The Secret Beyond Matter

REPLIES TO OBJECTIONS REGARDING THE REALITY
OF MATTER

Although the issue of the reality of matter is exceedingly straightforward and easy to understand, some people attempt to avoid accepting the only possible conclusion, for a number of different reasons, and pretend not to comprehend it.

     Many people who have understood the problem have expressed their extraordinary excitement at learning "the secret behind matter," and how it has changed their lives and way of thinking. Many people try to go deeper into the issue, asking questions to try to understand it better. You can see some of the comments they make in the chapter "Those Who Learn The Secret of Matter Feel Great Excitement."

     Others, however, stubbornly deny this extraordinary truth, and put forward various objections of their own in an effort to reject it. Anyone who does reject it has to scientifically demonstrate that images or sounds do not form inside the brain. Yet none of the objections that are put forward, from scientists, professors of neurology, brain experts, psychologists, psychiatrists or professors of biology, in short from anybody at all, deny that our perceptions are formed within our brains. This is because it is a scientifically established fact.

     Despite this, some people try to cover the matter up by playing word games or adopting an overblown scientific manner. They try to avoid the evident truth which follows from the statement beginning "Since images form in our brains…" One of the clearest examples of this is the answers given by scientists who are asked whether images form in the brain.

     One of these scientists replies: "No, images do not form in the brain. The incoming signals form a representation of a visual experience."

     Let us now examine the method this scientist employs to ignore the truth. Asked whether images form within the brain, he starts out with a definite "No." He then follows up by saying that the signals form a representational image which enables us to see what we are looking at. So he is actually answering the above question in the affirmative. Of course the image in the brain is a "representational one". Our brains can never contain a real table, or sun or the sky. The image we have is a representation, in other words a copy. When we say we can "see the world," we are actually perceiving this "representational world", or "copy", or "imaginary world". These expressions are all different ways of saying the same thing. One scientist, asked whether what we see in our brains is a representational world, answers, "Definitely not. What we see in our brain is a copy of the world." In other words, he first rejects the question asked, but then uses a rather more confused explanation to confirm that we actually do see in our brains. This is a dishonest method resorted to by some scientists who fear that if they accept this truth they will in turn be forced to give matter up, which they believe is the only thing that exists.

     Others feel unable to deny that images form in our brains, but because they hesitate to say, "Yes, I see the whole world in my brain," they give a more meandering answer, "The brain simply processes the incoming signals and orders neural activity, that is how you see and hear." Yet in any case, the real subject of discussion is where the image forms once the brain has carried out all its processing. The answer provided by this scientist is not an answer at all but a short account of the stage before the formation of an image. The brain processes the signals, but it does not then send them back to the eye or the ear. For this reason, it is not the eye that sees, or the ear that hears. That being the case, what does the brain do after processing the incoming signals? Where is the processed information stored, and where is it turned into images or sounds? Who is it who perceives this information as images or sounds? When these scientists are asked for answers to questions like these, they try to avoid accepting the truth by offering long, convoluted accounts. Actually, it is a wonder that there is any debate about such an obvious truth at all.

However, all these ways of objecting to or avoiding the issue to hand are feeble and invalid. Until someone who objects to the reality that is described in these pages comes up with scientific facts to disprove that all our perceptions are formed within our brains, what he says will be of absolutely no worth. It is a fact that images and all our senses form in our brains. However, even though someone has clearly grasped this concept, he may still ignorantly insist on denying in his own mind the fact that it is God Who forms these images. He may say, 'I don't even like to think about it,' or 'It is uncomfortable to imagine that I can never see actual matter itself,' or "my life does not have any meaning any more." However, it should be noted that learning this vital truth about matter is not an uncomfortable situation at all. On the contrary it is a means to deeper perceive the might and power of God, better grasp His superior artistry of creation, love Him and hence the images around more by knowing that they are all manifestations of God, get more pleasure from them and live with a deeper meaning. In brief it’s a great and precious blessing. Yet, some people who find it hard to understand the profoundness of faith may find it unnerving that nothing exists but God. Yet they can never say that they see what they do with their own eyes, or that what they see are the originals that exist outside them. That is because there is no scientific evidence or observation to show that that is the case, and neither can there ever be any. In any case, even the most determined materialists accept that images are seen inside the brain.

This chapter will mainly be devoted to replying to the objections of those who cannot bring themselves to accept this fact. Reading these objections and the replies to them, you will see that the replies are actually quite evident when examined with honesty and without prejudice.

Objection: "When you see a bus coming towards you, you get out of the way to avoid being crushed. That means the bus exists. Why should you get out of the way if you see it in your brain?"

