* * * This message was from Doug Freyburger to rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.m * * *
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Josh Hill wrote:
> Rob Perkins wrote:
> >Doug Freyburger wrote:
>
> >> ... moving from body based life to spirit only life
> >> and becoming First Ones.
>
> >I have a question.
>
> >Why is it assumed in SF-genres like B5, anything by Arthur C. Clarke,
> >various Star Trek episodes, some other places, that
"spirit-only life"
> >or energy-based existence is considered a progression from where we
> >humans are today?
>
> >I wonder, in earnest, about the origins of that idea.
>
> Anyone know
> who first used it? It strikes me that whoever did may have been
> influenced by Christian eschatology.

I think it predates the arrival of Christianity.  If the god(desse)s
"exist" they sure don't arrive in human bodies.  So if they
"exist"
they must have some other nature.  Spirits.

Note that the human in DoFS was able to turn his body on and
off.  A best compromise.  Dieties manifesting bodies is nothing
new in lore.
                                                                           
                             
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