How is the Soul connected to our Biological body?

unknownuser

Peace be upon you Tay,

The simplest questions can be the most baffling

329 Then He evolved/shaped/endowed him, and blew into him from His spirit. And He made for you the hearing, the eyesight, and the hearts; rarely are you thankful.

The way I see it, the human body is the vehicle which the "spirit" was blown into. The spirit, coming from God, becomes omnipresent within the vehicle. So, every cell within the body is encompassed by the spirit. Taking it a level deeper, cells do not actually "touch" each other, so the spirit encompasses the space between as well. And still deeper, the atoms which make up the body, being mostly space themselves, leave a vast area for the human spirit to dwell. I'd venture to say there is more spirit then physical matter in anything, since everything in itself is mostly "space".

I agree with what Tay has stated, except I do not seperate the physical body from spirit(ruh/energy/wind), E=MC(2) proves to us that energy and matter are the same thing. All of what we call matter is made up on this energy, at different vibrations. This is provable, verifyable information. So we don't even have to guess about our being, we have objective proof.

We cant talk of "spirit" without connecting it to something verifyable. The order(deen) is based on knowledge, making lawful connections of one thing to the next. We are told not to go after that which we have no knowledge of, so we have to have all these concepts associated with verifyable experiences.

Tay

Peace Kyle,

Well put. I didn't mean to insinuate that the spirit and the physical is seperate. By encompassing the entire body, I feel they are one and the same, not seperate at all. Since all matter is energy, then the energy that animates the human must be the spirit of the human.

Hope that makes sense.

Peace,
Tay

unknownuser

Hello Tay,

Peace Kyle,
Well put. I didn't mean to insinuate that the spirit and the physical is seperate. By encompassing the entire body, I feel they are one and the same, not seperate at all. Since all matter is energy, then the energy that animates the human must be the spirit of the human.
Hope that makes sense.
Peace,
Tay

If spirit is energy then spirit can't travel faster than light since the speed limit of the Universe is the speed of light?

And if spirit is energy then we should be able to detect it somehow in the future perhaps?

Regards,

unknownuser

Hi all,

329 Then He evolved/shaped/endowed him, and blew into him from His spirit. And He made for you the hearing, the eyesight, and the hearts; rarely are you thankful.

The way I see it, the human body is the vehicle which the "spirit" was blown into. The spirit, coming from God, becomes omnipresent within the vehicle. So, every cell within the body is encompassed by the spirit. Taking it a level deeper, cells do not actually "touch" each other, so the spirit encompasses the space between as well. And still deeper, the atoms which make up the body, being mostly space themselves, leave a vast area for the human spirit to dwell. I'd venture to say there is more spirit then physical matter in anything, since everything in itself is mostly "space".

I would agree with Tay's explanation.
Spirit is not a physical entity like the body is.
So, it does not belong to any specific area of the body.

I didn't mean to insinuate that the spirit and the physical is seperate. By encompassing the entire body, I feel they are one and the same, not seperate at all.

I would think, spirit and the body are definitely seperate entities but the spirit is merged with the body as one, when alive.
When we die, it leaves the physical entity.....the body.

Peace!

Osiris

Hello,

Very interesting question that I pondered my entire college career as I studied Psychology and later on, Neuroscience at the graduate level.
While I dont have any answer for this exactly, I personally believe the soul and spirituality is carried in our brains at the level of our brain cells through their chemical and electrical interactions. What leads me to believe this?
It is pretty apparent in the field of neuroscience that many things that had no biological explanation 100 or 200 years ago, in fact do. By these things I mean our moods, dispositions, feelings of joy or depression, are all mediated by neurons organized into functional groups.
To the extent that spirituality and feeling close to God invokes joy, and joy is something in which can be directly correlated to brain activity, I think it is plausable that spirituality and the soul is part of our brains as well.
Furthermore, our brains are a product of our DNA blueprints, so by extension, one could say the soul and spirit ultimately arise from our genetic make up, which to a large extent is the same across creatures.
So I know I sound like i'm going out on a limb now, but since all living creatures are created by Allah, and I think the Quran states all animals observe Allah (correct me if I'm wrong), perhaps the soul is something hardwired in the DNA of all organisms, and is ultimately expressed in the brain.
Just some food for thought, hope I don't come off as a mad scientist

Heres an interesting article that was in Newsweek a while ago, related topic

http//www.templeton.org/brainmindemergence/press-newsweek20010507.asp

bmbmm

Hi Osiris,

Good message! Its strange that there is a genetic component (or is it?). Such as the childern have some of the behaviour or their parents. Its interesting to see what other people think.

