What is Fire?
An interesting question!? And depending on your position and beliefs there are many views from the scientific view to the alchemist's view to the metaphysical view to the many many spiritual beliefs. I have included a few extracts and links on some different views below.
A personal view from me though not a definitive statement... more what came into my mind in the moment I wrote this....
What is fire? What does it mean ? What does it invoke ? energy, creation, destruction, life, death, all consuming, hungry, purifying, survival, loss, pain, joy, dance. song, warmth, devastation, life giving, the source, mesmerising, beautiful, terrifying, sustaining, community, protection, a focal point, drawing people together, calming, nurturing, sacred, magical, unpredictable, fire sprites, homely (home is where the hearth is!)
the forging of human kind …
story - fire is wrapped in stories, the telling of stories around the fire, the myriad of stories involving fire....
ritual - fire key to many rituals and ceremonies
fire wrapped in story&ritual, story&ritual wrapped in fire
marshmallows
What is fire? What does it mean ? What does it invoke ? energy, creation, destruction, life, death, all consuming, hungry, purifying, survival, loss, pain, joy, dance. song, warmth, devastation, life giving, the source, mesmerising, beautiful, terrifying, sustaining, community, protection, a focal point, drawing people together, calming, nurturing, sacred, magical, unpredictable, fire sprites, homely (home is where the hearth is!)
the forging of human kind …
story - fire is wrapped in stories, the telling of stories around the fire, the myriad of stories involving fire....
ritual - fire key to many rituals and ceremonies
fire wrapped in story&ritual, story&ritual wrapped in fire
marshmallows
Scientific View:
(from https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/747-what-is-fire)
Fire is the visible effect of the process of combustion – a special type of chemical reaction. It occurs between oxygen in the air and some sort of fuel. The products from the chemical reaction are completely different from the starting material. The fuel must be heated to its ignition temperature for combustion to occur. The reaction will keep going as long as there is enough heat, fuel and oxygen. This is known as the fire triangle. Combustion is when fuel reacts with oxygen to release heat energy. Combustion can be slow or fast depending on the amount of oxygen available. Combustion that results in a flame is very fast and is called burning. Combustion can only occur between gases. Gases are made up of molecules (groups of atoms). When these gases are hot enough, the molecules in the gases break apart and fragments of molecules rejoin with oxygen from the air to make new product molecules – water molecules (H2O) and carbon dioxide molecules (CO2) – and other products if burning is not complete.
Fire is an oxidizing chemical reaction that releases heat and light. The actual flames that you see moving and glowing when something is burning are simply gas that is still reacting and giving off light. Plasmas are gases in which a good fraction of the molecules are ionized. Ordinary flames ionize enough molecules to be noticeable, but not as many as some of the much hotter things that we usually call plasmas.
(from https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/747-what-is-fire)
Fire is the visible effect of the process of combustion – a special type of chemical reaction. It occurs between oxygen in the air and some sort of fuel. The products from the chemical reaction are completely different from the starting material. The fuel must be heated to its ignition temperature for combustion to occur. The reaction will keep going as long as there is enough heat, fuel and oxygen. This is known as the fire triangle. Combustion is when fuel reacts with oxygen to release heat energy. Combustion can be slow or fast depending on the amount of oxygen available. Combustion that results in a flame is very fast and is called burning. Combustion can only occur between gases. Gases are made up of molecules (groups of atoms). When these gases are hot enough, the molecules in the gases break apart and fragments of molecules rejoin with oxygen from the air to make new product molecules – water molecules (H2O) and carbon dioxide molecules (CO2) – and other products if burning is not complete.
Fire is an oxidizing chemical reaction that releases heat and light. The actual flames that you see moving and glowing when something is burning are simply gas that is still reacting and giving off light. Plasmas are gases in which a good fraction of the molecules are ionized. Ordinary flames ionize enough molecules to be noticeable, but not as many as some of the much hotter things that we usually call plasmas.
