We need to know in which state the belief gene is activated in the brain. In Buddhist priests, a region in their brain is activated when all of their needs are met, their desires are fulfilled and they feel that their personality is integrated with the universe. What activates these three properties, meets all of the needs of man, fulfills all of his desires, and makes him feel secure as a part of a whole is the feeling of belief in an infinite power.
A region appears in the brain of a person who attains the feeling of slavery to God; a genetic activation related to establishing a connection with the concept of God occurs there. However, this is a gene of believing in a limitless power, not necessarily God. That is, there is a genetic program coded for belief in a limitless power in man.
A person who installs a program in a computer wants that program to be used. If the program is very useful for the user, this information file and program will be very important for that person. It means he will act in accordance with the purpose of the person who has installed that program.
In a computer, along with the programs that operate in cache memory, there are programs that operate silently in the background. If a person wants to solve a program, he will solve the ones operating both in cache memory and in the background; thus, he will solve the problem. When we consider the human brain as an information machine with more than ten billion cells and trillions of connections, it is possible to say that human brain resembles a computer. Those connections are kinds of program software.
Human brains and computers resemble each other a lot. The language of the program in the brain is a genetic language. The existence of genetic in this program shows that the power that programmed the brain attaches a special significance to it. This is the biology of belief. It evokes the concept God.
The thesis accepted as philosophy by atheism is that there is no God but people created God. Man believes in God because he has a need for believing in a limitless power and a feeling of taking refuge in a power with limitless wisdom and strength. This genetic code, which is present in man with the bond of causality, does not show itself directly due to special reasons.
There is a concept called endophenotype in genes; it means the change that the environment a person lives in makes in the expression of the gene. If the environment and man does not want the expression of that gene, the expression of it is suppressed. A disease like anorexia nervosa deadens the feeling of eating of a person who wants to lose weight very much; similarly, the people who do not believe in God eliminate this expression, which comes from their genes and prevent it from operating. These people sanctify money, power, the state or causes instead of God. For instance, the Pharaohs, who were sanctified in Egypt, were regarded as the representatives of God on earth and people obeyed all of their orders as if they were divine orders.
Egyptian Pharaohs, who used the feeling of being the representative of God on earth for authority and ruled people based on it, or administrations based on kings or queens disappeared but the holiness of laws and causes replaced them and became important. The state of sanctifying laws in Germany became apparent in the form of great loyalty to laws. Puritan ethics emerged since the understanding of especially Protestant ethics gave too much attention to laws. The thought that those who do not obey rules oppose something holy brought about distrust in them.
There is a biological and genetic tendency toward belief. In endophenotype approach, this gene changes its expression culturally. Phenotype is not transferred as genetic inheritance. When a person dies, it dies with him. If Mozart had not been raised by his family but by another family, he would not have been Mozart. Similarly, the existence of a talent can be visible but it develops when it finds the suitable environment. Therefore, we can say that genes are only a set of inclinations and abilities.
Genes are like seeds sown on the soil. A seed develops when you arrange the light and heat; it dies if necessary conditions are not provided; similarly, the tendency to believe in man develops or weakens based on the preference of him. Man himself determines the desire to use or not to use the genes that were installed in the file of mind. If man uses it, he develops it; and he gets the reward after the test given by the one that gave him the program.
The place of believing in man’s creation is like accepting the constitution. The Creator imposes a limit on those who do not accept His constitution and punishes those who upset the great balances in the universe. The intervention of God in history takes place like that.
The owner of the palace gives bounties to those who disobey Him and obey Him. His mercy, love and granting good things seem to be dominant in the places that He created; that He helps even those who do not recognize and disregard him proves it. It is important for a person to act justly and live in discipline for the life in the other world.
Belief in life in the other world and belief in the fact that a great Creator created the universe is an issue that the Creator attaches great importance. It is not suitable for the divine aim for a person in whose life good deeds and bad deeds will be accumulated to believe in the Creator but not to believe in the life after death.
Belief in the Invisible
If a person wants to specialize in mathematics, he has to know the multiplication table first. It is not possible to learn calculus without sufficient infrastructure because man has difficulty in explaining the new knowledge he learned without any basis. Regarding the universe and creation, a person has to believe in existence and eternity first.
After accepting the existence of the Creator and life after death, it becomes easier to explain the other issues regarding belief. However, if we do not accept these two basic thoughts in belief, it is not possible to defend our belief. Similarly, it will not be possible to explain belief in destiny and the feeling of justice to a person who does not believe in eternity.
Those who do not recognize the Creator are kept in the world by Him within certain boundaries. Waiting for some time for them so that they will notice their mistakes and compensate them, the Creator keeps them in this world. In addition, He gives them some opportunities to correct their mistakes as a necessity of His name ar-Rahman (the All-Merciful). That He does not exterminate those who rebel against Him is the clearest indication that He is the owner of mercy. We can liken it to parents who do not stop helping and showing compassion to their child though he makes many mistakes. This state originates from the feeling of protection and the fact the he has the potential of improving.
Those who make mistakes deliberately are not helped after a certain time. However, when those who make mistakes but have good intentions go toward precipice, the Creator may put a barrier in front of them and prevent them from falling into precipice. He gives them some opportunities through invisible assistance so that they will find their ways. He warns them through interventions.
The most important property of monotheistic religions is that they declare that the Creator has the control. It does not comply with the attributes of the Creator to rule everything but not to have the control. Those who burn a town in order to cook an egg like Nero will not get away with it. If such a person is not punished, it will not comply with the harmony in the universe. Another life, where the oppressed and the oppressors will be punished and rewarded will definitely exist.
Coming to the Level of Belief in the Invisible from the Visible is the Evolution of Man
To believe in the invisible is an expression of concretization. For instance, if you shed a red light on a child’s hand, he might not notice that it is a light but he might cry thinking that it got painted because it is difficult for the child to know the difference between the abstract and the concrete.
To believe in the invisible originates from not being able to see the background and not being able to reach the level of abstract thinking. Therefore, the need for religion in people increases based on their level of development. A person who proceeds in abstract thought actually shows his need for religion. However, a child whose IQ level is about fifty or an autistic child has no needs apart from his basic needs.
Abstract thinking emerges when man’s questions on existence become intense, when he tries to add meaning to himself and to life and when he asks questions related to time and future. Belief in the invisible shows man’s level of development.
We see the story of the prophet Abraham (Ibrahim) as the first concrete example of the quest for God. When soothsayers said to Nimrod, “A boy from this generation will destroy your sultanate”, Abraham’s father raised Abraham in a cave. Abraham was away from concrete adorations of life when he reached the age of abstract thinking; this state caused him to question and kept him away from wrong learning about God. This made Abraham view life and the universe through different eyes and made him use his will for worshipping and need for belief. Abraham, who was in contact with a group of a few people, started to question. After questioning, he started to object, denied what people said, noticed that the sun, the moon, stars and anything regarded to be great by people in nature would not meet man’s needs; they all show how much he progressed in abstract thinking. The point Abraham reached shows the level humanity reached in abstract thinking. Humanity reached the level of finding the Creator through the mind.
Humanity reached that level before but they deviated very easily. Eras like the First Age and Stone Age are the periods of childhood for humanity. People living in that period were ordered to worship as much as Abraham was by God. However, the responsibility of a person starts when he is informed about it.
There is a messenger that explains the truth to the generations coming after him; it is up to the will of a person whether to obey this messenger and listen to what he says or not. People were given lessons by prophets and these lessons made humanity progress in abstract thinking.
Concept of Light
It is very important to explain religion without eliminating the will of people. It is very important for man to find God by focusing on the topic in a way that is suitable for his personality. Allah wants His slaves to find Him by using their minds through their free will. It is a must to use free will in this way. This is actually a state which was imposed by the Creator in creation, in which He did not show Himself, explained only the truths and gave man the right of preference through his own free will. Allah will give him what he wants through His limitless power whether he prefers the wrong way or the right way.
In a verse in the chapter of al-Baqara in the Quran, the following is stated: “Allah is the Protector of those who have faith: from the depths of darkness, He will lead them forth into light.” The following is stated in verse thirty-five of the chapter of an-Nur, which explains belief as getting rid of the darkness and making people attaining the light of guidance: “Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth.”
When we pay attention to the word light, we will see that it can actually be regarded as the illumination of the universe. It is emphasized here that Allah has illuminated the earth and the heavens with an energy band that can be called “light” and that made man move away from the darkness by showing him the truths through guidance. For instance, light is necessary for a person who enters a forest at night, walks there and wants to find a way in order to proceed; that person can use his pocket lamp to find his way. However, he will see limited places when he proceeds with the pocket life and will have difficulty in noticing the dangers; he will proceed in fear and anxiety related to the future. However, when that person thinks that the forest has an owner and asks help from the owner, everywhere will start to be illuminated by the help sent by this power. Belief is like that. Otherwise, man will start to proceed through his own free will.
The thing called “the light of guidance” during man’s journey in the universe is like traffic lights. These lights tell man where to stop and where to proceed and where there are traps. It illuminates man’s way and becomes a comrade for him like a torch. When man does this, he receives his energy from the Creator.
Although control seems to be in man, man is not dominant over everything; that power can stop man whenever He wants. Man has the feeling of dominating nature and himself. This is related to his desire to be a small god of earth.
Everyone has the feeling of believing in something sacred; and through this feeling, man certainly sanctifies his ego, money, the state or something that he believes in. The sacred thing is something that man believes in and adheres to without questioning. For instance, a person who has the thought, “I never make mistakes” has sanctified his ego; if a person attributes rain to nature only, he has sanctified laws of nature. However, this will not be enough to explain everything. Sanctity that explains everything is possible only through the belief of oneness. This belief enables man to explain everything in the universe philosophically. The relationship between the Creator and man can be likened to the relationship between a source that shows man the way and an object. For man, slavery means achieving to establish a connection with the Creator. To believe means to confirm to be included in the system of the Creator of the universe. To be a slave means to maintain the flow of energy without breaking the connection with the power supply.
Belief of Oneness
To believe in a single absolute power with infinite knowledge, wisdom and a power that can control everything comforts man and gives him the feeling of security. When a person does his best and then surrenders to the great power by feeling his weakness and helplessness, he will attain happiness because he trusts in that power. Man will not fear anything in the universe because he relies on the power of the universe by surrendering to that great power, trusting him after doing his best and asking from Him the knowledge and experience to do better. It is very important in order to get rid of groundless fear and to increase security.
The belief of oneness gives man well-being. The Quran is very important because it gives peace to a hopeless person. The divine books of the Creator state one main purpose. This main purpose expresses the benefit of belief related to psychological health. We can say that there is no reason why a person who has the belief of oneness should not be happy.
Manifestation of the name “Rab” (Lord)
The Creator displays His characteristic of lordship in various religions. We can explain it with the following example: Think of a small child; he is hungry but cannot open the door of the fridge; he is waiting for someone to come and feed him by crying. Children think they can control their parents with those acts until their abstract thinking develops. With that primitive thought, the child thinks that when he cries, what he wants is realized and that he has the power and control. Parents who do whatever their children want due to their excessive love for their children think that they have the control but indeed the child virtually becomes the small king of the house. In this case, when the parents evaluate whether what the child wants is good for him, they will do what is right for the child not what he wants. This is education. To do whatever the child wants is not education.
