We do call that the body of Christ all right, but that doesn't make mortals and spirits identical...and it was the mortals we were told to ask to pray for us, not those who have passed on to where we don't know and cannot hear our prayers anyway.
"Mortals" are sojourning, what you call "spirits" have finished their earthly sojourn; both are in Christ.
Proximity, nor even the physical ears, are needed to hear in the Holy Spirit.
Or, to put it another way, I may choose to be guided by the Word of God in this matter.
Matter is not "stronger" than God; the Scriptures teach us this.
And the Scriptures teach :
"That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him ..." Eph 1:10
"Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:9
"We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." 2 Cor 5:8
"But you are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, who are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel." Hebrews 12: 22-24
If we are in Christ, we are not separated from any in Him and of Him.
Excellent decision, especially since you were just lecturing me not to do exactly that.
You may choose to see it that way.
The Jesus Christ I worship has conquered death; all in Him have eternal life
now.
It's in the present tense:
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me,
has everlasting life (zoe), and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." John 5:24
Do not mistake zoe for bios (span of physical life); in Christ we have the life eternal which is the spiritual life. To be in the body of Christ is to be united with all those in His body -
spiritually.