From an Alchemists view
(from https://www.alchemylab.com/secret_fire.htm)
The alchemists recognized four grades of Fire with which they could work. Generally, these were classified from the grossest (most material) to the subtlest (most spiritual). The grades were called Elementary Fire, Secret Fire, Central Fire, and Celestial Fire. Elementary Fire is the fire of the created elements and is what we think of as fire in our everyday lives. Secret Fire exists within the consciousness of the alchemist. Central Fire is the fire of creation, the embedded Word of God, in all manifested objects. Celestial Fire is the brilliance of the Mind of God itself. See more at the above link.
(from https://www.alchemylab.com/secret_fire.htm)
The alchemists recognized four grades of Fire with which they could work. Generally, these were classified from the grossest (most material) to the subtlest (most spiritual). The grades were called Elementary Fire, Secret Fire, Central Fire, and Celestial Fire. Elementary Fire is the fire of the created elements and is what we think of as fire in our everyday lives. Secret Fire exists within the consciousness of the alchemist. Central Fire is the fire of creation, the embedded Word of God, in all manifested objects. Celestial Fire is the brilliance of the Mind of God itself. See more at the above link.
A few spiritual interpretations:
Metaphysical meaning of fire fromwww.truthunity.net/rw/fire : fire--Symbolizes cleansing and purification, but it is more than a symbol. Material fire is the symbol, and the fire of Spirit is the reality. The whole universe is alive with a divine, living, spiritual energy that consumes all the dross of sense and materiality. It is a fire that burns eternally. Because this is true, some have assumed that disobedient, sinful persons are to live forever in everlasting torment. But if the fire is eternal, the dross is not, and when the error is consumed the burning stops. The fire consumes only when it meets anything unlike itself. In purified man it is manifested as his eternal life. See more at the above link
Fire Element Symbolism and Meaning
(from https://www.buildingbeautifulsouls.com/symbols-meanings/five-elements-symbolic-meaning/fire-element-symbolic-meaning/)
Fire - Creation, Destruction, Transformation. Fire represents our passions , complusion, zeal, creativity and motivation. The above is quite an interesting article, which I recommend.
(from https://www.buildingbeautifulsouls.com/symbols-meanings/five-elements-symbolic-meaning/fire-element-symbolic-meaning/)
Fire - Creation, Destruction, Transformation. Fire represents our passions , complusion, zeal, creativity and motivation. The above is quite an interesting article, which I recommend.
Fire as a Spiritual and Holy Symbol
(a little extract from https://piodiaz.wordpress.com/2007/06/21/fire-as-spiritual-and-holy-symbol/)
"The flame is an image of fundamental properties for the living and human existence. – Peer F. Bundgård(1).
Fire: it has been with us ever since mankind first encountered it. It has been an indispensable, if not always trustworthy, partner in our historical development. With fire we keep a stark relationship with a sometimes faithless character: fully restrained one moment, wholly undisciplined the next. It brings us warmth, but also burns. It keeps danger away, but also reveals our presence. Summons to poetic revery, but also hypnotizes and dazzles us. At times it has left us abandoned, only to return again. Of the four elements– earth, fire, water, and air –fire is the ardent brother. Despite its tumultuous temperament, despite the fact that it is composed not only of benevolent, but also malicious powers, of these four elemental “siblings” it is fire that mankind has always been able to identify with best. Like us, fire is one of the living – a living, upright creature. It is born, needs nourishment and oxygen, it ages and dies." See more at above link..
(a little extract from https://piodiaz.wordpress.com/2007/06/21/fire-as-spiritual-and-holy-symbol/)
"The flame is an image of fundamental properties for the living and human existence. – Peer F. Bundgård(1).
Fire: it has been with us ever since mankind first encountered it. It has been an indispensable, if not always trustworthy, partner in our historical development. With fire we keep a stark relationship with a sometimes faithless character: fully restrained one moment, wholly undisciplined the next. It brings us warmth, but also burns. It keeps danger away, but also reveals our presence. Summons to poetic revery, but also hypnotizes and dazzles us. At times it has left us abandoned, only to return again. Of the four elements– earth, fire, water, and air –fire is the ardent brother. Despite its tumultuous temperament, despite the fact that it is composed not only of benevolent, but also malicious powers, of these four elemental “siblings” it is fire that mankind has always been able to identify with best. Like us, fire is one of the living – a living, upright creature. It is born, needs nourishment and oxygen, it ages and dies." See more at above link..