When we consider limitless desires and motives of man, it is not right to say no to all of them. Some of the expectations of man are met by the Creator but others are not answered. The Creator educates man in this way. The dominant attribute of the Creator that we feel when He educates man through the language of events is ar-Rahman (the All-Merciful). Therefore, the most commonly mentioned name of God in the Quran except Allah is ar-Rahman, which is also mentioned at the beginning of every chapter. Allah protects humans with His mercy and educates them with His compassion. The divine equivalent of love and discipline are mercy and justice. The Creator protects His slaves through His mercy and draws limits for them with His justice. This is the equivalent of love and discipline in theology.
In Which Age is Belief Easier?
Man loves his ego very much, sanctifies it and believes in it. To believe that ego will solve everything makes man think that the divine attributes are also present in his own ego. This tendency in man leads to the state in which everybody produces solutions that will relieve them. That man tries to find a way out when he feels weak is an indication of it. People that worshipped the idols that they themselves made for hundreds of years are examples to this state. In this period, with the influence of modernism, people are taught to worship their own ego and self under the name of individualism along with nature and the holy spirit. It is possible to say that this property differed based on the development level of humanity in the past. For instance, during the time of Moses, the tendency of worshipping the concrete was very high; when the Pharaoh died, tons of gold was put into his grave. This state is an example of worshipping the power. When Moses was away from his tribe for forty days, people sanctified gold, which they attached the greatest importance in their life, because they felt lonely and needed to worship power. By combining gold with calf, which met their basic needs, they mentally concretized what was abstract and worshipped like that. The example of the golden calf in the Quran is very important in this sense.
It is possible to see very clearly the example of struggling against the stimulus of believing in the concrete in the life of Moses. Although man is shown a lot of miracles, he forgets those miracles when he is alone and seeks a way out that will comfort him temporarily. This state took place differently in the period of Jesus. In a period when there was a very powerful Roman legal system, a quest for a new religion against this power emerged. With this need, Jesus set off in order to find people that will help him in the way of the Creator; he managed to make people listen to him by presenting love regarding belief and faith and healing people. In that period, humanity, which had not fully reached the level of abstract thinking yet, was sent divine help with some concrete messages. Water gushed forth from Hz. Muhammad’s finger and quenched the thirst of the army; he could not be killed despite some suicide attempts; he foresaw many things in return for the troubles he suffered; they are all evidence proving that he was a messenger sent for the universe. The first reaction of the people to the messengership of prophets was always to make fun of them. Because they broke the routine of people, all of the prophets were made fun of and ridiculed at first. They were helped by the Creator when they were in these difficult situations. When assistance from God arrived, those who made fun of them had to think. Most of the assistance was in the form of miracles that can be called visual help; when Jesus healed ill people and bald people, those who believed in the concrete underwent great changes. However, these properties of Jesus and other prophets were not permanent; they appeared when they were necessary; the Creator realized them in compliance with His own wishes rather than the messengers’ wishes. The divine power timed and planned His wishes Himself and He always had the control.
Most of the values and knowledge that made man real man came in the period of Hz. Muhammad; and they were not changed after that. After Hz. Muhammad, many false prophets arrived but none of them could establish a religion; this is one of the indicators of the prophethood of Hz. Muhammad. Hz. Muhammad managed to persuade people to give up bad habits fourteen hundred years ago. This state proves that he was a prophet. However, people’s esteeming miracles was replaced by seeking the Creator through the mind of the eye as humanity has developed and it has become easier to access knowledge today. Material miracles are not necessary for the people of this age. People can find the Creator by methods of reasoning. The miracle of today is to use science.
Servitude and Being Tested
The events people face within the framework of destiny change based on their nature, culture and level of perception. The test of a person whose perception is high is not the same as the test of one with low perception. For instance, a philosopher is tested by his mistakes in the field of philosophy but the test of a construction worker might be related to how he meets his daily needs. There is no single truth for characters; similarly, the incidents that happen to people are not the same. However, the existence of the good and the bad shows the existence of a philosophical association. It becomes apparent which one man prefers between the good and the bad. For instance, the desire to do a favor to others and the stimulus to do evil to others are the same in all cultures. It is similarly valid for people living on the mountain, in the desert or in the city. If a person’s feeling to do a favor to others is dominant, if he tries hard to avoid harming people, if he adopts it as an abstract ideal and if others feel, “he will not harm me deliberately” for him when he makes a mistake, we can say that this person really does his best to be a good man.
Philosophical association that changes for every religion and culture can also change for individuals. Therefore, Allah has promised that He will not distress those who believe in Him and do good deeds. Although people degenerate it and change its shape, the Creator gave this concept to humans and left them free to realize it or not.
Allah is dominant over details but He did not enter into details. Thus, He paved the way for man by giving him the right to choose and initiative. In fact, He taught man the way of learning by living and developing himself like this. This proves that Allah does not force people as it can be seen in the following analogy: the parents who train their child allow their child to play outside in the cold weather when he insists because they want him to find out what cold weather is like; and the child returns by telling his parents that they were right. To present choices and to ask people to choose among them is not in compliance with the divine style. The divine style presents choices and helps man to practice them.
Servitude and Weakness
Though man has senses and material power of sanction, he asks for help from others related to the issues that he is not good at. Man is weak related to a microbe, illness or things that he cannot foresee about the future. It is very important for him to know this weakness. Weakness means to be too weak and helpless to do some things.
Along with weakness, man is also poor. The concept of poverty is involved with being unable to meet one’s needs. Weakness is being weak and helpless when one faces states like illness and poverty. Poverty means to be unable to meet one’s needs and to lack strength in the presence of psychological needs. The needs of a person are determined by himself and his level of maturity. A person’s weakness and poverty might not be directly proportional with needs. For instance, people who have everything but still work hard do it with the expectation of being appreciated. This hard work that a person does in order to satisfy his ego is a need that the person forms himself. For instance, when there was no electricity in the world, there was no need for electricity. However, when there was a supply, people thought they needed electricity and started to use it.
Needs change based on time and conditions. In the presence of a need, when a person cannot obtain it, he may feel that he is in poverty. However, even a person who lives in the poverty line today will be regarded as wealthy compared to a person living one hundred years ago. To determine needs is closely related with a person’s philosophy of life. Therefore, the concept of poverty is very important in servitude. Today, we see that man feels hopeless in the presence of acts of God. There were massive earthquakes in Los Angeles, USA and Kobe, Japan a few years ago. They were earthquakes that happened in the countries and cities that were regarded as technology giants. In these places, people who trusted technology very much saw that their roads were torn up.
There is a divine intervention regarding the issues that humanity knows his place about the things that it can or cannot do. This situation is not punishment but informing man about his limits. To inform man about the response for his act is done in order to inform him about his limits. Man can disrespect the one that gives him bounties because he does not know his limits even though he is weak and poor. The best way of servitude is not to transgress one’s limits. A person who sanctifies himself elevates himself as if he will be worshipped. This means that he does not know that he is a slave and that he has rendered his ego a small god.
Perceiving Death
Death is regarded as a warner in all doctrines. Death, which is named as advice, is evaluated in accordance with the meaning of this word. Advice means giving information to a person who does not know what to do when he is faced by some incidents regarding the issue that he needs help. For instance, spirit is some information. The information may be light, psychon, photon or a similar thing. Man needs information when he loses his direction. This information is important for him because it tells him where to go, where to stop and draws his limits. Among this knowledge and information, death is the one that renders man helpless because man is the only being that notices the existence of death.
There is a genetic tendency in man related to perceiving death. Although it has not been defined up to now, a gene that we know to be related to the concept of time makes man notice that he will face the reality called death. Man’s tendency to believe in eternity is important in his view on death. When viewed with plain Aristotle’s syllogism, man is a being that eats, drinks, grows up and dies. From this point of view, he is no different from the development of an apple tree. Man’s adventure of life affects his realities like all living beings. As man grows old, he starts to fear death. To say to a person who is eighty years old, “you will leave this world soon” means not to empathize with him because if that person believes in eternity, death is not something terrible for him.
To think about the feeling of eternity, death and existence has an effect that develops abstract thinking. Those who have materialistic thought assume that forgetting death will make man happy and that otherwise he will be unhappy. Since thinking of death decrease happiness, they tried to keep people away from this thought. It is like giving some painkillers to a person who has a toothache instead of treating him seriously. On the other hand, to forget this reality when we see that death is a grim and inevitable reality means not to think about after death. However, the most distinct indication of the mind is to foresee and plan the future. If a sane person cannot make philosophical inferences regarding after death, it means he does not use his mind properly. From this point of view, it is very important to make interpretations about death.
It is very important for man to think about death without losing the feeling of hope. The materialistic view, which advises not to think of death so as not to lose this hope, overlooks the reality that man cannot forget death.
We have seen global tragedies and traumas more than individual tragedies recently. The number of the victims of traumas increased. For instance, the destruction of twin towers affected not only Americans but also the whole world and caused a trauma effect. This state expresses the direction toward “not thinking” brought along with the age of communication and escape from the weakness related to after death. It is more appropriate for man to think that the events have some causes that cannot be explained by him rather than including what is unexplained in the category of the bad or overlooking them. Otherwise, to overlook the things that we think we do not see means to use a wrong mechanism of defense.
Destiny and Belief
Man has time perception and the desire to plan the future. Destiny is a state for man related to being able to establish a connection between his position and the path line.
Man’s experience that he accumulated by living in the past is on one side and his expectations related to the future is on the other side. However, man cannot see the future very easily. Man also has the feelings of curiosity and wonder, which are not present in the other living beings. Due to these two feelings, worries about the future occur. If we do not trust the captains of the ships we travel in, we will always question things; this questioning causes uneasiness. To believe in destiny means to believe in the captain of the ship in a sense. The existence of the universe is similar to this. To believe in the existence of a power that controls the earth and the sky related to living, the universe and existence in life enables “free” will to present easiness to man. To take refuge in the mercy of the Creator when one makes a mistake and to know that He is aware of all incidents when something bad happens relieves man. Here, the view of destiny together with surrendering gives man inner peace.
A person who believes in the captain of the universe can proceed in a good way in life. To believe in destiny does not mean to sit lazily and not to do anything. If man thinks that the ship of the universe knows where it is going and does not leave his berth, he cannot even meet his own needs and his respectability will decrease.
If man does not do what he is supposed to do, it means he does not fulfill his ethical responsibility. In the universe, there is a harmony that is similar to that of an orchestra. If man makes small mistakes in the universe, they may be tolerated but big mistakes are unforgivable.
Man’s belief in destiny does not eliminate his own free will. There is freedom for man within the boundaries drawn for his desires; and therefore, the real destiny is understood after it has been lived. What we try to understand is the written and foreseen destiny. A person who plays a game prepared by a computer program by saying whatever is present in my destiny will take place, he cannot play that game properly. However, if he does his best and then says whatever is present in my destiny will take place, he can win the game since he has tried hard. Otherwise, the result will be frustration.
