The little Elf shook his head in disbelief. "All of creation is alive. There is no such thing as being not alive. If something was dead, it couldn't exist."
"What about a dead animal?" said Dorothy. "Or fish? I had a goldfish that I loved very much and, when he died, I was very sad."
"You shouldn't have been so sad," said the Elf. "All of creation is pulsating vibrant life energy of which the outer forms are constantly undergoing change, but not one tiny atom of that living energy can be destroyed. Ask any of your scientists if this is not true."
"But my goldfish did die," insisted Dorothy. "Any scientist would testify to that."
"Of course," replied the Elf. "However, a scientist's understanding of life energy ends with the physical death of the entity under study. The outer appearance of your goldfish would indicate to him that the goldfish had died. But appearances can be deceiving. The scientist knows that the atoms of the goldfish's dead body are still in motion, and will gradually formulate individual chemicals, gases, and minerals as the body decays and returns to the earth. These atoms, you see, will eventually become part of some other living thing, perhaps or a flower or a tree."
"Is that what you mean when you say my goldfish is not really dead?" asked Dorothy. "That the atoms of its body are still in motion and will become a part of some other living thing?"
"No," replied the Elf. "That's not what I mean, although what you say is true; the atoms of one's body will always be alive somewhere. But these atoms are not any more you than they are a flower or any other thing. They are just the building blocks....
"Your feelings and your emotions — your capacity to love, to hate: this is all you. And this personality that is you can never die. It is not dependent on atoms for its existence. It just borrows them to make a garment so that it can function in the physical world, and while in that garment it will interact with other personalities and have the opportunity to learn and to grow through mutual experiences. The degree to which it learns and grows will, of course, depend on the inner desire. That inner desire for advancement is very strong in some — yet totally nonexistent in others. It is the responsibility of those more advanced to assist those that are lagging behind, for it is most important that each person's short excursion into the physical-mortal realm not be wasted, for these are precious opportunities indeed."
"That is most interesting," replied Dorothy, "although I'm not sure that I have understood all that you have said."
"You will in time," replied the Elf, kindly. "Now, regarding your goldfish: as I said before, he did not die. You only assumed that he did because his body was motionless. He is, in fact, quite alive."