and disintegrated, decomposition takes
place; this is mortality, or death. When certain elements are composed, an
animal comes into being. When these elements are scattered or decomposed,
this is called the death of the animal. Again, certain atoms are bound
together by chemical affinity; a composition called a flower appears. When
these atoms are dispersed and the composition they have formed is
disintegrated, the flower has come to its end; it is dead. Therefore, it
is evident that life is the expression of composition, and mortality, or
death, is equivalent to decomposition. As the spirit of man is not
composed of material elements, it is not subject to decomposition and,
therefore, has no death. It is self-evident that the human spirit is
simple, single and not composed in order that it may come to immortality,
and it is a philosophical axiom that the individual or indivisible atom is
indestructible. At most, it passes through a process of construction and
reconstruction. For example, these individual atoms are brought together
in a composition, and through this composition a given organism--such as a
man, an animal or a plant--is created. When this composition is decomposed,
that created organism is brought to an end, but the component atoms are
not annihilated; they continue to exist because they are single,
individual and not composed. Therefore, it may be said that these
individual atoms are eternal. Likewise, the human spirit, inasmuch as it
is not composed of individual elements or atoms--as it is sanctified above
these elements--is eternal. This is a self-evident proof of its
immortality.

Second, consider the world of dreams, wherein the body of man is
immovable, seemingly dead, not subject to sensation; the eyes do not see,
the ears do not hear nor the tongue speak. But the spirit of man is not
asleep; it sees, hears, moves, perceives and discovers realities.
Therefore, it is evident that the spirit of man is not affected by the
change or condition of the body. Even though the material body should die,
the spirit continues eternally alive, just as it exists and functions in
the inert body in the realm of dreams. That is to say, the spirit is
immortal and will continue its existence after the destruction of the
body.

Third, the human body has one form. In its composition it has been
transferred from one form to another but never possesses two forms at the
same time. For example, it has existed in the eleme