What distinguishes living matter from inanimate matter?
Matter is never alive. The process represents life, while matter is only the medium through which life appears in the material world.
The processes of life appear in the material world when the circumstances make the appearance of life possible, but the matter that manifests the processes of life does not change.
The existence of the material world is defined by the first two creation cycles, therefore matter does not change. No new matter comes into existence; rather, the matter that is already present in an inanimate state comes to manifest the processes of life.
When the process is completed, the matter that manifested life does not disappear, nor does the matter that previously manifested the process of life cease to exist when the process stops or is interrupted.
Life appears in the material world, but not as new matter; rather, it appears as new laws acting upon matter, which shape matter while they are present, and then disappear.
The existence of matter is determined by the laws of physics, but the matter that manifests a process of life is also affected by the laws of life for as long as it serves to manifest life.
The laws of life are also timeless and unlimited, and the laws that determine the presence of matter that carries life are also timeless and unlimited, but these laws do not exist on the same level. The new creation cycle means that the appearance of life is possible within the existence of the material world.
The living does not exist if it is not present on the material level, in the material world, because the material world was defined by the first day, the first creation cycle, time by the second creation cycle, and only the third cycle defines the processes that appear in the material world and in time, which make the appearance of the processes of life possible.
Life can therefore appear only in the material world, because the third cycle is capable of existing only within the other two creation cycles.
Life is therefore a process that takes place in time and appears in the material world according to the laws of Heaven. Without time there is no life, because there is no process, and without the material world there is no life either, because there is no medium, no matter in which the process could appear.
The order of the creation cycles shows what exists, what the condition of each thing is, and in what form each thing can appear.
The living can appear in inanimate matter if we have already defined time, so that successive experiences may manifest the process that would not be perceptible without time.
Consciousness is able to perceive, interpret, and through the processes recognize the laws that determine the existence of the world, but it is not a function of the processes.
Consciousness perceives the material world if there is a process of life that makes this possible, and it does not perceive the material world if there is none. Time does not pass from the perspective of consciousness, but determines the process of life. When the process of life ends, there is no more information for consciousness to perceive, and no more time passes either, because without a process there is no time. Time is created by experiences appearing one after another, and thus without a process of life there is no time either.
What distinguishes living matter from inanimate matter, therefore, is whether there is perception. If there is perception, then the matter is living; if there is no perception, then the matter is present in an inanimate and unconscious form, where time does not pass either, because without life there is no process, there are no successive experiences, and thus there is no time either.
The end of life is therefore not death, nor the cessation of consciousness, because consciousness is not present in the world even when the process of life is taking place and consciousness is perceiving the world. Consciousness is not part of the world; it is not present in the world even when it perceives the world through a body; at most, it identifies with the body, but this identification also lasts only as long as the process is taking place.
When the process ends, consciousness continues to exist, and when another process of life begins, it again perceives the material world and continues knowing.