Life is manifest in four distinct states of existence. My notion or theory that life, or ego, or agency, existed for each individual prior to the time of the spirit birth is pure speculation, wholly unsupported by any correctly understood and properly interpreted scripture. Life began for man and for all created things at the time of their respective spirit creations. Before that there were only the spirit elements from which the Almighty would in due course create life. In the sense that spirits never die or go out of existence, life is unending or eternal.
Mortal life consists in the temporary union of body and spirit.
The natural or temporal death is brought to pass by the separation of body and spirit. In this sense life ceases when death comes. In it we take the final examination for all the life we lived in pre-existence, and in it we take the entrance examination which will determine the kingdom of glory we shall inherit in the life hereafter. But in the sense that spiritual realities and qualifications far excel temporal things in importance, this life is not of great worth as compared with the gospel and salvation. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.