Everything we see as matter in fact consists merely of photons for us. Photons are light particles with varying wavelengths. These waves reach us and turn into electrical signals when they strike the retina in our eyes. The electrical signals move along a predetermined path and eventually reach the visual center in the brain. And there they assume meaning in a quite amazing way: We are sure that what we see is really there, and that there really is a television or a skyscraper in front of us.

No matter how convincing the image of a skyscraper may be, what you perceive as matter in fact consists of nothing more than electrical signals. And the image forms in your brain, not in front of you. The real image of the skyscraper outside will never reach you. All you perceive, as electrical signals, is the light waves emitted from it. To put it another way, what you see is nothing more than light waves and electrical signals. For that reason, throughout your life you only experience an illusory image of a skyscraper, never the original of it. Despite being an illusion, however, it still has a perfectly clear and flawless appearance. It is very difficult for you to realize the fact that it consists only of electrical signals. The image is so perfectly created in the brain that it is almost impossible to distinguish it from the original. This is the immaculate artistry of our Almighty Lord.

A miracle is created every day, every moment in the human brain. Although only electrical signals reach the brain, and although the interior of the brain is pitch black and although this region is only a few square centimeters in size, all the mountains, seas, fields, the sky, endless wastes, houses, televisions, people, trees and in short everything we see are all in the brain. Everything there is colored. But there is no color in the brain. Everything there is light and bright, but there is no light in the brain, nor even outside it. Everything there is noisy and accompanied by sound, but the interior of the brain is completely silent. There is a depth to everything there; the stars seem very far away, while a pencil we hold in our hand seems very close. But in fact everything is on the same plane in our brains and at the same distance. The Sun seems to be thousands of kilometers away. But it is actually right next to us, inside our brains. The reason why the Sun exists in our brains is simply and solely electrical signals. A heavenly body we know to be thousands of kilometers across is actually created in a space of just a few square centimeters. And, to remind ourselves, it exists solely as an electrical signal, that we cannot hold in our hands nor even really know exists.

For that reason, the world we see is not the original of matter. We can never have direct experience of the original of matter on the outside. Our world is limited to what we are shown on the screens in our brains. Apart from that, we have no guarantee whether entities really exist or not, just as we have no guarantee whether the world created for us is the same as the real world on the outside.

The world we see is the world that Allah transmits to our souls. There is no matter in that world; no hardness, softness, scent or color. There are only electrical signals. Allah makes electrical signals the causes of the bright and colorful world He shows our souls. And it is the soul He created for human beings that perceives and interprets these images, rejoices, grieves, doubts, feels joy and longing, remembers, loves and feels excitement in that world.

Oct 17, 2008

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