big life, but it's true. I guess it's just another part of the great mystery life.

Lisa x

Perhaps that is why we are told that our bodies are "temples", with a lot of "dedicated members" trying to keep it whole...

Oh boy, the science folk are going to have a field day with this one...

Stand by for heavy rolls...

v/r

Q

path_of_one · 06-15-2005, 08:25 PM

Actually, as one of the "science folk," this is why taking biology courses was such a spiritual experience for me. Looking down the microscope at all those little cells working together to keep me going! Really quite amazing to watch them grow and divide, and to think of them moving around and diligently doing their job.

Never thought literally about the temple/members thing in the Bible- but an apt description!

I agree with the body/mind/spirit thing. Though my personal beliefs are more like body (including the brain, through which my soul-mind is filtered into expression in the physical world), soul/mind (the personal energetic body, the mind that is "me" will live on after my body goes kaput), and spirit (the essence of God that dwells in all life, the "breath of life" from Genesis, that animates creation and unifies us all).

At any rate, I'm with you. Life, physical and spiritual, is a wondrous and mysterious thing.

Quahom1 · 06-15-2005, 08:50 PM

I'm an engineer...not a Doctor!

You fill out the details, Doctor.

v/r

Q

lunamoth · 06-15-2005, 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quahom1

Perhaps that is why we are told that our bodies are "temples", with a lot of "dedicated members" trying to keep it whole...

Oh boy, the science folk are going to have a field day with this one...

Stand by for heavy rolls...

v/r

Q

Hey Q! Hmmmm, could you possibly be referring to me??

I think it's a great way of looking at it. I find a ton of inspiration in the body/temple, Body/Temple comparison. We are not far apart, Q. I see all of nature as a beautiful expression of God's Word. I love being His creature, created in His image.

Science to prove/test God--no way. Science as an expression of God--you bet.

lunamoth

Quahom1 · 06-15-2005, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lunamoth

Hey Q! Hmmmm, could you possibly be referring to me??

I think it's a great way of looking at it. I find a ton of inspiration in the body/temple, Body/Temple comparison. We are not far apart, Q. I see all of nature as a beautiful expression of God's Word. I love being His creature, created in His image.

Science to prove/test God--no way. Science as an expression of God--you bet.

lunamoth

By no means, no offense. But I was thinking about Gabriels's "In your Eyes".

Forgive me, if I offended you. Not my intent.

v/r

Q

lunamoth · 06-15-2005, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quahom1

By no means, no offense. But I was thinking about Gabriels's "In your Eyes".

Forgive me, if I offended you. Not my intent.

v/r

Q

Dear Q, none taken! I believe we reached rapport long ago.

Oh! Are you a Peter Gabriel fan as well??? Wow. I could get into a thread on his lyrics and music.

love I get so lost, sometimes
days pass and this emptiness fills my heart
when I want to run away
I drive off in my car
but whichever way I go
I come back to the place you are

all my instincts, they return
and the grand facade, so soon will burn
without a noise, without my pride
I reach out from the inside

in your eyes
the light the heat
in your eyes
I am complete
in your eyes
I see the doorway to a thousand churches
in your eyes
the resolution of all the fruitless searches
in your eyes
I see the light and the heat
in your eyes
oh, I want to be that complete
I want to touch the light
the heat I see in your eyes

love, I don't like to see so much pain
so much wasted and this moment keeps slipping away
I get so tired of working so hard for our survival
I look to the time with you to keep me awake and alive

and all my instincts, they return
and the grand facade, so soon will burn
without a noise, without my pride
I reach out from the inside

in your eyes
the light the heat
in your eyes
I am complete
in your eyes
I see the doorway to a thousand churches
in your eyes
the resolution of all the fruitless searches
in your eyes
I see the light and the heat
in your eyes
oh, I want to be that complete
I want to touch the light,
the heat I see in your eyes
in your eyes in your eyes
in your eyes in your eyes
in your eyes in your eyes

lunamoth · 06-15-2005, 09:19 PM

Ooops, another thread derailment brought to you by lunamoth.

Pardon me and carry on!

Cells, oh yes. I always keep several around.

lunamoth

Bandit · 06-15-2005, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lunamoth

Science to prove/test God--no way. Science as an expression of God--you bet.

lunamoth

that is how i see it too Luna

most of the time any way.

Quahom1 · 06-15-2005, 10:52 PM

[quote=lunamoth]
Oh! Are you a Peter Gabriel fan as well??? Wow. I could get into a thread on his lyrics and music.

As I said (or asked) what is life?

v/r

Q

Vimalakirti · 06-15-2005, 11:42 PM

(Re: eyes)

Oh, the gentlemen are talking and the midnight moon is on the riverside,
They're drinking up and walking and it is time for me to slide.
I live in another world where life and death are memorized,
Where the earth is strung with lovers' pearls and all I see are dark eyes.

A cock is crowing far away and another soldier's deep in prayer,
Some mother's child has gone astray, she can't find him anywhere.
But I can hear another drum beating for the dead that rise,
Whom nature's beast fears as they come and all I see are dark eyes.

They tell me to be discreet for all intended purposes,
They tell me revenge is sweet and from where they stand, I'm sure it is.
But I feel nothing for their game where beauty goes unrecognized,
All I feel is heat and flame and all I see are dark eyes.

Oh, the French girl, she's in paradise and a drunken man is at the wheel,
Hunger pays a heavy price to the falling gods of speed and steel.
Oh, time is short and the days are sweet and passion rules the arrow that flies,
A million faces at my feet but all I see are dark eyes.

Bob Dylan, Dark Eyes

Copyright © 1985 Special Rider Music

Bandit · 06-16-2005, 04:27 AM

i am going to need some time to really think about this, because i think it is tougher than what is the meaning of life.
i have a lot to say on this one but it is kind of still popping the kernels.

everything up so far looks good to me

lunamoth · 06-16-2005, 05:16 AM

The gestalt of life is that we are greater than the sum of our parts. Maybe the song lyrics are not such a derailment after all. Life as the experience of music and art and the beauty of nature mean much more than life as anything above the threshold of a virus. My 2 c, lunamoth

Quahom1 · 06-16-2005, 05:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bandit

i am going to need some time to really think about this, because i think it is tougher than what is the meaning of life.
i have a lot to say on this one but it is kind of still popping the kernels.

everything up so far looks good to me

What is so hard about it? You Live, because trillions and trillions of "little lives" see to it that you live. Without them, you would not exist in this world. Not as YOU...BANDIT. Conversely, without YOU, they would not exist.

Either you say yes, or you say no. But it's hard to dispute fact. For the Big LIfe (that's us) to live, little lives must live.

You've been saying all along that our bodies are temples...you are right!

v/r

Q