     Reply: The point where those who ask such questions are mistaken is that they think the concept of "perception" only applies to the sense of sight. In fact, all sensations, such as touch, contact, hardness, pain, heat, cold and wetness also form in the human brain, in precisely the same way that visual images are formed. For instance, someone who feels the cold metal of the door as he gets off a bus, actually "feels the cold metal" in his brain. This is a clear and well-known truth. As we have already seen, the sense of touch forms in a particular section of the brain, through nerve signals from the fingertips, for instance. It is not your fingers that do the feeling. People accept this because it has been demonstrated scientifically. However, when it comes to the bus hitting someone, not just to his feeling the metal of the indoor-in other words when the sensation of touch is more violent and painful-they think that this fact somehow no longer applies. However, pain or heavy blows are also perceived in the brain. Someone who is hit by a bus feels all the violence and pain of the event in his brain.

     In order to understand this better, it will be useful to consider our dreams. A person may dream of being hit by a bus, of opening his eyes in hospital later, being taken for an operation, the doctors talking, his family's anxious arrival at the hospital, and that he is crippled or suffers terrible pain. In his dream, he perceives all the images, sounds, feelings of hardness, pain, light, the colors in the hospital, all aspects of the incident in fact, very clearly and distinctly. They are all as natural and believable as in real life. At that moment, if the person who is having that dream were told it was only a dream, he would not believe it. Yet all that he is seeing is an illusion, and the bus, hospital and even the body he sees in his dream have no physical counterpart in the real world. Although they have no physical counterparts, he still feels as if a 'real body' has been hit by a 'real bus.'

     In the same way, there is no validity to the materialists' objections along the lines of "You realize that matter actually exists when someone hits you," "You can have no doubt as to the existence of matter when someone kicks your knee," "You run away when you meet a savage dog," "When a bus has hit you, you understand whether it is in your brain or not," or "In that case, go and stand on the motorway in front of the oncoming traffic". A sharp blow, the pain from a dog's teeth or a violent slap are not evidence that you are dealing with the matter itself. As we have seen, you can experience the same things in dreams, with no corresponding physical counterparts. Furthermore, the violence of a sensation does not alter the fact that the sensation in question occurs in the brain. This is a clearly proven scientific fact.

     The reason why some people think that a fast-moving bus on the motorway or an accident caused by that bus are striking proofs of the fact they are dealing with the physical existence of matter is that the image concerned is seen and felt as so real that it deceives one. The images around them, for instance the perfect perspective and depth of the motorway, the perfection of the colors, shapes and shadows they contain, the vividness of sound, smell and hardness, and the completeness of the logic within that image can deceive some people. On account of this vividness, some people forget that these are actually perceptions. Yet no matter how complete and flawless the perceptions in the mind may be, that does not alter the fact that they are still perceptions. If someone is hit by a car while walking along the road, or is trapped under a house that collapses during an earthquake, or is surrounded by flames during a fire, or trips up and falls down the stairs, he still experiences all these things in his mind, and is not actually confronting the reality of what happens.

When someone falls under a bus, the bus in his mind hits the body in his mind. The fact that he dies as a result, or that his body is completely shattered, does not alter this reality. If something a person experiences in his mind ends in death, God replaces the images He shows that person with images belonging to the hereafter. Those who are unable to understand the truth of this now on honest reflection will certainly do so when they die.

Objection: "It is true that I see all objects in my mind, but I cannot believe that all are copy images."

Reply: The fact that we perceive the whole world in our brains has been definitively established by science, and no right-thinking person can claim anything to the contrary. However, the point that people fail to understand is this: If we perceive all things in our minds, then will we never be able to know the originals of the objects that exist outside our minds? This doubt is valid: We never can be sure that what we perceive in our minds is the original external matter. That is because we can never step outside our brains and see what is really out there. That is why it is impossible for us to know how the external counterparts of the images in our brains really are. Nobody—not the person making the claim, nor a neurologist, nor a brain surgeon, nor a philosopher, nor anyone else—has ever been able to step out of his own brain to know how the matter outside it is.

Everything that a person knows about his life is perceived by the brain by means of the electrical signals reaching it. In other words, we always live in the worlds that exist within our own brains. The birds we see when we look at the sky, the car about to disappear from sight at the other end of the street, the things in our rooms, the book in our hands, our friends, relations and everything else—all of these are copy images that reach our brains. Nobody can step outside this life within the brain. Neither science nor technology can be of any assistance in doing so. That is because whatever a scientist may invent, he still invents it within that image in his brain. For that reason, the object he invents to see the outside world with still remains inside his brain.

It is not possible for anyone to know what matter actually looks like, because nobody has ever come face to face with the original of anything. From the time of the first man right up to today, not one human being has ever heard the original of any sound, nor seen the original of any view, nor enjoyed the original smell of a rose.

Objection: "The pain when a knife slips and cuts my hand and the blood that flows from it are not an image. What is more, my friend was with me and saw it happen."

Reply: We actually considered the reply to this objection in the previous answer. Given the importance of the subject, however, it will be beneficial to run over it one more time.

Those who say this kind of thing ignore the fact that not only sight, but other senses such as hearing, smell and touch also happen inside the brain. That is why they say, "I may see the knife in my brain, but the sharpness of the blade is a fact, just look how it has cut my hand." However, the pain in that person's hand, the warmth and wetness of the blood, and all the other perceptions still form within the brain. The fact that his friend may have witnessed the incident changes nothing, because his friend is also formed in the same visual center of his brain where the knife is formed. This person could also experience the same feelings in a dream—the way he cut his hand with a knife, the pain in his hand, the image and the warmth of his blood. He can also see in that dream the friend who saw him cut himself. Yet the existence of his friend does not prove that what he sees is not a dream.

