Does Fire Have Life?

I was out with a couple friends in the mountains awhile back. A small fire was built on top of a drift of snow. I swear that the fire seemed to have a life of it's own. The hotter it burned, the faster the snow under it melted therefore ultimately extinguishing it. It would burn hot and fast, then pull itself back to a smallish flame where it would regain it's "strength", and then would flare up again. This repeated, until on it's last flare up it was finally extinguished, a "last hurrah" of sorts. Hauntingly beautiful, I wondered if in a way that we don't quite understand, is it possible that fire may have a conscious.
Silly I presume, however anyone in the fire fighting industry can tell you that fire is unpredictable, and does many strange things to stay alive.

I guess I will post the same thing I posted in the thread a the start of the week.

I see everything as having a life and death So I would say yes.

hmmm..
fire eats...
fire destroys...
fire tries to survive...

Very interesting thought superdude. I must ponder this for a little while.


If it does indeed have a "conscience" it's nothing like what we normally would think of...

No, I'm pretty confident in saying that fire doesn't have life. What you saw and detailed makes perfect sense.

The fire is built on snow...the bigger it get's the more heat it is expelling, causing snow to melt faster...the melting snow would slow the fire down...and this would go on and on till it went out, exactly as you stated. nothing abnormal here. Fire isn't alive...I.e. consious.

I actually was wondernig the same thing about ... 5 years ago ... But, when I tried to discuss it with someone they quickly laughed so, I presumed it was unimaginable. But it even breathes Oxygen ... What else do you need to know about it it feeds it dies if it doesn't feed. And most importantly it needs to Breathe.

No, I'm pretty confident in saying that fire doesn't have life. What you saw and detailed makes perfect sense.

The fire is built on snow...the bigger it get's the more heat it is expelling, causing snow to melt faster...the melting snow would slow the fire down...and this would go on and on till it went out, exactly as you stated. nothing abnormal here. Fire isn't alive...I.e. consious.

Yes, scientifically speaking you are dead on accurate. It does make sense. That being said - the fire actually appeared to be struggling to stay alive. Personally speaking, I've seen many fires in buildings and forests where the fire really does seem to "think" for lack of a better word.

Originally posted by bet555
I actually was wondernig the same thing about ... 5 years ago ... But, when I tried to discuss it with someone they quickly laughed so, I presumed it was unimaginable. But it even breathes Oxygen ... What else do you need to know about it it feeds it dies if it doesn't feed. And most importantly it needs to Breathe.

I wouldn't say it breathes. It does require oxygen, but breathing and requiring oxygen are 2 different things.

No. It doesn't repdoduce or have any type of consciousness.

There are nature religions that believe earth and everything on it is all "one conscious entity".

They believe that everything in nature is conscious. Rocks, trees, fire,
lightening, even water. And that man is a part of all that.

A consciousness of fire theory would be more of a religious than scientific discussion I think.







[edit on 10-3-2005 by elaine]

[edit on 10-3-2005 by elaine]

Perhaps it would be living in a different form...? Not one that we are accustomed to or know about yet. One that doesn't reproduce yet nature and us reproduce it for them...? I like your topic...hurts my brain to think about it though.

Perhaps it would be living in a different form...? Not one that we are accustomed to or know about yet. One that doesn't reproduce yet nature and us reproduce it for them...? I like your topic...hurts my brain to think about it though.

Yeah, the topic does provide fodder for thought. Take it to another level - Does fire reproduce? It may. We've all seen tongues of fire in a blaze. They seem to appear and flicker and go away, to be replaced with another tongue, sometimes of a different color.
Fire has been known to "jump" across roads, and buildings to continue it's flame burning.
Ever seen a face imaged from fire?

Originally posted by Asia Minor
No. It doesn't repdoduce or have any type of consciousness.

Fire does reproduce. Go in a fire place, take a piece of paper and stick it in the pit briefly. Then throw the paper on your carpet. Reproduction at it's best.

Agni (The fire God in vedic myths) was seen as being alive. Fire sacrifices were given to him in order to feed Agni.

But as far as fire being alive...it doesn’t have a consciousness, agreed. But does bacteria? Which leads me to believe that fire is more of a very primitive virus than anything. It exhibits the same qualities, infestation, manipulation, and the end result...destruction.

Originally posted by Simulacra [...] Which leads me to believe that fire is more of a very primitive virus than anything. It exhibits the same qualities, infestation, manipulation, and the end result...destruction.

Paraphrasing a certain popular film of recent vintage perhaps, but doesn't that sound rather like us too ?

Superdude, use th search function, i posted a thread on this about a week ago.

if 6 turned out to be 9.....is it tomorrow or just the end of time ? jimi is the man !!!!!!

does fire;

reproduce itself even asexually ? i'm leaning towards no
consume fuel ? yup
produce waste ? yup (carbon)
achieve locomotion ? nope, I can't count fire spreading , thats not true locomotion


is it a chemical or physical reaction ? I think it was physical......

free pose: (wrote this down as it came to me, my exact thoughts while thinking about it) took about 15 sec because they really were my exact thoughts


the fire is swaying
red, back and forth
some life must exist
it is dying down now
soon it will be extinguished
gushed, it's life is low
its time is wearing thin
for one last hurrah
the flame rekindles its strength
and lifts up
its a beatiful thing
a mirror of life
in one debacle of heat
that seems to be alive
then it settles back down
desperate, it sways back and forth
until finally it admits defeat
and drops into the ground
never to be seen, heard or felt
ever again


decided a title after writing it:
The Life of a Flame

Maybe it seems to have life, and it might. But it would be a very interesting sort of life if it does.

Fire has been a very spiritual element from the beginning...it came to earth in the form of lightening...which was seen by some as a connection to the Gods...

there are Native American, Aborigional, African Tribals....etc...that have their own stories of how man got fire...but all of them center around a common theme....Fire has always been a gift from the Sun (Son) or the finger (lightening) of the Creator. Everything is connected.

As some have noticed, Fire, like man requires Oxygen...it has to breathe, or it suffocates...Fire, like man burns hot...while it lives...or it can just give up and "die" like some people do...also like us, fire reproduces by sparking, which is interesting, because in years past wooing, or heavy flirting between men and women was refered to as "sparking"...go figure...

there are many more ties that could be shown, but with these, i'm sure it gets the idea across...so...does fire have a life of it's own?

Guess that would depend on your perspective of things...but as i see it, doesn't everything?

put a hand in it and youll see yourself alive

Maybe we should ask PETA to protect all bushfires