Microscopic life in the blood, born at the Wellspring, symbiotic with every living thing. High counts make a louder phone, not a better person. Qui-Gon tested a boy. Later he taught Yoda that Living energy feeds the Cosmic, and the midi-chlorians carry the speech. Force Priestesses keep the well. Ghosts are what happens when a life learns to keep a shape in that speech.
A count is not destiny. Anakin’s number did not save him. Yoda’s road after death was a curriculum, not a prize.