"spirit" or "soul" are not things (they do not exist). They are phenomena (they occur)

One cannot say that consciousness or "spirit" EXISTS. consciousness and "spirit" are not material objects, and they do not have any physical existance.

Consciousness and spirit are phenomena, in otherwords, they OCCUR.

We cannot point to anything and say "this is my consciousness". Our conscioussness is a phenomenon that occurs moment by moment. In fact, our consciousness is our memory of what happened a split-second ago (as Antonio Damasio calls it, it is a "remembered present"). The brain, by virtue of its physical limitations, cannot be instantaneously aware of what occured in our environment. It takes tens or hundreds of milliseconds for our brain to analyse the input that it receives from the environment. (This environment includes our body, or inside environment).

Ok, so consciousness is a phenomenon. We use a NOUN to describe it, but that does not mean that consciousness is an actual object. Just like "running" is a NOUN, but it describes an action, not an object.

Obviously, an action, or a phenomenon, or an occurance, cease to exist once they no longer occur. Once our brain dies, it ceases to analyze what happens in its surroundings. Therefore, the phenomenon of counsciousness no longer occurs. Therefore, our "spirit" "dies". It no longer happens.

And also obviously, a "spirit" cannot "live" after we die, because a phenomenon or occurance cannot exist without somebody or something to make it happen. You cannot have "running", without a "runner". You cannot have consciousness or "spirit", without a living organism.

The brain and the mind function based on several layers of different complexity.

One cannot ask "why is your electrochemical processes more morally justified than someone else's". Electrochemical processes perform their function at the lowest layers of brain's functionality. Ethics, morality, justice, exist at the highest layers, NOT at the lowest layers. Therefore, the ethics and morality of human actions cannot be judged based on electrochemical processes. I cannot say that "my electrochemical processes are better than yours", because the concepts of good,bad,morality,ethics DO NOT EXISTS at the lowest layers of brain function !

p.s.

I used a 7 layer model arbitrarily. One could make a 10 layer model if one wanted to. I did this in order to make an analogy with the 7 layers of the OSI model for the internet. The Application layer of the internet is analogous to morality, ethics, "spirit", and the Physical layer of the internet is analogous to the neurochemical and physical processes.

OSI internet model:

7: Application
6: Presentation
5: Session
4: Transport
3: Network
2: Data Link
1: Physical

Here is the upshot of this analogy. When you unplug your computer from your network, you knock out the lowest level of its internet connection: the Physical layer. you are no longer physically connected to the network. therefore, none of the higher level functions can occur either. you can't surf the web, you can't send email, you can't download files.

In the same way, once the brain dies, the lowest level of its function is gone, therefore none of the higher level functions can take place either. once your brain dies, your consciousness also dies. without any living neurons (layer 1), there cannot be any Human social interactions, "spirit", morality, ethics, justice (layer 7).

side note: You can always re-connect your computer to the network, and be back in business with web surfing etc. Unfortunately, as of YET, we cannot bring the brain back to life after it dies. Perhaps one day science can manage to do that. see http://www.kurzweilai.net