[Spirit Guide Sparrow]

And so we continue.

The brain is merely a biological machine, as too is your heart. As I stated, the individual cells are the last to shut down, not the brain or the heart. Your soul is not contained in the confines of your brain, or any other major organ of the body, it permeates every living cell of your body, down to the very DNA. You must also remember that you are not just one life form, but a great many simultaneously. Many millions of bacteria and other life forms exist within and as part of what you know as a human being. A collection of biochemical organisms electrochemically wired together to form a walking, talking miracle instrument. The heart may stop or the brain may appear to cease all function, but with the right technological advancement can be restarted like rebooting a computer. They have not truly died for their essence, their cellular memory and awareness of ‘I am’ still resides within each living cell. These cells are inherently connected to, uploading to, and downloading from your etheric cord which is attached to your pure spirit. This applies to every living being.

A person truly dies, in a sense, when the etheric cord is detached from the solar plexus and your consciousness cuts all ties with the physical body. The exact time this takes place is different for everyone, as the means in which people die, as I said, are so broad. Some, who experience a very violent affliction upon their physical state tend to sever their connection with their cellular counterpart almost instantly. In these cases the person will suddenly become aware of their etheric form which is ejected, in a sense. If it is the body has been damaged to such an extent it can no longer sustain conscious state, then the soul does not stay very long. Yet for those who are enduring some sort of illness or slowly deteriorating state, their link with their physical state may still be strong because of the beliefs and values they have for it. In this case their consciousness will tend to experience phases of conscious state and unconscious state. Their etheric cord will still be attached to their physical being, but they may experience shifts of awareness and dream like states. Also for those who are within such things as comas, their etheric cord still remains present, but their consciousness will often occupy a different frequency altogether, only momentarily returning back into physical awareness. So in a sense, the dial on your conscious state is turned from one setting to another. The etheric cord will detach when the conscious state has let go of the frequency focus of physical state and completely aligns itself with the frequency of the metaphysical world, or their pure spirit. When this occurs the body will give out very quickly and there will be no mistake that they have passed.

So, how do you know when someone has truly died? Well if the body continues to function then there is still a presence of consciousness. It will just be that this consciousness is, in a sense, between two worlds. One may then be led to contemplate whether keeping someone alive through apparatus is for their best interest, or whether you are prolonging their unfortunate state. The wishes of the individual would be the indication. If they are unable to indicate, then it must be a decision based on the quality of life foreseen and the wishes of loved ones.
-Sparrow