If it's any help, here's a post I made in another forum for a chap who was arguing that consciousness is somehow seperate from the physical brain.
"OK, neurons 101. The 'electrochemical energy' is produced by ions and their movement.
When a neuron isn't sending a signal, it has a potential difference (voltage) of about -70 mV lower than its outside surface. This is called the resting potential. This is because proteins in the cell's membrane allow a net movement of positive sodium ions out of the cell (positive potassium ions move in, but I'll not go into that). When the neuron detects an impulse at its recieving synapse (more on synapses in a minute) other proteins - sodium channels, they're called - in the cell membrane open, allowing the sodium ions to move in. Once inside the cell, they diffuse out around where they came in, increasing the potential difference in that area, which causes more sodium channels in these other areas to open and allow sodium ions in. The inside of the cell becomes more positively-charged than the outside. This is called depolarisation.
When part of the inside of the cell has become sufficiently positively-charged, the sodium channels close again and the first protein I mentioned starts moving the sodium ions out again. The inside of the cell becomes more negatively-charged than the outside again. This is called repolarisation. Repolarisation will make the cell a bit more negatively-charged than the resting potential, so that the sodium channels cannot open again until all of the sodium ions inside the cell have been pumped out. Once the sodium ions have moved out the cell is restored to its resting potential and the sodium channels are free to open again. This mechanism prevents a nerve impulse going the wrong way, and ensures that nerve impulses remain distinct from each other.
But enough of that. A synapse is a junction between two neurons, through which a depolarisation may be transmitted. There is a tiny gap between the two neurons. In the pre-synaptic neuron are a bunch of little sacs containing proteins called neurotransmitters (which neurotransmitter depends on what part of the nervous system the neuron is part of). When a depolarisation reaches these sacs, they move to the surface of the neuron and release the neurotransmitter molecules inro the synapse. The neurotransmitter molecules diffuse across the synaptic gap to the post-synaptic neuron, where they are detected by protein receptors. Part of the structure of these receptors is of a shape that allows the neurotransmitter molecule to fit inside it. When a neurotransmitter molecule attaches itself to that part of a receptor, the receptor causes the sodium channels in th post-synaptic neuron to open, and hence a depolarisation to occur.
So. How would the ions (or neurotransmitters for that matter) being dispersed into the environment allow for consciousness to survive after death? And where is there any need in all of that for an independent, non-physical consciousness?
Edit: what consciousness is doesn't matter here, as you said that it's seperate from the body and I'm saying it's not."
Here's the thread.