Peace

unknownuser

what about the particles which crosses the earth, our bodies in millions every nano second. not physically detectable yet they r in theory ?

Why do we say that everything we do is chemical reaction. where as any one particle can make the difference

Osiris

well, what are chemicle reactions except for organized groups of particles coming together to form a product? Its all part of the same universe.

Tay

Peace All,

LoteTree, you stated

If spirit is energy then spirit can't travel faster than light since the speed limit of the Universe is the speed of light?

Not necessarily. If you recall Aspect's experiment mentioned in "the Holographic Universe", the particles reacted simultaneously, instantly, no matter how far apart they were.

And if spirit is energy then we should be able to detect it somehow in the future perhaps?

Perhaps we detect it now, but have given it a scientific name.

PeacefulMuslim, you stated

I would think, spirit and the body are definitely seperate entities but the spirit is merged with the body as one, when alive.
When we die, it leaves the physical entity.....the body

I agree with you, with the caveat that in this life - this realm - the 2 are inseperable except in glimpses, such as out-of-body and near-death experiences.

Peace,
Tay

Tay

Peace, and welcome Osiris,

You stated

I personally believe the soul and spirituality is carried in our brains at the level of our brain cells through their chemical and electrical interactions.

Valid point. I would venture to guess that the chemical and electrical interactions are the effect of being embodied by soul, and not the evidence of soul itself. The soul animates the body, not the other way around.

Getting a bit heavier, there is certainly a barrier around the body that maintains the soul energy within the body. If you look at electrical interaction at the subatomic level, one must wonder what keeps the "twitch left finger" command from zipping right through the entire universe.

Peace,
Tay

bmbmm

I some time think that the part of the body, could be the brain, act as a reciever or a reception of the soul. The soul which act as a signal, and this signal to body connection is disconnected while we sleep, and completely disconnected when we pass away. But how and where is it connected demands more research?

bmbmm

Dear All,

I am thinking of writing a book on the topic, and I have though about a few titles bellow. Please comment and/or suggest any you think are appropriate.

A Cellular & Spiritual Junction
The Biological Soul
A Biological-Spitural Junction
The Biological-Spiritual Connection

Any other titles? Please comment, and thanks for your attention.

sawtooth

I like "the Biological Soul" Or perhaps The physical connection a spiritual Journey

bmbmm

Thanks Sawtooth,

I will use The Biological Soul, and will keep you inform...

bmbmm

Children, apart from their look, have some character resembling their parents. Is it because their genetic make-up have a cetrain control on their souls?

Sword_of_Allah

Is a soul really necessary? If so why is it that our BODIES are ressurected at the Judgement?

bmbmm

Hi,

There is a soul apart from the body as we know. I think for the soul to have experiance, such as we are having here on earth, it is designed to develop an affinity with the body by Allah, which we are not in control of or know much about. So upon ressurection Allah might give us another form of affinity. I do not know whether its gonna be a biological one or not, but I am really interested to know how at the present it is connected to the biological component.

Peace

Tay

Peace Sword_of_Allah,

Is a soul really necessary? If so why is it that our BODIES are ressurected at the Judgement?

Please post the ayah the supports your position. In the meantime, ponder this

2424-25
On the Day when their tongues, and their hands, and their feet will bear witness against them for what they used to do. On that Day, God will pay them what they are owed in full, and they will know that God is the Truth Manifested.

How, exactly, would a tongue, hands, and feet testify against a person if the person does not have a soul seperate from the tongue, hands, and feet?

Also, can a tongue, hands, and feet "testify" by way of vocal communication?

I believe 2424-25 tells us that all we do is imprinted on the whole. Our bodies are a walking testimony of the life we lead.

Peace,
Tay

bmbmm

What about when the angels take the soul of the sinners, and they punish them? Is that not in the Quran?

Tay

Peace bm,

Kindly indicate who it is that you are addressing. It gets a little confusing otherwise.

Peace,
Tay