The thought of paternalism, which is effective in fatalism, takes destiny to a point where making efforts is not necessary. The understanding of paternalism, which appears in the form of referring and which eliminates human will, does not comply with the will of the power that writes the program because man do not play his role here. Or when he trusts himself excessively and thinks that what he does is a result of his own efforts, things can take place differently from what he estimates because he cannot intervene in the changes made by the Creator. The limit between what he can control and what he cannot control is destiny. It is very important for man to know what he can do and what he cannot do within the boundaries of slavery.
Effects of Belief on Psychological Health
Imagine two circles overlapping each other and an area formed where they overlap each other. This area is the area where spiritual existence and material existence unite. Here, the brain, our intermediary organ, steps in. This area, which enables passages between material life and life beyond matter, is the place where proceeding from material existence to the abstract starts. Man is a material being. There are also radiant beings. The energy which is faster than the speed of light is called spirit. Its equivalent in the Quran is light. This is energy superior to light energy. The divine book, which says Allah has a light that surrounds the earth and the sky, mentions that energy is superior to light and that He directs the universe with this energy. Scientific methodology is sufficient in order to find the Creator. To believe is possible scientifically. There is religious information that was analyzed through methods of reasoning and logical postulates and then was proved through positive science. After the data of positive science comes reasoning; after reasoning come intuitions, and after intuitions comes believing. These four phases find the truth through positive science and proceeds instead of finding the truth through transferred knowledge. To wait for miracles through supernatural events means not to know the attributes of Allah. We need people who will make inferences by using what is available without waiting for miracles.
True Belief in Allah for Psychological Health
Man needs to define the concepts that he believes in. The question, “By believing in what kind of a Creature does man meet his psychological needs and contribute to his happiness and satisfaction?” is a question to which an answer has to be found. Man’s belief in something sacred originates from here.
Man sometimes meets his need of basic belief in him by sanctifying and believing in himself. Some people believe in nature and some in spirit itself. However, it is necessary to know what kind serves man’s psychological nature, happiness and ego satisfaction.
The question whether the existence of the Creator is necessary for man brings about an ontological stand and man produces an imagination related to his own existence. When we look with these mental phenomena, religious life in the most general sense believes there is an invisible system in the universe.
There is an invisible system and intelligence in the universe; the state of living harmoniously with the system in the universe is called religion. When we accept that the mind that created the universe does not exist, it means we live inharmoniously with the system in the universe. This style of living independently is like proceeding with the torch on the road during the day without accepting the sun.
What determines man’s behaviors is the truths that a person accepts and believes in. Similarly, if man does not believe in the visible realities in life, he will suffer the consequences.
The person who first put forward the concept of believing in the invisible was Plato. The reason why the term “platonic love” is used is the fact that Plato was the first person who said it was necessary to believe in the abstract and who mentioned imaginations.
Kant is one of the philosophers who emphasized the importance of believing in abstract objects and who influenced the West the most from this point of view. According to Kant, to believe in issues like God, spirit or immortality is determinative in human behaviors. There are differences between people who have such beliefs and who do not in terms of their views on life, ethical beliefs and practicing them in life. If man believes in a system and an external power, he will feel responsible toward Him. If he is deprived of this belief, there will be no one he will account for.
In the history of philosophy, the reality of believing in the abstract was always discussed. Today, there seems to be a secret competition between science and religion. Here, the clash of visible and invisible realities is in question.
The movement called rational mysticism, which combines science and religion, holds the view that there is a Creator that displays His grandeur outside and that after creation, He should not lose the control related to His grandeur. When it is considered that this Creator needs to be dominant over every point of the universe through His limitless power, it is concluded that rational mysticism is reasonable. The next stage after accepting the existence of the Creator is to go on thinking by acting upon the fact that His existence is “one”.
It is necessary to know the Creator, to believe in Him, to love Him and to worship Him for the universe to operate healthily. After believing in Him, an emotional communication starts in the connection established with him through love. After that, responsibilities come. When we look at the attributes of the Creator, we notice in the part that is related to the properties of the Creator and that is found through reasoning that it is obligatory that He has no partners and helpers and opposites for the maintenance of the order. He will inform His slaves about His existence in a way that He does not need anything but everything needs Him.
Those who cannot notice the attributes of Allah and those who believe in polytheistic religions move away from belief since they cannot notice these attributes fully. A person who does not move away from the benefits of believing in one Creator will not be able to find God if he cannot find more than what is transferred to him by the culture he was raised. Therefore, along with the need for guides that has been present for centuries, a person who reaches a mature level mentally today has been taken through science to a point more different from the miracles that were needed before. In today’s world, humanity can conclude that Allah exists by thinking since he has approximated Him very closely through the mind; he does not need supernatural powers so much. Humanity should find the answer to the question, ”Through what attributes may the Creator have created the universe?” It will be possible to understand what kind of belief in Allah we have through this way. The deep thoughts at this point and the awareness of man regarding the issue can ensure the formation of a healthy belief only after seeing the attributes of the Creator. To find Allah through the mind takes place like that. A person first believes; then, he adheres to what he believes in and finally attains happiness and satisfaction. A person can be healthy before he believes if there is a Creator that meets these needs. The Creator will also attain happiness and satisfaction if all of His needs and desires are met, He has all kinds of wealth, is faultless and perfect, He is not material, He knows the nature of everything, His knowledge covers everything, He uses His power proportionately and He is away from all kinds of incompleteness.
The reason why humans and the other living beings cannot fully comprehend the power of the Creator is the fact that He is great. Man can understand his Creator only to that extent with his existent senses and his property of reasoning. He is not seen due to the power of His existence. That He is not visible does not prove that He does not exist; on the contrary, it proves that He exists. Some wavelengths and frequencies exist but we cannot see them. We can notice them only through some devices though their existence is so clear. Similarly, man can notice the Creator through the mind and the heart.
The Span of Difference between the Power of Man and his Desires is Big
The Creator must be such a force that he must be able to direct everything with His commands “be” and “stop”. He must be able to create out of nothing and He must be a Creator whose existence continues bot h at the beginning and in the end. The qualities of this power can approach man to peace when the identity of man unites with the identity of the Creator. To surrender to such a belief will meet man’s need for believing in and adhering to a sacred thing; it takes man to the highest point of satisfaction after adhering. Even the existence of such a power that makes man have this feeling shows us that the universe was created by a single Creator.
Although man has a high creation, the span of difference between what he wants and what he can do is big. Due to this big difference, it is considered that man has some other abstract needs. Only when these needs are met does man’s feeling of security forms fully. Fear is dominant in places where there is no security. Man needs a power he can rely on in order to be protected from fear. This shows that the Creator exists through the method of reasoning.
If man thinks about why the universe was created, he can understand the existence of the Creator; however, if he thinks about how it was created, the existence of the Creator becomes hidden. While thinking about why it was created, man can see His existence through the eye of the mind by saying, “there must be a Creator”. The Creator who produces the work of art tries his slave regarding to what extent he will find Him and how he will attain Him. Allah has codes of existence; when the slave asks about one of these codes, he will be shown another code; after solving it, he will be given yet another code; and finally he can find the Creator. The codes in the universe can be solved through the mind; after that, it is necessary to establish the connections among the codes. The existence is obvious for the one who thinks why it was created and hidden for the one who thinks how it was created. The realities of the Creator are limitless realities. Limitless realities cannot be perceived through limited glances. Eternity cannot be seen through limited glances. Then, we can postulate and make inferences only through methods of reasoning.
Although we do not see the personality of the Creator, it is possible to see His attributes and to observe His existence through His works. Similarly, the universe shows the attributes of the Creator not His personality.
Imagine that a tall skyscraper will be built. The architects and engineers of the building need some information before constructing the skyscraper. It is necessary to look over everything from engineering knowledge to economy and even meteorological information. Only through this information can the building be constructed in the correct place and ground. Along with these conditions, the person to construct the skyscraper needs to have material and spiritual power to build it; the money to find and buy all of the materials necessary for the skyscraper, manpower and mind power are also needed. At this point, knowledge, will and wisdom need to be united. The wisdom here is to construct the skyscraper in the correct place; the practicability and feasibility of the building shows that the person who constructs it has wisdom. Will is going to decide to build it and apply this decision freely and transform it into deed. The construction of a building in this way can finish in two years at the earliest. The construction of the building is possible through knowledge more than manpower.
In fact, the universe means knowledge. Especially after the emergence of digital technology, it has been stated that the universe and everything is knowledge and that it consists of data and programs. In existence, a lot of knowledge is recorded in the distant memory of man; similarly, there is a need for a power with a great memory in the universe. This power knows and controls the past and future of everything; it forms the existence of the universe and the connecting element of life like this. A worker cannot know as much as an engineer does. An engineer has more knowledge than a worker but he knows less than an executive member does. When we look at the universe, we see that those who deal with positive science are like engineers. Those who know why the universe is existent in compliance with the divine will are prophets and saints that are said to be the inheritors of prophets. It is necessary to maintain this balance between the existence of the universe and the existence of man. At this point, the phrase “feelings with no place” is used for abstract feelings. However, if something is abstract, it does not mean that it is not existent. Therefore, some realities that we cannot see are indeed the reality of the existence of the universe.
Death and the Feeling of Control in Man
The living beings other than humans cannot perceive the concept of death. Human beings have slaughtered animals for centuries to meet their need for food but animals have not organized in order to struggle against humans because their genetic programs are coded like that. This shows that animals do not know the end of life.
To meet material needs does not satisfy man; so, abstract needs form. The need for being appreciated and feeling of security for himself and for his offspring and the desire to improve the world and the situation he is in are among needs of man. However, something hampers man who wants to realize himself. Man who is weak against what hampers him can get rid of this negative feeling only through belief in immortality; and he can lessen his burden by taking refuge in the power that creates everything. This situation can be likened to a person who boards a ship with some heavy burden on his back and who does not leave his burden because he does not trust anybody. The passenger who does not put his burden on the ground because he does not trust anybody actually disrespects the captain. If such a passenger does not trust the captain, he needs to get off the ship. A passenger who thinks, “the cloud makes it rain; the air current forms the wind; the captain has no effect on the movement of the ship” does not notice his own weakness and poverty; he starts to act as if God does not exist. However, if man acts by being aware of the fact that God exists, it will be beneficial for him. The freedom of the person will be different based on the one of those two thoughts that he chooses for his acts. Therefore, the acts of a person determine his life.
It is necessary for man to determine, draw and perceive the power and boundaries of the Creator through his own power and boundaries. Man, who has reached distant points like going to the space, feels weak in the presence of a small earthquake or storm.
We can easily say that the thought “there is no need for a Creator” does not comply with the psychological nature of man because man has a need for believing in the sacred, and trusting or taking refuge in a Creator. When man trusts, he feels secure that the danger is over. A person who knows himself can determine his boundaries in a way to establish a connection with the Creator. To know the difference between demanding his wishes boorishly and properly will determine his relationship with the Creator. The state of being weak determines man’s need for belief; and the existence of these needs opens the doors to belief.
