What does seperate us from universe?

[Gorgias]

By long I meant that all particle interact with each other. Moreover, r[sup]2[/sup] term only means that the force tend to zero but never becomes zero.

When a lion bites you, there’s force that has significant impact on your person. When a mosquito bites you, though, the force is negligible; it doesn’t change who you are.

 

[GEddie]

Speaking about particles and their interactions, just some random thoughts: One may wish to consider the possibility that particles come together unifying into a greater whole. That would be why when isolated, an electron, appearing as a particle, may possibly turn up, the probability being extremely low mind you, at the other end of the galaxy from its nucleus. It’s being having been “given” to the larger whole, the galaxy, it was a wave in that larger whole, and not exhibiting the particle nature it would have in isolation. The electron is a component of a unity, that is an atom, which is a component in a larger molecule, which would in turn have surrendered its independent being as part of a planet, solar system and galaxy. The rational mind may cleave these components from the whole which they constitute, through the technological and sensory processes that are present as a result of its attachment to a particular time and space. Our being here transforms what is here even to the subatomic. Clearly we do that with a click of a mouse. Just a thought. As to the air that enters our lungs and becomes part of us as a living person. Yeah, it does that.

Some particle interactions affect our being: The oxygen in our lungs is absorbed by our bodies to energize them; the carbonic acid and water vapor we exhale remove entropy from our bodies.

But the neutrinos passing right through us, or the dead cells falling off our epidermis, don’t noticeably affect our beings.

ICXC NIKA

 

[Gorgias]

Some particle interactions affect our being: The oxygen in our lungs is absorbed by our bodies to energize them; the carbonic acid and water vapor we exhale remove entropy from our bodies.

And this, precisely, is the crux of the problem: do the physical interactions our bodies experience affect our ‘being’? Do they affect our ‘person’? Or, perhaps, do they merely affect our ‘bodies’? The question is really one of how we define things. By that very standard, ‘materialism’ (as opposed to Catholic theology) is really what’s at question here.

 

[inocente]

And this, precisely, is the crux of the problem: do the physical interactions our bodies experience affect our ‘being’? Do they affect our ‘person’? Or, perhaps, do they merely affect our ‘bodies’? The question is really one of how we define things. By that very standard, ‘materialism’ (as opposed to Catholic theology) is really what’s at question here.

I’d suggest your example of being bitten by a lion will definitely affect your being. Some people fear dogs their whole lives because of being bitten once as a child.

But not noise from STT’s background particle interactions, the signal-to-noise ratio in the brain is too high. Although one joker has a fix for anyone still concerned - zapatopi.net/afdb/

 

[GEddie]

And this, precisely, is the crux of the problem: do the physical interactions our bodies experience affect our ‘being’? Do they affect our ‘person’? Or, perhaps, do they merely affect our ‘bodies’? The question is really one of how we define things. By that very standard, ‘materialism’ (as opposed to Catholic theology) is really what’s at question here.

Materialism is just one extreme position. The other is the “angelic wannabe” position that sees the Body as extraneous to the human being. Neither is Church teaching.

The Body is a major part of the “being” but is not simple. Therefore some particle interactions affect it, while others do not. Oxygen molecules in the lungs allow the “being” to be maintained. Neutrons passing through the flesh cause potentially lethal damage (potentially ending the “being.”) Visible photons bouncing off the skin, or neutrinos passing right through, have no direct effect at all.

ICXC NIKA

 

[Aloysium]

I would agree with the two posters above. There exists is a sort of life principle which is the human spirit that utilizes matter from DNA onward in the processes guiding cell division, growth and repair to form and maintain our bodies in time and space. We incorporate what is external into the making of ourselves. Neutrinos as has been identified, because they are not part of that process, do not constitute part of our bodies in spite of the fact that they may physically pass through it. Viruses would be another example. Even if one of them affixes its DNA into ours, it would not be part of the natural functioning of the person. Illness and death are not what was intended for us, they are afflictions to which, in our fallen state, we are prone.
:twocents: