What is the true reality of things?

Dear Brother / Sister,

4.3-MAN IS A MIRROR THAT REFLECTS THE NAMES OF ALLAH’ IN THE BEST WAY*

Exact sciences are based on observation and they develop through questioning. The biggest obstacle to the development of science is conditioning and its source is the habit that occurs over time. A person who is used to seeing two things together all the time perceives these two things as part of one another or one of them as the source of the other and gets the feeling that one of them cannot exist without the other. It is very difficult to overcome these prejudices that become deep-rooted and make man accustomed.

We can perceive many things such as strength, love, anger and even life, vision, hearing, etc., only when their effects are seen on matter; and we naturally form the opinion that the source of everything is matter. This prejudice, which we form without questioning, forms the platform on which science is built today.

In fact, everything that we perceive as matter - from sub-particles to galaxies, from microbes to humans - is a mixture of matter and non-matter.

We generally rely on our five fundamental senses, all of which are related to matter, in our perception of the environment and beings. In other words, we cannot see something that does not have matter (like mind and love) and we cannot touch things that are not matter. As a result, we see matter as the real being, and the things that do not have matter as imaginary beings or as the manifestations of material interactions.

In fact, everything that we perceive as matter - from sub-particles to galaxies, from microbes to humans - is a mixture of matter and non-matter (immaterial things). Everything is virtually an embodied meaningful word or a fabric woven with material and immaterial fibers. And what is essential is not matter, but meaning. Matter is only the sheath or garment that enables our five senses, which themselves are also meanings, to perceive it. The material world is like a tulle curtain over meaning.

The reality of things is the manifestation of Allah’snames.

 “The physical world but is a lace veil strewn over the irradiating worlds of the Unseen,”¹

“An embodied meaningful word, is each being in the world.”²

“This material and manifest world is but a lace veil strewn over the inner and spirit worlds.”³

That is, meaning is the core and matter is the shell. Meaning is beyond time and space but matter is subject to time and space, and hence laws of physics.

There is nothing like life, willpower, consciousness, fight, love and beauty in the basic building blocks of matter; and what does not exist in the basic building blocks cannot exist in the whole. If there is, it means it comes from somewhere else. The reality of the diamond is understood only when it is realized that the glitters do not come from carbon atoms but from a light source other than the diamond. The reality of beings, especially human beings, will be understood when it is realized that tens of immaterial glitters, such as life in matter, come from non-matter layers, not from the particles of matter.The reality of things is the manifestation of Allah’s names. This reality is expressed as follows:

“The Divine Names constitute the true reality of things,while the essences of things are only shadows of that reality.”⁴

That is, the true reality of things are Allah’s names. The essences of things are the shadows, manifestations and reflections of that reality.

*It was published earlier (ÂdemTatlı. Bilimlerin Işığında Yaratılış. 2nd Impression, Üsküdar ÜniversitesiYayını no: 2, Istanbul,  2017,  p. 133-155).
1.Nursi, B. S. Sözler. Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı  Yayınları-600. 2nd Impression, Ankara, 2016, p. 865.
2.Nursi, B. S. Muhakemat. Envar Neşriyat, Istanbul, 1996, p. 134.
3.Nursi, B. S., Sözler. p. 632.
4.Nursi, B. S. Sözler. p. 780.

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