The psychological wounds in man can only be healed by the beliefs man has. The medication prescribed by positive science will be insufficient after a certain point. This forms a very important rule for the happiness and satisfaction of man real in its real sense.
Man tends to escape from the realities that give him agony. In the illness of panic disorder, the most important factor that leads man to anxiety is the fear of death. In the brain, there is a region called hypothalamus, which perceives this fear. It is also the region that is related to man’s feeling of control.
To face death is very important for the feeling of control. The attempts to eliminate the fear of death instead of explaining the reality of death to people will be harmful for both people and their environment. It is necessary to interpret the fear of death in compliance with the happiness of man instead of eliminating the neural connections located in that region.
Thanatology
The branch of science which is known as thanatology and which tries to understand the relationships of man with death searches what kind of a connection man should have with death. One of the feelings that man needs the most regarding death is the feeling of hope. A person who deals with the issue of death should find solutions that will not harm this feeling. Otherwise, it is very difficult to be successful and happy.
The most important formula that keeps hope going along with the reality of death is belief in eternity. The existence of another life after death enables man to interpret death without eliminating hope. This is the traditional method of solving the problem but this is the useful style of thinking. On the other hand, the materialistic view thinks that death is a painful and inevitable reality but it argues that it is necessary to overlook death in order to get rid of death; it rejects everything after death. Man can think like that to a certain extent only when all goes well and when he still has power. However, if he thinks of the future and questions his life through a philosophical viewpoint, he will prepare himself for it.
No matter how much man escapes death and fear of death, he will face many incidents that will remind him of death. In the past, fear of death was something that was experienced individually, but after the September 11 incident, the terror of death was started to be experienced globally. This traumatic effect would have affected only the people of that region one hundred years ago, but with the advancement in communication technology, it affects the whole world today. Those who are not involved with an incident are affected by all of the global disasters in the world. The death of celebrities makes people feel sad as if someone from their family died. When people think that someone they frequently see died, it affects them as if one of their relatives died; and a need to find a solution arises.
Man should question his own existence, the reality of death and all of the visible and invisible realities in the world. This questioning will contribute to man’s sagacity.
Man should know that he lives in the true way in order to be able to face death. Those who fear death the most are those who know that they will be accounted for the mistakes they made. A person who thinks life ends with death and says that he will not account for anything acts upon the view, “there is no other world”; when he is treated unjustly and when he cannot cope with others, he thinks, “Maybe, there is life after death.” He tries to move away from the agony of death by applying anesthesia on himself like that. For instance, Nietzsche questioned the existence of death and committed suicide because he could not find an answer to it. The power of belief to console man becomes apparent at this point. If man thinks he will disappear, it shows that he thinks the existence and life are meaningless. It is very easy for people to be hopeless and to surrender when they face difficulties if they do not receive strength from religion.
Man has certain reactions regarding death. The first reaction is, “I will not die.” Then, the question, “Why me?” follows; there is fury and denial in this question. After this protest, the person accepts that he will die but he starts the process of bargaining. This process becomes apparent with the following words, “Yes, it is me but…” After that, either the reality of death is accepted or depression occurs. If that person overcomes depression, acceptance takes place. If a person who thinks of the reality of death has a sound belief, he can move to that phase easily. Those who have weak beliefs pass to the fifth phase in a much more difficult way. Many of them can remain in the unsolved mourning syndrome because they cannot manage it.
An intelligent person sees not only the beauty that is present in the universe but also the being that creates this beauty. When an intelligent person goes to a city and watches the beauties there, he wants to know the person that has created those beauties and has built up the city. The owner of the city will entertain this person, who approaches the city with this viewpoint, and talk to him. Otherwise, he will not appreciate a person who leaves after eating and drinking.
Man needs psychological support to protect him from dangers. He might not see everything fully because he is weak and needy. When Abraham was asked how he became a friend of Allah, he said, “I preferred Allah’s wishes to my wishes and loved him more than anything else.”
Severity of being Affected from Death
People are born, grow up, live and die. It is an expected behavior to accept death as normal like birth. However, according to the researches done on the old people, man’s desire to live did not decrease but increased as he grew old. To give an eighty-year-old person the message that he should get ready for death will disturb him. Even if he says that he is getting ready for death, he has difficulty in doing it in his heart. Materialist approach argues that it is necessary not to talk to old people about death and to act as if death does not exist. However, the thought of death is something that is absolutely necessary in order to add meaning to life.
Old people face death more than others because they encounter illnesses more and they lose their relatives. This state makes them question life more. This state is what is defined as getting rid of heedlessness and remembering existence in religious literature.Therefore, the issue of death caused the need for religion and the need for adding meaning to death to proceed together.
A person who does not know that electricity shocks needs to touch it to understand that it shocks. A person who questions the existence and meaning of life makes an arrangement related to life after death and lives in accordance with it will not be afraid of thinking about death. However, when a person who does not think like that, overlooks death and says God is somewhere away from me encounters death, will think that he will meet God. Consequently, it can form a feeling of accounting.
Prophets and the theologians that came after them became guides for humanity. Man is likely to make mistakes and to be deceived. This struggle of man who is defeated by mistakes due to sanctions coming sometimes from inside and sometimes from outside is an ontological struggle. Man who is directed by both the concept of devil, which reminds evil, and the concept of angel, which reminds goodness, makes his decision through his own free will eventually. Man who decides which way to follow will be able to reach the target he has determined if he obeys the guide and signs on the road. At this point, death has a serious role in man’s planning the future. Man who lives in this world like a guest cannot grab a property wholeheartedly because he knows that he will lose that property after a while. This concept is seen in the West and in England. In England all property belongs to the Kingdom and everything is leased for ninety-nine years. The same thing is in question in the creation of the universe, too. In this case, if man does not realize death, he will experience a painful life because death is a curtain. What is behind the curtain is not seen. Since this point cannot be understood through five senses, it will be seen through intuitions and the eye of the mind. The religion of Islam defines real life as “life in the hereafter”. If a person lives by being aware of it, it will be easy for him to face the reality of death.
Hidden Meaning in DNA
Man learns the concepts related to symbolic thought in certain periods; similarly, his psychological development shows that he reached the age of accepting the Creator with his attributes. Adding meaning to death is located in this maturation. However, coincidental existence cannot explain it. They try to bring a lot of things together through calculation of probabilities but it is not possible to explain the meaning of the universe. What makes DNA man is not amino acids like nitrogen and protein in it but the meaning written there.
There exists the difference of body and spirit in man. What we call spirit is actually meaning. However, the meaning in the book does not occur on its own; similarly, it is not possible for this meaning to form on its own. Even if the Creator is not present in the universe with its own being, He is present with His properties and names. They are all present on matter as attributes. For instance, the cover, paper and volume of a book are its body and what is written in it is its spirit. When we consider a book without its meaning, we will show disrespect to its writer. Man’s DNA is also a book. In a DNA, there is encyclopedic knowledge that can be seventy meters long. This knowledge is present in both the simplest cell and the most developed cell. The universe has been programmed based on death. There are programmed cell deaths in DNA. The same thing is valid for the human brain, too. When it is due, death definitely takes place. Therefore, death is the most important reality in the universe. The power that created the universe placed death in life very clearly and sharply. Then, death must have a very different meaning.
To consider death as an end and termination can be valid for other beings because they have no consciousness. However, the existence of consciousness in man shows that there is a much bigger consciousness in the universe. The existence of small consciousnesses that recognize the past and the future in the universe serves as the existence of a great consciousness that knows the past and the future. The concept of God expresses high consciousness. This is what adds meaning to the universe; if this meaning were not present, there would be no meaning of the creation. The high technology in the universe activates the programs it has formed when it wants and has the authority to stop it when it wants. The determinative role of the reality of death at this stage is the fact that the Creator will make people think of returning to Him after death.
Concepts of Reward and Punishment in Religion
We often emphasized the similarities between the properties of man and the universe. While the universe is a macro model, man is a micro model. There are neutrons and protons in the middle of an atom and electrons around it; similarly, man is like a minimized universe and the universe is like a maximized man. There are a lot of similarities between them. It is enough to understand this to know that the rate of water in both the universe and man is the same.
Reward and punishment are universal concepts. The equality of a person who obeys rules and one who does not is the weakness of the system and shows that the system will not work. If things that seemed bad like cardiac diseases did not exist, man would not need to learn how the heart worked and he would lead a life only by eating and drinking. Therefore, to know that good and bad feelings would be rewarded and punished after death would cause man to work harder. The concepts of Paradise and Hell can therefore motivate people to do good deeds.
When we look at man’s psychological dynamics, we see that what makes him do good deeds is reward and what makes him avoid bad and wrong things is punishment. One of them reinforces positively and the other negatively. Animal tamers know very well that animals can be activated through the mechanism of reward and punishment. Mental conditioning is valid in animals and humans; so, there must be an equivalent of it in the universe. This equivalent is like asking questions about life after death before answering the question about the existence of God and examining complex topics before knowing simple realities; so, it can delay finding the real answers and therefore it is important. If man believes that the Creator exists, the probability to find true answers in the brain related to the issue of life after death will increase. Suppose that we have built a city and we transfer people to that city after they die. If there is an obstacle before you in this system, the administrator of the city will eliminate that obstacle in order to realize the transfer. This obstacle is the obstacle of death. To deny life after death means to disbelieve in God and to regard God, whom we say we believe in, as weak and limited. However, divine will means limitlessness. When we accept Him as limitless with His knowledge, power and any state and condition, life after death will be reasonable. The thesis argued by Freud to explain life after death is as follows: The child regards his father as God and his mother as the hereafter; it is normal for a child to regard his mother as a harbor until he is seven years old. However, as the child grows, neither the father can be his guide throughout his life nor his mother can carry him on her back. This situation shows that religion is closely connected with the level of maturity and development of man.
As man develops, he starts to question life and move toward the need for religion more. A person who does not ask what will happen after death might not need a concept like religion. Man does not have a structure that will be content with eating, drinking and reproducing; he is aware of many things due to his genes of making sense. Thus, as he develops mentally, he starts to question beyond today. Freud’s explanation will be valid if man stays at animal level. Where man, whose wishes, views and desire of making life meaningful are limitless but whose power is limited, will take refuge is an important question.
At first, Darwin did not believe in God but when he saw the evils in the world later, he formed a different meaning relating to belief by putting struggle, which is an exception in the universe, in the place of goodness and solidarity, which are essential. He thought, “Despite the existence of the good, bad deeds do not fit the perfect system in the universe”; and he became agnostic because he could not associate the existence of God with the bad deeds he encountered. He said the existence or non-existence of God cannot be known scientifically.
