What does matter and spirit’s being essential, and matter’s being like a tulle curtain over it mean? Will you explain matter’s being a curtain over the spirit with an example?
Submitted by on Thu, 14/05/2020 - 20:02
Dear Brother / Sister,
1.2.8-Spirituality is Essential, not Matter
The value of a computer is determined based on its software part, not the hardware part. Likewise, the value of matter is the information written in in. The meaning in matter is important. What makes a fig important is the information written in its seed.
Materialism, which is based on matter, said that the essence emerged later, that is, abstract knowledge was reflected from matter. Research has shown that matter is not essential. Matter is a veil on the spirit. We can explain that matter is a veil on the spirit by giving the computer as an example. What makes a computer valuable is not its case, electronic circuits, monitor, keyboard, accessories. What makes a computer special and important is the card and software part of it. The value of a computer is determined based on its software part, not the hardware part. Likewise, the value of matter is the information written in in. The meaning in matter is important. What makes a fig important is the information written in its seed because that information is very valuable and needs serious protection. If it is not protected, the species of fig will end. For instance, when a company produces a device, it protects the production information with special red codes to prevent it from being imitated. If it gives the information, it will have given the copyright; in that case, it will lose its value and control. What makes matter valuable is the information written in it. Materialism, which accepts matter as the basis, accepts information as the result of matter. However, as it is seen in the example of computer, it is explained that the universe is a software according to quantum dynamics and that matter can be converted into digital format. That all materials such as stone, earth, pencil and paint can be converted into digital format indicates that matter is not essential and that what is converted into digital format is meaning. Matter is a shell that is placed over science and software as packaging material. Thus, the source of matter is meaning, which proves that meaning is essential. Thus, quantum refutes the thesis of materialism that “matter is essential”.
When a person dies, his body is buried under the ground, but the information he developed throughout his life can be kept in the flow of the universe as a file of meaning.
Although the cells in the human body change at certain periods, the information stored in man’s memory throughout his life remains unchanged, which shows that information is loaded onto the spirit, not the cells.
In the 1920s, when neither computer technology nor electromagnetic waves were known, Badiuzzaman Said Nursi stated seriously that matter was not the essence but the result in creation under the name spirit, life and meaning, that spirit was the meaning and that spirit was preserved when man died though his body was destroyed:
“If anyone studies his own life and self, he perceives an immortal spirit. Indeed, in the course of occupying its body for a number of years the spirit causes the body to change considerably, yet the spirit self-evidently remains constant. In which case, although the body is ephemeral, it does not affect the spirit’s permanence, nor spoil its nature, even though the spirit is completely naked at death. However, in the course of life, the spirit gradually changes its body-clothes, and at the time of death, it is suddenly undressed.
It has been established through certain conjecture, indeed, through observation, that the body subsists though the spirit; in which case, the spirit does not subsist through the body. Rather, since the spirit subsists and is dominant of itself, the body may be dispersed and gathered together again as it wishes; it will not infringe the spirit’s independence.
In fact, the body is the spirit’s house, it is its home; it is not its clothes. What clothes the spirit is a subtle, fine sheath, something which may be likened to a body, which is to some extent constant, and is ethereal and appropriate for the spirit. At the time of death, then, the spirit is not completely naked, it leaves its home dressed in its body-like sheath”.1
All of the information inside a computer can be saved to a flash memory and the computer can be discarded. When a person dies, his body is buried under the ground, but the information he developed throughout his life can be kept in the flow of the universe as a file of meaning. Therefore, the survival of the spirit is possible. The computer does not consist of the case, the monitor and the keyboard, that is, its visible material part; it also has software; similarly, man also has a part related to meaning. That part is his spirit, his life and his consciousness.
1Nursi, B.S. Sözler, p. 642.
Questions on Islam
- What is spirit (rooh)? Can spirit's essence be comprehended? Is spirit merely brain? What is the relationship between spirit and body?
- What is the real existance of a living thing(spl:Human) spirit or body?
- Question 3: Do cloned beings not have spirits?
- First Source: The independence of the spirit from the body.
- Coincidence is unacceptable
- What kind of relation is there between spirit and brain?