Body-Mind
Question:-
What are the Muslim responses on the
body-mind problem? Is there Dualism (both Body and Spirit exist) or Monism
(Everything is Matter or Spirit or only Spirit truly exists)? In what way are
computers different from human brains except in complexity?
Some extreme materialists say that what we
call consciousness is just an illusion of the mind. You get the impression that
you are in control while consciousness just gives you the illusion. When you
think that you have decided something, or think something came up in your mind,
what you have decided was part of a deterministic process you have no control
of. So your consciousness is time behind the deterministic calculations of the
brains. No different from complex computers except that it can grow and
reprogram after mistakes.
Comment:-
It is true that that we do most things
without being conscious of our actions or their causes or we become conscious
of these after the action. But this only shows that consciousness is something
different from unconscious processes. There are also sub-conscious events which
we can become conscious of if we put our attention on them. Attention is
concentrated consciousness.
Even an illusion can only exist if we are
conscious of something. Illusions arise from insufficiency or misinterpretation
of data which happens in darkness or when we are half-asleep, distracted or
hypnotised or due to strong desires, fears or confusion. We distinguish an
illusion from a reality by means of increasing the data of perception, widening
consciousness. So the assertion by these scientists is absurd - they are
suffering from an illusion.
Without consciousness we would not be aware
of anything - neither the world nor other people nor ourselves. Nor could we
say that there is an "I" about which it can be said "I am",
"I think", " I will" "I do". Consciousness is,
therefore, prior to experience, but not prior to reality.
There is no dichotomy in the Quran between
mind and matter or spirit and matter. There are a range of substances from the
very subtle and vital to the very coarse and inert. Everything derives from the
Word or Command of Allah which is Spirit. (Quran 3:47, 15:85, 17:85). But the
Command goes through several levels of organisation, (Quran 65:12). This is
like saying that some fundamental particles X organise to form the sub-atomic
particles, which organise to form the atoms, then molecules, then cells or
crystals, then objects or multi-cellular organisms and so on. There are several
"Worlds" or "Fields" consisting of all atoms, or molecules
or cells etc. So everything is ultimately spirit. But things become
progressively more rigid, inert or material owing to the organisation or laws
that restrict them or confine the spirit.
From the Islamic point of view, human beings
are a unit with three aspects body, mind and spirit (Quran 32:7-9.)
The body is made of the materials of the
earth and the spirit is put into it and the combination creates the mind. Body
refers to the structure; mind refers to the behaviour - thought, emotion,
feeling and voluntary action; and spirit refers to consciousness, conscience
and will. The soul can be thought of as the spirit when organised within a
body, so that it is different for each person.
From an Islamic or religious point of view,
we must distinguish between mechanical, automatic and conscious modes of
behaviour.
Mechanical means that there is a rigid
connection such as in a machine such that an external impulse leads the energy
along certain lines, causing certain reactions. Reflexes are of this type.
Automatic means that behaviour is more like a habit so that there is
self-stimulation. Instincts are of this type. Conscious behaviour is
intelligent in that it flows from awareness of the whole context in a
self-consistent manner.
Brains are capable of all three.
Brains are organic and constantly changing in
their connections.
They adjust and repair themselves.
They act as a whole, each part having
connections with others.
The functions of one area can be taken over
by another area.
The brain controls the input and the process
as well as the output.
It is the programmer, the program and the
hardware.
The brain does not function only according to
(a) its connected nerve circuits that transmit electric impulses but (b) it
also depends on blood circulation and hormones from endocrine glands which
affect experiences, processes and behaviour. (c) There are also effects between
cells owing to induction that creates an overall electrical field.
The brain not only experiences direct
mechanical affects and produces mechanical affects on the world via our
muscles, but also is sensitive to chemical, electronic, electromagnetic
processes. This connects to the rest of the body and through it with the rest
of the world and Universe with which we interact.
The brain consists of cells that are living
entities, which means that they are sensitive to a range of forces and undergo
changes and adaptation.
The brain gives us access to action, emotion,
feeling, purpose, information, thoughts, reason and consciousness.
The brain is divisible into various organs
each having its own functions though connected with others and each of these
consists of cells. These cells are also divisible into its own organs. These
are divisible into molecules, which are divisible into atoms, which are
divisible into sub-atomic particles. The fine structure of the cells gives us
access to the basic Quantum Field that underlies and unifies the Universe.
Question:-
I understand that
the notion of Unity (Tauhid) is central to Islam. But does this really imply the kind of unity you have spoken
of.? If it is true then there are likely to be wide scale implications which I
have not heard or read about. Can you indicate some of the consequences of this
mode of thinking?
Comment:-
Firstly, it has to
be stated that these ideas are not stated explicitly in the Quran, probably
because no problems arose until recently that required such statements. These
ideas are more like basic principles or assumptions that underlie the other
ideas that are explicitly stated in the Quran or implied in some of the more
allegorical passages.