Problem of Evil
Materialism could not find the Creator because it could not solve the problem of evil it encountered in the universe. In recent periods, the researches done during the studies of emotional intelligence showed that there were good and bad forces in man. The probability of being without any faults is not in question for man because if the evil feelings in man are not educated, he has a nature that will tend to do evil deeds. The existence of stimuli and tendencies programmed in DNA makes it necessary for us to define the problem of evil correctly. The existence of the evil in the universe formed the struggle between the good and the bad, being a means of developing the good. The equivalent of this state in the brain is the mechanisms of reward and punishment.
It is not possible for man and other living beings who are directed by positive and negative reinforcements not to have a universal equivalent for them. Therefore, the concept of universality is a concept that comforts man and that has a curative value. For instance, people who suffer from serious diseases feel relieved when they see that other people catch the same disease.
To think that good deeds and bad deeds will be rewarded and punished will lessen man’s motive of taking revenge and the traumas regarding the issue. If belief in the hereafter does not exist fully, people will always fight and argue. The thought that the divine will call people who do wrong to account prevents man from committing crime. That is why religious people generally obey established systems. A person who has no feeling of being accounted can commit all kinds of crime whether visible or invisible. It is therefore difficult to direct a person who thinks he can do anything as long as he is not caught. It is possible for people who place the concepts of Paradise and Hell or reward and punishment in their life to become a good part of the whole in the universe.
What disturbs a person most is a pleasure that is temporary. Even those who have enjoyed the best pleasure feel sad when they are over. The existence of only this world does not satisfy the need for reward in man. The expectations, desires and wishers in the nature of man are not sufficient to satisfy him. If man thinks that he will be rewarded or punished for what he does, what he does will be meaningful. For instance, if a child makes plans about the future when he studies, he can put up with difficulties. There will definitely be a reward for it in the universe.
There exists the principle of reciprocity in the universe. The thesis called Hegelian dialectics mentions the combination of opposing forces through the concepts of antithesis and synthesis; in fact, this dialectic of Hegel’s forms evidence for the existence of the hereafter. When we evaluate it through this viewpoint, we see that there exists and there must exist the good together with the bad. Similarly, the harmony of the opposing forces like the beginning and the end, existence and non-existence make the divine will visible in the universe; if there is oppression, there will be justice in return for it. The rates and degrees of these opposing forces form a certain harmony. This harmony, the existence of matter and spirit, attracts our attention from this world to another life and becomes evidence for the existence of Paradise and Hell and the hereafter.
When we examine the holy texts, we see that there is a ordering of the belief. First, belief in God, then, belief in prophets, after that, belief in the hereafter are arrayed; with the concept of justice, they form the four bases. These four basic elements enable man to become harmonious with the system in the universe. Man, who feels comfortable because he is attuned to the orchestra, becomes unhappy because he does not come to the grounds with the universe and does not abide by the system of creation. Man, who does not perceive the meaning dimension of the system in the universe like that, will be deprived of the interaction and cybernetics in the universe. The ships that do not move with the fingers of the person who steers on the way you proceed start to move with the action of the paddlewheels. The state of everything complementing one another in the universe shows that the interaction between matter and spirit enable us to mention the concept of psycho-cybernetics among humans.
Role of Prophets
There are conscious and unconscious beings in the system of the universe. Unconscious beings do what they are supposed to do as their duty, but conscious beings question things. Human brain has a capacity of perception much more than the abilities it has; and he can establish connections between the past and the future. The fact that man’s power is limited but his mental power is infinite shows that he needs a guide. Prophets are the greatest guides at this stage.
When we examine the emergence of prophets, we see that the need of the community is closely connected with the existence of the prophet. Moses was a prophet that answered the need in his period. Sociologists explain this state as follows: the formation of a demand in the community brings about sociological pressure, which, in turn, lead to sociological outcomes. This state is also valid for art. Therefore it is said that necessity is the mother of knowledge.
Prophets are like the pole star for people. If man trusts his own mind and tries to proceed with the help of a torch without prophets, he is likely to make mistakes.
The existence of prophets affects human psychology in a positive way and increases man’s basic feeling of trust. The fact that prophets say man will not be eliminated through belief in the hereafter eradicates the uncertainty related to the future, which is one of the most frightening states for man. The need for eradicating uncertainty is a psychological need for man. Animals take refuge in a cage and soothe their fear in case of any uncertainty. However, man faces the state of not being able to tolerate uncertainty. Therefore, the thought of the hereafter is very important for the eradication of the uncertainty in man. If the Creator, who created man and the universe, has sent a messenger, it means there is uncertainty in the universe; then, man will see what kind of a stage will take place as a result of the good deeds and bad deeds and he will feel relieved by seeing that uncertainty will be eradicated. People who have worries about the future undergo a crisis or begin different quests in order to forget what has happened; they try to eradicate uncertainty with the thought that different quests will be beneficial to them. Even man who has not attained true knowledge can feel the need for worshipping in order to eradicate uncertainty. Even only this state is important because it shows the existence of God.
No living being except man has the feeling of worshipping because this feeling is the mental shelter of man against weakness, insufficiency and uncertainty. Consequently, man will feel secure, console himself and eradicate uncertainty. As uncertainty increases, fear also increases; as certainty exists, fear decreases.
Sincerity in Belief
Sincerity has been evaluated as a scientific category recently and researches regarding the issue are published in scientific magazines. When a person has strong feelings about something, it can form similar feelings in the person facing him. When man wants something with a strong feeling, the knowledge entering the brain about it becomes permanent there. Therefore, important feelings in man cause that issue to be permanent for him. Thus, the existence of sincerity means the harmony of the key and the lock in the universe.
Disharmony with the concordance in the universe can also be defined as insincerity. If what a person thinks, says and does is not coherent, he contradicts with the universe. Man needs to focus mentally and concentrate emotionally on the same area if he wants to think effectively and efficiently regarding an issue. When man cannot concentrate on an issue, this knowledge becomes for him like a source that illuminate only a few meters. However, when thought and feeling concentrate on the same point, they can affect a longer range. Sincerity is like this for man. In a sense, it is like the difference between the laser light and the normal light. Photons coming from a normal source of light scatter irregularly and illuminate one or two meters. However, if this light is directed through a special tube and sent to the same direction, it can reach one kilometer. Similarly, sincerity forms a synergy in the universe; when thought and feeling combine, they have the power of affecting the other party. Therefore, sincerity is a social feeling like mercy or empathy. To become sincere relaxes a person in the first place. When we say sincerity, we mean the honesty of people but sincerity actually means to be harmonious with the energy in the universe.
In a place where there is no sincerity, man follows his own harmony, not the harmony in nature. A person whose thoughts and feelings move toward different directions move crookedly; in a sense, he wastes himself. Therefore, it is necessary to have sincerity as a target.
One of the most important conditions for the emergence of sincerity is honesty. Telling lies prevents man’s sincerity. Trying to establish human relations by concealing lies will tire man’s mind. Sincerity increases the trust of the other person. Therefore, it is natural for sincere people to have a high power of persuasion without being aware of it. Therefore, all heavenly religions have elevated sincerity.
Belief is used in two senses in the discussions of epistemology. The general definition “being committed to a thought heartily” is not sufficient for psychological interpretations.
It is better to call being committed to a thought without considering whether that thought is real or not as “myth” instead of belief. It is better to define belief as believing in an abstract concept through reasoning without perceiving with five senses.
If man believes in something that he is committed to heartily without whether it really exists or not or whether it is ethically appropriate or not, it is weak belief (myth). Thoughts that are approved and accepted by the heart as a result of reasoning have a more permanent base when they turn to belief.
Myths are models of believing originating from the need for a concrete being rather than the existence of it. Inferences formed as a result of reasoning should be evaluated as approved premises scientifically. A person who doubts whether what he believes is real or not cannot obtained the expected result in psychological dynamics due to the lack of internal approval. Myths that are not approved by free will are generally permanent.
Transcendental Reality
The discussions of the reality of the invisible or the transcendental reality is one of the most important areas of interest of the people who deal with positive sciences recently. In the past, the knowledge that could be tried and tested was regarded as real; today, the scientists who believe that there is an invisible order have started to define the invisible as real today.
It is difficult to explain the secrets of the universe through five senses. Therefore, man tries to reach the realities through different channels. The first way that takes man to realities is experiment-observation/empiric approach. This method is in the area of interest of neuropsychiatry and positive science. The second way is reasoning. It in is in the area of interest of theoretical, positive science and religious science, social sciences and psychiatry. The third way to the reality is intuition and instincts; they are in the area of interest of neuropsychiatry apart from religious science. Those studying the brain made the first and third ways to intersect by using the method of trial and error on the relationship between brain screening and feelings. The fourth way is belief. This method is used for the unexplainable points by the other three methods on the way to reality. Today, neuropsychology is also interested in the issues of belief, sincerity and intention. As it is seen, all of the ways for the scientists who are trying to seek the reality can be used without being contrary to basic scientific principles.
What Is Religious Life?
With a general definition, religious life means to believe that there is an invisible order along with the visible one in the universe and to try to live harmoniously with this order. It is difficult for man to believe in something that he cannot see because man perceives the universe through five senses. Perception outside five senses is not usually a conscious perception and it necessitates special effort. Religious life is the development of ethical practices and psychological attitudes on such a belief.
What Is Belief In the Sacred?
The second perception mechanism of man outside five senses is the mental brain. Marsel Mesulam, who is one of the prominent neuroscientists and who is a cognitive neuroscientist, says that 90% of the human operated brain feelings, thoughts and attitudes, and that operations related to five senses account for only 10%.
Our organ which we can call mental brain (mind) in short does different things in other beings than in man. For instance, it was determined that human brain has a meaningfulness talent that can perceive time and that it has magnetic sensibility. It produces abstract thought along with concrete thought. It has a structure that determines aims and that programs power and energy. When it times and sorts, it can choose wishes and motives, too. It produces about 50-100 thousand thoughts; it can add feelings to those thoughts and form reactions, too. When it makes decisions, it takes into consideration social and emotional dimensions, too. It is also the work of the human brain to use symbols a lot and develop new concepts in the phase of producing thoughts.
Five senses are sufficient for eating, drinking, sheltering and reproducing but producing civilization, reasoning, judging, dominating the universe, producing humanitarian values, being in a philosophical pursuit and believing in sacred things cannot be explained sufficiently by those senses.
Man’s psychological needs, desires and targets are limitless but what he can perceive and dominate through five senses are very limited. To dominate the universe, to live eternally, to be aware of death but not to be afraid of it are typical desires of an average person. Man can be defeated by a virus though he has such big desires relating to the future and he has psychological needs to be met. It is ironical that man wants to dominate nature but he cannot control his blood pressure and heartbeat.
Here, we can see that the mind has some abstract need along with basic needs like eating, drinking, sheltering and reproducing, which are also present in other living beings. What will happen if there is a need but that need is not met? If you do not meet your need for food, your blood glucose level will fall and you will be ill. Similarly, when we do not meet our emotional needs, our mental health will deteriorate. If we do not overcome our fears, we will not feel secure. The need for believing in the sacred becomes important just at this point. If the needs are not met, the brain can search for different solutions with the feelings of fear, weakness and helplessness. Breakdowns can occur in the structure of the brain that produces abstract thoughts when it is left defenseless against mental diseases. Man who perceives the past and the future has difficulty in putting up with uncertainty.
