What is Life?

“The condition that distinguishes animals, plants, and other organisms from inorganic or inanimate matter, characterized by continuous metabolic activity and the capacity for functions such as growth, development, reproduction, adaptation to the environment, and response to stimulation; (also) the activities and phenomena by which this is manifested.” 

I see life as more than a physical characteristic that distinguishes living organisms from dead or inorganic matter. To be living means to be flourishing, productive, useful or with the ability to impact other things, physical or non-physical. Even an inanimate rock can be considered alive because it is constantly changing and actively contributing to the surrounding environment. Water, too, is always moving and shaping the surfaces it encounters. The sun, as science shows, does have a life span and continuous activity in the form of radiated heat and light energy. By these characteristics, it is easy to see how not only the physically living is actually ‘alive’. This view of life entails that all things are essentially alive and an important part of the greater whole. If everything really is alive, this changes our view of the world. Personally, I am inclined to treat everything with more care and respect, considering how crucial each component is to its system.