Physical LIFE--a "bare bones" definition

With the responses I've received, I believe I'll go ahead and meander down the path of sharing what I've discovered regarding what "life" actually is and the place that understanding should have as we continue to sojourn on this planet in what my brother refers to as our "earth suits."

What I'm about to try and summarize may sound a bit philosophical or even "heady" to some of you. Others may think that what I'm trying to describe is beyond my intellect and that I really have no business trying to delve into things that I don't have the academic backround to understand or express. If you're in either group, please be patient with me because I believe that what I've learned just might be a blessing to you as it has been to me. With that disclaimer, here we go:

Making a decision to disconnect or discontinue using a machine that has been doing for a person what they are unable to do themselves, (like breathing,) is to decide that the "life" that person has had up to that moment, will cease. At the most basic, physical level, breathing is so tightly connected with "life" itself, that it wouldn't be improper at times to use the words interchangeably. As every person on this planet knows intuitively and by experience, life cannot continue without breath. Cease breathing and in minutes, life as we know it will end.

But what is really taking place when we breath? We are having an interaction and exchange with that which is external to us. If we breath, we have the capacity to take in air from outside of ourselves, have it fill our lungs and then have an exchange with it. We take from it what we need, (like oxygen, nitrogen, and so forth,) and then place back into that air what we no longer need, like carbon dioxide. We then exhale, or launch that air back into the space that is outside of our physical bodies. This whole process of intake, exchange, and exhalation usually takes place in less than a second.

There are two other key abilities that are also tightly linked with life itself, EATING and DRINKING. Ceasing either of those things will also cause life to end, but after a much longer period of time. If you stop taking in liquids, you'll only continue to live a few more days. Stop eating and after a certain amount of weeks and months your body won't be able to function properly and life will end.

With those basic observations understood, here is the simplest definition of life that I can come up with. This is what physical life is--which is what we ALL have:

Life is the capability of an entity to interact with and have an exchange with that which is external to itself in order to continue existing as it does.

The key concept is interaction and exchange with that which is EXTERNAL to itself. Without taking in from that which is external to us, there will no longer be life. In other words, life, by its very nature and at its essence is DEPENDENT on something other than itself. Life is not independent, self-existence.

I'll bring this to a close right here by pointing out that if the bible really is God's word and it is what it claims to be--the Creator's self revelation, the story of His creation and the saga of His interaction with his creation, then it's not suprising that it refers to something called the "breath of life." (Gen. 2:7 6:17 7:13)

Physical life isn't all there is though. More on that next time.