The abstract objects that the brain produces are abstract scientific coefficients like knowing everything, being eternal, sharing justly, being equipped with love, showing mercy, being absolute, that is, limitless, living freely and controlling everything. Believing in the sacred is also included in the scientific coefficients, that is, abstract objects, and they facilitate ensuring security for man in the balance of abstract thinking. In other words, there is a limitless source that grants justice, truthfulness and power. A person who believes in the sacred by thinking, “There is a protective power that has power over all things, knows everything, has a limitless power, hears me, understand what I think and knows me better than I do; this power protects me”, puts his spirit in a mental shelter and becomes tranquil. To believe in the sacred gives man security and consolation when he feels weak and insufficient at the situations in nature that he cannot control. The consolation power of religion steps in here.
The power of religion to add meaning to life is equivalent to the state of producing solutions to death. The only living being that is aware of his existence and knows that he will die is man. Fear of death is a fear that determines man’s behavior. A person who thinks that he will disappear after death also thinks that he came into being coincidentally. A person who has such a thought has the fear of losing what he has. If he does not believe in the Creator, he does not have the feeling of rendering account and becomes an egoist. He starts to consume his wealth by thinking, “I have come to this world only once; life is temporary; everything is meaningless.” A person who regards life as meaningless does not have a reason for living and turns his back on social contribution.
Heavenly Ideas
Issues related to religion and freedom sometimes arouse the following questions: Can a person feel both free and to have surrendered to the existence of the Creator? Is it possible for him to make plans thinking that he is immortal? How are the acts of a person who believes that nature came into being as a result of a special design formed? Immanuel Kant defined believing that a series of objects really exist though there is no concrete information as a mental phenomenon. Kant says that this state is like the magnetic capacity of an iron object that we cannot touch and see, and that this capacity determines our various attitudes and tendencies. We cannot define the magnetic capacity of the iron object concretely but we can explain its effects in all fields of our life visibly. This explanation of Immanuel Kant is the effort of explaining the relationship between our ethical life and “mental phenomena” and “mental ideas”.
All objects float in the universe of wider and more abstract objects than themselves. Concrete objects become meaningful in the abstract universe. The meaning dimension of matter is the dimension of the universe that is heavenly and abstract. Abstract ideas and concepts like goodness, beauty, meaningfulness, equality, eternity, loving, treating people justly, being helpful, being merciful become meaningful when they are together with the abstract universe.
The background of matter is its dimension of meaning. Abstract concepts add meaning to concrete phenomena. We form everything that we know, every object with abstract concepts. Abstract and symbolic thought reveal the real “nature” of everything.
Our emotional attitudes regarding concrete objects like to love, to hate, to adopt, to want or to refuse are all abstract concepts. The fact that our mind is determined by those abstract concepts is one of the basic realities of the state of humanity. Man who notices the balance between the concrete, that is material, universe and the abstract universe, which is related to the meaning, and who tries to maintain it will reach the truth. Concrete universe is the universe at vegetal and animal level. Abstract universe is the universe at human dimension.
Difference between Secular Humanism and Heavenly Doctrine
According to Darwin and Freud, humans and insects are the same. According to this, thought, man is a living being that came into existence coincidentally, that acts based on his instincts, that has no aim other than eating and reproducing, that is egoistic, that pursues his own interests and that can survive if he is strong. This view proposes a model of man that disappears after death, has no responsibility of accounting to anybody, practices love and sexuality equivalently, is irresponsible free and independent, and pursues his desires. Although these thoughts that form the philosophy of secular humanism sound nice, today modernism found out how appropriate they for the interests of man through trying them.
According to heavenly doctrines, the element that makes man real man is to live for the sake of a lofty and sacred purpose, and the meaning he bears. What makes a book a book is not ink and paper but the meaning and information in it and its capacity to enlighten the future; similarly, the value of man is hidden in his aim. When we think of the universe as a book, positive sciences are interested in the ink and paper of the book; heavenly knowledge denotes the meaning of the book. God is a sacred consciousness that created the universe out of nothing, has power over all things, has endless knowledge and power, limitless will and wisdom, is absolute giver of life, regulates and balances, and that cannot be included in the dimension of matter and time. Different evaluations regarding God’s attributes bring out religions. Such a God created man in a very special way and in a way that He can address him. The value of an antique object is one lira at an ironsmith’s but one thousand lira at an antique shop. What makes that object valuable is its relation and the sematic value it bears. What makes man valuable is his connection, relation and the dimension of meaning that it bears. Value originates from the one that is valuable. When the virtues that the Creator sets forth are in parallel with human knowledge, man can ascend to the rank of “the most honorable creature”. In order to attain this rank, man needs to know that he is a slave and try to obey God. Man is free but he is tested whether he knows the boundary between the rules of the universe and his own freedom. Therefore, the expression, “to know oneself is to know one’s Lord” is one of the expressions that explain the philosophy of the Quran.
Being Worthy of Worshipping
Plato says that the beauties that are present in the world are used as a step to reach the idea of abstract beauty in the working system of the universe. In the journey to reach beauty, man calls various forms “beautiful”. Thus, he moves to true deeds from true forms. He reaches true ideas from true deeds, and true beauty from true ideas. In the end, he understands what the essence of the beauty is. Therefore, those who fall in love with imaginary beauty are called platonic lovers. Platonist view holds the idea that the spiritual structure of the universe and the divine system are worth worshipping.
Today, due to the denial of a system worth worshipping, we see some churches that have no God. Such a thought brings about worldly religious currents and sanctification of the system in the universe. The science circles of the 19th and 20th centuries sanctified science so much that they replaced religion with science.
Feeling of “Something There”
A reality that is defined as invisible reality or transcendental reality is related to man’s intuition of “something there”. Since it cannot be proved scientifically that there can be more than one god, the feeling of “something there” convinces man that there needs to be a creator. A reality that can be understood through religious concepts is mentioned though it is too far away to be imagined and cannot be defined.
For instance, the sun is an object that is seen in the balance of matter and energy. Allah can also be defined as energy and abstract object. The thought that we cannot touch the Creator though He is near and in us with His attributes corresponds to the belief of oneness in the Quran. At this point, the theological view of Nursi, an Islamic scholar, stating that we can always feel Allah with His 99 names and with the attributes defined by them is significant as an explanatory view of the mysteries of the universe.
Can the Perception of Reality In Man Change?
The definition of “mystic experience” is technically used for short-lived experiences. Basically, it is state of being entranced for a few hours. During a mystic experience, some people are in a mood as if they feel that the boundaries of personality disappear, that all of their desires are met and that their needs are met. Some people may hallucinate. Perceptions related to five senses like the following are words that express mystic experiences: “I feel as if I have been reborn; I feel as if I am surrounded by a pre-eternal and post-eternal power. To doubt His existence there was more difficult than doubting my own existence. His reality was more dominant than mine. My spirit is in perfect harmony with that power. I feel as if I am beyond stars; I feel all of the beauty, love, sorrow and enticement. I am experiencing a manifestation; I saw a bright light; it is saying to me, ‘Come. Love me.” Somebody came from inside the wall and touched me; so, excitement formed in me. I saw a dark figure.”
The person was interpreting hallucinating experience as the revelation of the divine being. Being surrounded by terrifying undefinable beings, having an evil feeling, the feeling of being followed and being controlled by magical beings, the thought of the existence of some people who read one’s mind are all hallucinations or illusions that have positive or negative effects.
The idea of the scientists who researched in this field defending the old view was that these mystic experiences do not have an organic foundation. Professor Flournoy in Geneva quoted his friend who had the talent of involuntary writing as follows: “Whenever I start to write automatically, I feel that it does not originate from subconscious. I perceive the existence of a strange being outside my body. It is difficult even to define this impression but it is so explicit that I can show its exact place.” Were these experiences objectivized and externalized ideas or did they express the change of our perceptions by invisible reality? It is very difficult to answer this question as yes or no within the framework of scientific principles. While the materialistic view says it is a mental phenomenon, the view of the divine perspective is that even if it is a mental phenomenon, it cannot move out of divine will.
The perception of reality is a part of mental work. In illnesses like schizophrenia, a person believes in hallucinations and forms illusions because the perception of boundaries between imagination and reality are spoiled. When different working of some parts of the brain and the production of faulty proteins are tested in the laboratory, we find striking findings: For instance, through experimental manipulations with some drugs, a person can be put into mystic experiences. The religious order of “Hashashins”, which formed a community of suicide commandoes, made people in the Middle East believe in mystic experience. A neurologist in Boston diagnosed a temporal lobe disorder, for the first time in 1975, in the brain of an epileptic person who was interested in religion and philosophy. Thus, it was determined that the regions that process such information in the brains of people who suffer a seizure in the form of mystic experience are spoiled.
Is mystic experience, which is a brain phenomenon, a beginning or a result? Is belief in God a product of human brain or did God create brain as a means of connection between the abstract universe and the concrete universe? People will answer these questions based on their philosophy of life. However, it is a fact that those who have mystic experiences can be saved from the staggering effect in the discussions regarding the existence of the creator. Being entranced is a state that is invisible and it cannot be perceived by five senses but it makes consciousness perceive that power with the feeling of “there is a power there”.
Ontological Imagination
Those who think about existence excessively can have mystic experiences. A passionate lover sees the image of his sweetheart everywhere; similarly, obsessive people will hallucinate regarding the issues that they think about a lot and they will have imagination. This imagination is the most important data to explain the intuitions and inspirations of poets, painters and composers, in short, artists. It is possible to think that mental focusing and concentration have an effect that make people access the information files in the abstract universe. It is known that prophets dealt with ontological imaginations a lot in the troubled periods and before prophethood. Hazrat Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, had an insistent effort to make a connection with the abstract universe. When he reached a certain level of competence, he was given information that had not been given to anyone else. Similarly, Mozart had such mental concentration in his field that he attained information that nobody had attained in the musical universe. If the biographies of the inventors that made scientific explorations like Piri Reis and Sinan, the Architect, are examined, mental focusing, emotional concentration and imagination infrastructure directed to the aim will be easily seen.
New information that comes to man through mental concentration brings along conviction. Those people live the feelings of reality so deeply that they believe in the thing that they concentrate on as if they have seen it through their own eyes. It is an issue of different discussion whether those realities are in compliance with rational data.
The claim that the premise is real, the existence of abstract principles regarding the premise, hypothesis based on reality and logically defined inferences are necessary for data to be rational.
It is possible to attain some results when the data of mystic experience are evaluated based on those criteria. The first one is that people live their mystic experiences really. The second is appropriateness to abstract principles related to the data like, good, true, beautiful and useful. The third one is the assumption produced based on mystic experiences, which shows the existence of an outer force. The fourth one is the definition made logically; it takes man to the following premise: “I believe in the existence of the creator acting upon the system in nature; similarly, I believe in a force that will make me happy acting upon the conviction in my mystic experience and the change in my perception of reality.”
Man Feels the Existence of the Creator through Emotional Judgment
It is really difficult for man to perceive the existence of the creator through five senses. However, man feels the existence of the creator and believes in him through emotional judgment. The most different and special thing about our religious perceptions is this: Enthusiasm originating from tranquility, inner peace and ease… The existence of this feeling enables the formation of logical inferences and a bond of causality based on the existence of a power that addresses this feeling. History of religions is full of examples of gladness of being saved from fears, and the role of enthusiasm and inner peace caused by absolute surrender. Those who say the universe has been formed in accordance with a theory and plan that human mind can understand do not regard belief as a scientific category but new scientific knowledge states that understanding the creator consists of a reasoning that feelings related to schematic existence that is based on a theory that the mind can perceive, emotional judgment and a plan in which quantum mechanics is in the foreground. The feelings of appreciation and admiration in religion are transformed into habits like all feelings of appreciation and admiration. People start to live the religion in the form rituals whose origins they forgot. This ontological questioning is an important and useful questioning that will lead man to discover the realities of modern life again.
Is It Possible for the Universe to have been Designed?
The discussions of cosmic design that are mentioned a lot in science circles have been talked about more especially after the computer revolution. The need to believe in divine mind forms the common constituents of people psychologically no matter what the result is. There is a cause and effect relationship between the existence of food and the feeling of hunger; similarly, there is a bond of causality between the need to believe in divine mind and the existence of divine mind.
To regard the existence of divine mind as a phenomenon without understanding the universe is not contrary to basic principles; on the contrary, it is a reality of the scientific thought. For instance, when the church opposed Galileo, he defended himself as follows: “If God had not wanted people to examine nature, he would not have given people an organ like the brain.” It is stated that Einstein believed in God but he was an agnostic regarding religions. He said, “I am interested in how the universe was created; why it was created is not my area of interest.” He even said that he made his discoveries by asking this question: “How would I create the universe if I were God.”
Belief in Belief Syndrome
If a person is not curious about the reality of the thing that he believes in and does not research it, this belief is not in compliance with scientific principles. Without questioning the reality of belief, it is very difficult for that knowledge to shape life.
Richard Dawkins, the evolutionist biologist who wrote the book called “the God Delusion”, has a rightful approach regarding the issue. For the English politician Tony Benn, who said, “I have not felt any interest in whether Christianity beliefs are real or not”, Dawkins says, “A typical example of belief in belief syndrome”. What is meant by this phrase is that he is not interested in whether what he believes is real or not. This view, which evaluates religious beliefs only through their ethical dimension, holds the view that a belief that cannot be accepted as a guide in terms of ethics is valueless even if it is scientific; it is the religious understanding that can be called traditional or classic.
Those who defend the principle of accepting this belief, which can be defined as imitative belief, considering its benefits for the community, politics and trade but without questioning its other aspects will feel helpless when confronted by people like Dawkins, who have strong thoughts. Belief becomes permanent when it occurs as a result of questioning. It is easier to approve a religious doctrine that is reasonable and in compliance with science. Besides, to oppose an understanding of religion that is based on lies complies with divine target. To accept that religious doctrines that are contrary to empirical data are not creed but ignorance makes science enrich belief.
On the other hand, a person who proves his belief and trusts in it does not avoid discussing it with others. No scientific opinion opposes the ethical value of religion, its being an ethical compass, making people relieved, its power of consoling and adding meaning to life. People who are not afraid of the truth of their belief system and discussing the truth use the method of this age. Those who trust in their belief are contemporary religious people that live the strength of believing with deep thought and without abandoning the satisfaction of believing with submission.
Trying to Discredit Religion
When scientific approaches that try to find the truth are transformed into ideological discussions, it becomes necessary to define the aim very well. At this point, to ask the question, “Is the aim to develop the scientific thought or to discredit religion?” can help reveal the aim.
Lawrence M. Krauss, the famous astrophysicist, who tries to find an answer to the question, “Can God hypothesis be tested through science?”, mentions shaking the belief of people by making them question their belief instead saying their belief is absurd unlike some scientists; he writes a letter to the Pope Benedict XVI and asks him to approve natural selection. Krauss also mentions that the view, “Nothing is understood until everything is understood” about wrong ideas is wrong when belief doctrines are discussed. He also emphasizes that the following view is also wrong: “The evidences of a UFO fanatic cannot be refuted one by one. You cannot defend that UFO’s are impossible.” He asks the following question: “is it possible to examine all of the opposing claims one by one and to test the theoretical expectation and God hypothesis?” Krauss adds the following questions to his questions regarding God and science: “Does science enrich belief? Does science have to demolish belief? Is the aim of science to liberalize the world from God or to smooth the unreal, harmful aspects of religious fundamentalism?
Apart from the questions of Krausss mentioned above, the following sentence of Dawkins is an idea that draws reaction a lot in the USA: “If you meet someone who says he does not believe in evolution, you can say that person is ignorant, stupid and mad.” Although we do not know whether Dawkins say it with the intention of mental provocation or as a simple and careless expression, when we evaluate this view in terms of scientific methodology, we can say that claiming that evolution is a proven coefficient does not mean rejecting the Creator.
If traditional religiousness tries to spread a belief that is narrow-minded and spiritually poor, it is the duty of science to refute those religious doctrines that are based on plain theses. Ignorance is not a fault at this point but it is necessary to question whether it has the intention of deceiving. However, to define a person who does not believe in evolution as mad is not a scientific approach. If such a definition is expressed, a person who defends the opposite view can define a person who does not believe in God as mad. What Dawkins states regarding the issue is a thought that is away from scientific principles.
On the other hand, Krauss, who defends the current approach in theoretical physics, says, “This visible world is very simple for God. The comprehensive universe expressed by science is much more impressive. It is even more appropriate the think that there are more universes.”
When we study both Dawkins and Krauss, it is a fact that what they understand from God is very narrow and limited. To know the creator within the framework of the belief of oneness presented by the Quran will help eliminate confusion.
What Does Evolution Explain?
When we study evolution as micro and macro evolution, we see that micro evolution does not contradict with the doctrine of the Quran. An evolution that is under the control of the Creator complies with religious doctrines. In natural selection, a selection that enables transformation has not been proved. We cannot understand natural selection without discussing that the best and the strongest are advantageous. At this point, it is necessary to ask evolutionists this question: If the strongest is evaluated as the best as it is claimed, why is the lion not the most common animal in the jungle?
Even if we accepted the coincidental arrangement of matter for a moment, how would we explain the coincidental arrangement and evolution of abstract and symbolic thought? It is a question that has not been answered. For instance, can a monkey learn how to speak, symbolic or abstract thought by living among human beings for thousands of years? Let alone a monkey, even a wild child who is over the age of being taught cannot be taught humane values. We know that evolution cannot explain everything but we should not forget that we cannot prove that evolution does not exist. To say, “there is nothing called evolution” is not possible in terms of the mind and science. The existence of an evolution controlled by divine control is not contrary to divine target. For instance, the developments in DNA technology and bioengineering can form a being with the appearance of half man half monkey, but it seems impossible to give them the property of being a man and the information of man.
The assumption that life is a struggle, which is accepted by evolutionists more, is refuted by the fact that the rule in nature is solidarity and that struggle is an exception. There is a balance among all species in the universe, from the moss to the fish, from the lizard to the plants, from the elephant to wild animals. Though a fish produces millions of eggs and they are consumed by big fish, the fish does not become extinct. A sheep gives birth to a lamb every year; that lamb is slaughtered when it is two years old. A dog gives birth to five or six puppies every year; they are not slaughtered by butchers but the number of sheep is higher than the number of dogs. In order to explain the relationship between two different species, this question can be asked: Is the relationship between sheep and man based on struggle, or can it be said that it is a relationship based on solidarity? When the facts that we know are considered, both parties support one another in terms of species. Even if we see the attitude of struggle and annihilation in terms of individuals, examination of this attitude in terms of species shows that solidarity is in the foreground. Those who say they need God should accept, first of all, that the hypothesis of evolution is not proven information.
That the people who examine the events in the universe and evolution cannot evaluate the realities correctly makes it impossible attain the truth. When we act by seeing the whole, we see a balance that is based on the just sharing in the universe and the approach full of love. When the greed of man, his stupid egoism, and unsatisfied ambition spoil the just balance, environmental disasters, global warming and world wars will be inevitable realities. Then, the universe will not seem to us with its wrong and disastrous aspects; when we see the eternity with a bird’s-eye view, it will seem as a perfect design. The acts of the fanatics that hit the skyscrapers with planes on behalf of religion and the acts of the ignorant people who sacrifice their children to God on behalf of religion will not bring about a reliable result in religious evaluation. It is impossible to try to reach the true target with wrong knowledge.
God Hypothesis
Before we start to deal with the hypothesis regarding the existence of God, it will be appropriate to make a definition of God. When we examine the four hypotheses regarding the beginning of the universe instead of the God hypothesis one by one, if we refute three of those hypotheses, we can think that the remaining one is true. This situation is like the case of the people trying to find their way on top of a mountain: When the mountaineers saw that the three ways that they thought would lead to the top did not lead, they followed the fourth way without questioning and advised everybody the fourth way. When they understood that the three hypotheses were not possible, they noticed that the last alternative is the most reasonable one and they agreed on it because there is definitely a way that leads to the top. This reality is called transcendental reality or the reality of believing in the unseen. We can list the hypoyhesis regarding the existence of the universe in a way similar to the one in the example as follows:
Hypothesis of coincidental existence
Hypothesis of the autonomy of the universe
Hypothesis of the sovereignty of the rules
Hypothesis of Intelligent Design (God Hypothesis)
Since the topic of our book is the psychology of belief, when we evaluate it by leaving biological data aside, it is possible to see that when a person doubts the reality of his belief, the psychological determinants of belief change. Therefore, it will be useful to define belief with reasonable reality. Beliefs that are groundless and are not sound are doctrines based on wrongs, and they affect people’s spiritual lives, thought forms, problem-solving styles and their view of life.
Even the following example alone will refute the hypothesis of coincidental existence, which is the first hypothesis regarding belief: In our DNA chain, there is a protein molecule called Tolemer. Tolemer determines the lifespan of DNA, that is, how many times it can be divided. According to the calculus of probabilities, 10^50 is regarded as impossible. The probability of Tolemer to be arranged in an order by wind and lightning on its own is 10^652. That is, according to the calculus of probabilities, it is much higher than 10^50, which shows that coincidental existence is impossible. The fact that even a single molecule of DNA is based on such fine calculations shows that it is not possible to explain the beginning of the universe with coincidental existence.
The second theory is based on the autonomy of the universe. The universe has a property that works on its own like a machine; that is, it does not break down; it does not necessitate calibration or maintenance. Let alone the way of eliminating the ugliness, disasters and evils in nature and being affected by these disasters for a machine like that, it is an unanswered question how this machine makes itself operate such faultlessly, completely, perfectly, easily and fast. Even a computer which is said to be perfect goes out of order when it is not used for a long time or is not maintained; it does not work when it is affected by a virus; when the view of the autonomy of the universe is taken into consideration, is such a breakdown not expected? If there is not a control that will prevent the balance from being upset, the machine of the universe will not work properly. It means, an outer control mechanism is obligatory for the universe.
