There is a biological phenomenon that blows my mind each time I think of it. It is called Apoptosis.
Apoptosis simply put, is when cells in the body dies or commits suicide.
Around 50 to 70 billion cells in our bodies die everyday through this process. When we are stressed or scared, it also negatively affects the cells in our body causing billions of them to die.
Studies conducted have shown Apoptosis occurs in two ways; (1) The intrinsic pathway in which the cell kills itself because it senses cell stress or (2) the extrinsic pathway in which the cell kills itself because of information it received from other cells.
Take the caterpillar for instance, when it’s about to die and metamorphose into a butterfly, some of its cells from sensing stress, panics and commits suicide.
It is the imaginal cells that become the butterfly.
Doesn’t that tell us something about death and the nature of the universe?
Can we say the caterpillar is dead if it becomes a butterfly?
Anyways, why do the cells commit suicide?
To commit suicide you must first be consciously aware that you are living. You must be aware of your environment or surroundings.
And the cells actually do.
Some specialized cells, like heart muscle cells have been observed to "duck and dodge" foreign substances or even enter a state of "hibernation" to wait out a lack of resources during a heart attack. Interesting right?
So, the cells know they are alive?
If they do, what perception do they have of themselves?
Do they think of themselves as
cells in the body of a living
organism?
Do they imagine themselves as actual beings in their own tunnels of reality living independent lives?
If cells can be affected by stress, if they hibernate when they sense scarcity of resources, hide from danger and kill themselves, I think it’s safe to say they are living in a simulated reality where in their imagination, they may be living in an actual, infinite, vast universe not knowing they are just some tiny little cells in the body of another living organism.
So, whatever grand perception they have of themselves is simply a simulation.
In other words, they've been tricked by what we can refer to as their ''mind''.
Now, could it be that we are also like cells and the earth, our home, is another living organism?
What if the earth communicates with other planets, just like we communicate with ourselves and we are the cells within the earth?