Secondly, this
dichotomy between mind and matter arose in the Christian world and Islam came
to rectify what had been lost, misinterpreted or corrupted. Owing to the
establishment of a Priesthood and an organised Church that guarded and expanded
its prestige, wealth and power over the minds and lives of the people, it came
into conflict with the new influences that came into Europe out of the Muslim
world via Spain
and eventually brought the Enlightenment, Reformation and Renaissance. In
particular, it came into conflict with the developing sciences and also with
the increasing power of the commercial and political powers, the Merchants and
the Aristocracy. A compromise was eventually reached by which the Church was to
confine itself to private and spiritual matters while the Secular Trio confined
themselves to worldly and material matters. Thus the separation of the
religious and the Secular also led to the separation of the Church and State
and the division between mind and matter, spirit and body, values and facts, and
morality and motives. Religion became divorced from facts and the Secular triad
of Science, Business and Politics ignored moral values and reinforce each
other.
This also spilt
over into the society as the distinction between intellectuals and physical labourers,
owners and employees. However,
these tendencies also derive from more ancient civilisations of Egypt, Greece
and Rome where
people were divided into Masters and Slaves. The slaves did all the physical
work and had greater contact with the practical and the material but were not
required to think. The Masters were free to indulge themselves in games,
fantasies, whims, and in creating art and speculations. Between these two classes, a class of
administrators and managers also arose, which, instead of reconciling and
restoring unity, divided the society. The Emotional or Feeling elements that
produces the motives and should normally coordinate thought and action, spirit
and body, became perverted instead, as one can see from history and most of human
culture.
Were it not for
these perverse historical developments which the Spiritual Teachers, the
Messengers came to rectify human affairs would certainly have been different.
However, human development as that of the Universe takes place in stages which
is the reverse of that in which
Creation, an involutional process,
took place – it proceeds from a dense dead physical, to a
biological or social phase to a psychological or spiritual phase. The influence
of the Messengers does not die, but is more like a seed that grows slowly and
unobtrusively at first, springs into visibility at an appropriate future date
and then accelerates.
If these Foundation
Ideas based on Unity were to take hold of minds this would lead to three
important consequences:-
(1) We can use the
brain at several levels. We use only a very small percentage of its
capabilities. Islam is about expanding our awareness, motives and behaviour
into this area of potentialities. Without this context, the atheist or secular
answer would be quite different.
(2) Spiritual,
Mental and physical states and behaviour are connected with processes in the
brain. There is a degree of psycho-physical parallelism. This means that if
physical states have mental effects, then mental states can also have physical
effects. If we can study the world externally through our sense organs, seeing
things as material and explain all things in material terms, then we can also
do the reverse. Being much more intimately connected with our own bodies, mind
and spirit, we can increase our knowledge through inward awareness and explain
things in spiritual terms. Between these two ways of looking at things, a
typically mental mode of seeing and explaining phenomena would be through their
behaviour. That is, all things can be regarded as consisting of vibrations of
various combinations of frequencies, amplitudes and strengths and this
determines their structure behaviour and effects on each other. All things
derive from the Word of Allah which can be regarded as consisting of a bundle
of vibrations which divide and differentiate into all the other forces. There is ultimately no separation
between matter, energy and information.
(3) As we see the
world only according to our capacities for perception, motives and
interactions, the Experienced World, “World-E” is not the same
thing as the Real World, World-R.
There is much more to Reality and Existence than we are aware of . “World-E” is not only a
small part of “World-R” but it also contains inventions due to
fantasies, habits and assumptions. This seems to make it lie partly outside
“World-R”. However, fantasies, etc. are also real, though not in
the same way as other real things – they are mistaken for these other
real things. A contradiction, therefore, seems to have arisen here. This can
only be removed if the idea of what is “Real” is not restricted to
the material. It is a false assumption in some quarters that things in the mind
are not real. When, for instance, a placebo is given to someone who has some
complaint and it works in curing him, then the attitude is that both the
complaint and the cure were “only in His mind”. The fact is, they
were real and had physical effects and causes. In fact, the same mental state
can be shared by many and this creates a condition in a collective mind which
has both social and environmental consequences and may be caused by them. But
we have to distinguish between three types of reality that interact. Sensations
that give us the idea of materiality is also an experience within consciousness,
as are feelings (connected with desires, motives, processes, interactions,
life, energy) and thought.
The Described
World, “World-D” is, likewise smaller than “World-E”
and also appears to lie partly outside it. That is, we have words in science
and philosophy for which there are no corresponding experiences. But,
nevertheless, words are also experienced. So we have to distinguish between
different kinds of experiences. Words can be lies, explanatory devices, models,
novels that are true to life, symbols for various processes or general patterns
in nature or the mind, myths that refer to modes of experiencing or convey
attitudes and values.
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