Even if someone came up just when he was cutting his hand in that dream and said: "What you are seeing is just perceptions, this knife is not real, the blood flowing from your hand and the pain in it are not real, they are just events you are witnessing in your mind," the person will not believe him, and will object. He might even say: "I am a materialist. I do not believe in such claims. I feel everything I am now seeing. Look, can't you see the blood?"

Those who insist that they have direct contact with the original matter are like the person we have just been considering. In the world of perceptions they live in, they hear the words, "All these things are perceptions, and you can never reach the original sources of these perceptions," yet they violently oppose this truth.

Yet we must not forget that nobody who cuts his hand just says, "This is only an image" and sits down without doing anything about it. That is because God has created effects binding people to the images they perceive. For instance, someone who cuts his hand puts something on it, bandages it or goes to the doctor. However, he merely has experience of images formed in his brain of all of these processes. The bandage and the medicine he puts on are all images that form inside the brain.

Objection: "Is saying that we only have experience of the illusion of matter we perceive in our minds compatible with Islam?"

Reply: Some Muslims suggest that the fact that we only have experience of the illusion of matter in our minds is not compatible with Islam, and maintain that religious scholars in the past rejected this fact. That is not actually the case, however. On the contrary, what we are saying here is in complete conformity with the verses of the Koran. It is exceedingly important for a definite understanding of many verses and subjects revealed in the Koran, such as heaven and hell, timelessness, infinity, resurrection and the hereafter.

Unquestionably, even if he is unaware of this subject, a person can still live in complete faith. He can have faith, with all his heart and feeling no doubt, in what God has revealed in the Qur'an. We must still make it clear, however, that an awareness of this subject allows such a person to deepen his faith and certainty. A number of Islamic scholars of the past looked on the matter from that same point of view. The only factors that prevented what they had to say from being widely spread and known were 1) the fact that the level of science when they lived was unable to totally clarify the subject and 2) the existence of trends that were apt to lead to its being misunderstood.

The most important of those Islamic scholars who explained the true nature of matter was Imam Rabbani, who has been widely respected in the Islamic world for hundreds of years and is seen as "the greatest reformer of the 10^th century according to the Muslim calendar." In his book Letters, Imam Rabbani provides a detailed commentary on this very subject. In one of his letters, Imam Rabbani says that God created the entire universe at the level of perception:

I have used the following sentence above, "God's creation is at the sphere of senses and perceptions." This means "God's creation is at such a sphere that at that sphere, there is no permanency or existence for objects apart from senses and perceptions." 46

As a result, as we can see from Imam Rabbani's clear exposition, matter is not an absolute entity and we have only a very limited knowledge of it. All we can see is the image presented to us in our minds. It is God, the Lord of all the Worlds, who creates this image and presents it to us.

The great Islamic scholar Muhyiddin Ibn al-'Arabi also believes that the only thing that has definitive existence is God, Who has created the whole universe only on the perceptual level. He is known as "The Greatest Master" (Shaykh al-Akbar) on account of the depth of his knowledge, and in his work The Essence of Wisdom (Fusûs al-Hikam), he reveals that the universe is but a shadow existence consisting of what is manifested by God:

As Muhyiddin Ibn al-'Arabi's words demonstrate, man is something that possesses the soul God has breathed into him, a manifestation of God. God is all that really exists, whereas man is a dream. This is a most important truth, and we would be making a grave error to believe the opposite.

Alongside Imam Rabbani, Mawlana Jami also expresses this astonishing truth, that he came by from signs in the Qur’an and by using his own powers of reason, in the words; "Whatever exists in the universe is but a perception. It is like a reflection in a mirror, or a shadow".

As we have seen, great Islamic thinkers have made this truth perfectly clear, and for this reason it is not credible to claim that it conflicts with the Koran and the Sunnah, or that it is rejected by the world of Islam. What is more, it must not be forgotten that it is a scientifically proven fact, which nobody can deny, that we see all that we do in our brains. Because this was not scientifically known in past times, it is quite natural that some Islamic scholars should not have referred to it. Furthermore, the fact that we cannot have direct experience of the original matter has been described in a perverted way by some circles, who have tried to do away with the rules and laws of religion in this way. On account of these twisted and dishonest views, some Islamic scholars have issued warnings against these dangers. However, these comments have deviated from the truth. They should not be compared with the comments we have seen above.

As we have stressed from the very beginning, the truth is that matter is created by God and we cannot experience direct contact with its original.

46- İmam Rabbani, Letters of Rabbani, Vol II, 357. Letter, p. 163

47- İmam Rabbani, Letters of Rabbani, Vol II, 470. Letter, p.1432

48- Muhyiddin Ibn al-'Arabi, Fusus al-Hikam, p. 117-118