"
"Of course," replied the Elf. "However, a scientist's understanding of
life energy ends with the physical death of the entity under study. The
outer appearance of your goldfish would indicate to him that the
goldfish had died. But appearances can be deceiving. The scientist knows
that the atoms of the goldfish's /dead/ body are still in motion, and
will gradually formulate individual chemicals, gases, and minerals as
the body decays and returns to the earth. These atoms, you see, will
eventually become part of some other living thing, perhaps or a flower
or a tree."
"Is that what you mean when you say my goldfish is not really dead?"
asked Dorothy. "That the atoms of its body are still in motion and will
become a part of some other living thing?"
"No," replied the Elf. "That's not what I mean, although what you say is
true; the atoms of one's body will always be alive somewhere. But these
atoms are not any more you than they are a flower or any other thing.
They are just the building blocks....
"Your feelings and your emotions -- your capacity to love, to hate: this
is all you.
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