The third theory is based on the sovereignty of the rules. All kinds of views from the Newton principle to the rules of Archimedes show that the universe exists in a digital format. There is a cause and effect relationship in everything. Standards are certain. There is no ruleless, undefined deed in the universe. When elements like knowledge, energy, meaningfulness and matter come together, are they enough for the universe to operate regularly? Think of a construction; first the project of the construction is drawn, the place of the construction is determined, finance is supplied, materials are bought, workers are found and work starts. The job definitions and the rules are clear for carrying out the tasks properly. However, when the owner of the project does not exist, when his will is not felt, the construction is not done. Rules and definitions are dead texts. A will that will animate them is necessary.
The fourth theory regarding the existence of the universe is the hypothesis that the universe was created and is controlled by the divine will. Only a being whose wisdom, power and will is endless can administer the universe. Our research regarding the issue is like “the ants analyzing the elephant”. Positive sciences like physics, chemistry, mathematics and biology explain how the language of the creation is. To believe in the divine mind and absolute consciousness that does not show itself and that transforms the world into a living laboratory is the most reasonable option.
3-)
THE VIEW OF CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM ON PSYCHIATRIC ILLNESSES IN THE MIDDLE AGE
THE VIEW OF CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM ON PSYCHIATRIC ILLNESSES IN THE MIDDLE AGE
The View of Christianity on Illnesses in the Middle Age
In the Middle Age, Christianity attached importance to love and treatment of illnesses. It regarded spirit as superior to the body and reckoned the humiliation of the body as “a sign of sainthood”. Therefore, Christianity neglected hygiene, cleanliness and medical treatment. They tried to treat illnesses with “the touch of saints”. Due to this state, which was the result of extreme mysticism, mentally ill people were thrown into fire because of the claim that “they have the devil inside their body”.
Islamic Roots of Modern Psychiatric Treatment
After the Antique period, there were four doctors that were regarded as the masters of the doctors in Europe in the Middle Age: They were Ibn Isa (Jesu Haly), Razi (Ar-Razi), Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Ibn Rushd (Averroes), who were doctors and philosophers raised in the Islamic world. These people contributed a lot to the emergence of the Western medicine and the books they wrote were used as reference books for many years.
Razi (841–926)
Zakariyya al-Razi was a doctor that marked an era. He wrote 237 books. Half of these books are related to medicine. Razi is famous with his view that a hospital should be established in the place where meat goes off the latest. He defended experimental medicine and attached importance to observation. He defended that only tested plants should be used as medicine not random plants. He is the first person that performed consultation of doctors. He wrote a book on smallpox and measles. He also defined the concept “diagnose”. His twenty-five volume encyclopedia called “al-Hawi” is his best known work.
Avicenna (980–1037)
Islamic medicine boomed again with Avicenna. Avicenna is to Muslim Turks as Goethe is to Germans, Da Vinci is to Italians and Aristotle to Greeks. He recorded all of the available medical knowledge in his books called al-Qanun (Law) and ash-Shifa (Healing). He introduced the concepts infection, hygiene and quarantine to the West. His books were taught as basic books for five hundred years. There are no other medicine books that were taught as long as his books in history. Dante mentions Razi and Avicenna after Hippocrates and Galenos in his books.
The State of Islam in the Middle Age
Beginning from the seventh century, Islam started to spread to the places outside the Arabian Peninsula. In the following three centuries, the language of the Quran became dominant in the vast region from the south of France to India. Many cultures melted in the pot of Islam in that period. After the Greek Academy of Plato closed in 529, Hippocrates’ tradition of medicine and the studies of Galenos were abandoned. This tradition, which ceased, was looked after by Sassanid. Then, Islamic scholars and administrators revived all of this accumulation.
During the Abbasid period, Harun Rashid (786-809) and his son Ma’mun (813-833) established a center called “Bayt-ul Hikma”, consisting of a library, academy and translation office. The translators were given as much gold as the weight of the books they translated. The medical knowledge of Byzantine, Iran, India and China was collected there.
In that period, the first hospital and pharmacy was established with the name “Bimaristan” in 805 by Harun Rashid. The first hospital in Europe was set up by Andalusia Umayyad. The belief “there is cure for all illnesses except death” encouraged medicine in the Islamic world. Thanks to it, many herbal drugs and medicine were produced. Islamic scholars adopted the hypothesis of Galenos consisting of “earth, air, fire and water” as medical philosophy and explained characters of people with this knowledge. They also defined hormonal imbalance based on them.
The developments that were achieved in the period of Seljukis in Anatolia could not be continued in the Ottoman period. Ottoman doctors could not continue the spirit of experiment and development formed by Razi and Avicenna in diagnosis and treatment and became contented with the existing heritage. The “madrasa understanding”, which despised the medicine and science of the West became distinct in the 18th century. With the period of Ottoman Reforms, schools elevated exact sciences. However, the competition of madrasas and schools instead of helping each other prevented the modernization of Ottomans. The Ottoman scholars ignored the thesis that religious sciences and positive sciences did not contradict but they complemented each other.
The View of Islam on Psychiatric Illnesses
The approach of Islam toward mentally ill people was to treat them well but not to entrust money and goods to them. In the Middle Age, mentally ill people were treated through the flesh of prey and sound of water, something that the other cultures did not allow. Edirne Museum of Faculty of Medicine is a nice example of it. That Europe became a place that developed today’s modern and successful treatments originates from the fact that they managed to revive the spirit of progress again.
Modern Psychology defines soul as “instinct”. Psychology, which is called “ilm an-nafsiyya (the science of soul)” in Arabic, emerged as a branch of science in the West toward the end of the 19th century. Those who were interested in philosophy dealt with man but neither those who were interested in theology nor those who were interested in ilm an-nafsiyya dealt with spirit.
The materialist view that emerged together with the industrial revolution started to examine human behaviors. When the view that man is a talking animal was put forward by Descartes, all of the cultural values and divine interpretations were put aside and people tried to define man again as “a talking being”. Thus, the issue of how man talked started to be studied within the framework of psychology.
Common needs of humans and animals like eating, drinking, taking shelter and reproduction are among the needs of the soul whereas some psychological needs of man that are not present in the other beings are among abstract needs. The feeling of love is also present in animals but it becomes perfect in humans. In addition, the fact that man is aware of the concept of time, that he can question his past and that he has consciousness are properties that distinguishes him from other living beings.
Analytical psychology makes a definition of the soul with the concept of “instinct”, which it names as “id” and in which irregularity is the rule. It is a soul in which symbols that can be called nonsensical are present, which pursues all kinds of mean desires and wants them to be realized at once. In this level in which postponement is not liked, inspection is avoided and haste is prevalent, the characteristics are the starting steps that are not regarded as sufficient for man.
The definition of “id” by Freud makes one think that he obtained this knowledge from Ghazzali. It is difficult to say something clear because no resource is mentioned but his definition of id corresponds with the concept called “nafs al-ammara (the evil commanding soul)” by Ghazzali. Defining this knowledge of Imam Ghazzali as basic instinct, Freud combined human motives and instincts with the maternal instinct and other instincts in animals. This is a thesis stating that man also has certain instincts and that he develops by the help of these theses. The equivalent of this thesis in spiritual and biological psychology showed that the symbolic thoughts in man does not occur through trial and error and that analytical thought cannot develop in this way.
Soul is Stupid; Devil is Cunning
The soul wants everything due to its structure. With its expression in religious literature, “the soul is stupid; the devil is cunning”, it is meant that the soul just wants without taking into consideration to what extent its desires are beneficial for it.
The front right part of the brain functions as “taking pleasure” and the front left part functions as avoiding pain, agony and grief, and controlling pleasure. In depression, the front left part does not work properly and when the front left part of the brain is stimulated through magnetic stimulus therapy and medication and the chemistry of that part is corrected, the problem disappears. It is possible to say that the control of the front left part of a man’s brain who abuses his relatives sexually, who harasses young girls and women verbally on the road is out of order. Tendencies like the postponement of desires, determining an aim and acting in accordance with this aim defined as social norms are recorded in our brain. A person whose brain functions of this kind are out of order are in a position that cannot be held responsible for what he does.
Characteristics of the Soul and their Decisiveness on Man
The most distinctive characteristics of the soul are telling lies, slyness, egoism and superficial charm. A glance by the soul makes everything attractive and the pains that others suffer do not disturb the soul unless they do not harm it; that person does not suffer a twinge of conscience.
The soul is like uranium energy. Energy will not be of any use where the soul does not exist. However, to be able to direct energy to a good way will gain man dynamism.
If man lives based on only the stimuli coming from the soul, he will be a selfish, sordid and self-interested person. If there were no social feelings and heavenly doctrines humanity would be destroyed soon because people would be individuals that exterminated the others for their own sake. If there were no soul, man would not demand anything; he would fulfill his vital functions only.
The soul of man has certain layers. They are animal, plant and human layers. The plantal soul includes breathing in and out like plants; the animal soul has basic instincts and the state of living with other living beings. The human soul is the layer of the soul in which abstract notions are present. This is what distinguishes man from the other living beings.
Animals do not harm any living beings of their own species or other species unless they want to satisfy their hunger. However, man is different; he does not pursue his basic needs only; he has the tendency to demand more; he has feelings like being appreciated, being trusted and the fear of being in danger in the future. The feeling of being sovereign in the world exists in man only. Therefore, man is different from the other beings in terms of purpose.
The purpose of the other species of living beings was determined in their creation but the determination of purpose for man was left to man himself. Man has a will that can be regarded as limited and the purpose is determined under the effect of this will. The value of a living being depends on its purpose. Values can be measured by the greatness of the purpose. However, if a person uses his aim in order to sanctify his ego, he will do wrong. A person who regards himself to be in the center of the universe like this can transform himself into a small earth god.
Animal aspects in the human soul are related to eating, drinking and sexuality in idiots whose IQs are around 50. These people, who have no ability to think in an abstract way, are like autistic people. When the IQs of these people, whose intelligence and souls are at the level of animals, reach above 60, they may become open to new perceptions and learning. If these people can develop their emotional and social intelligence, they will use their mind correctly. Therefore, there is a difference between the soul of a person whose IQ is 50 and a person whose IQ is 150.
The traps of the soul of the people with high IQs are more than others. A person with high intelligence can start a war; if he is an engineer, he can deceive the company he is working for; he can kill people to make them serve him. As the intelligence level of a person gets higher, his potential of danger increases.
The soul is a kind of energy that consists of desires, inclinations and instincts. The desires of the soul at human dimensions are the inclinations in man like feeling secure, having psychological satisfaction, being applauded and praised, and having money, property and fame. As the intelligence level of a person gets higher, the expression areas of these desires will move from the abstract to the concrete.
Fears of the Soul
The greatest fear of the soul is not to be able to realize its desires. The soul regards everything that prevents its needs and that can be called basic needs as its enemy. A person who regards all elements that help to satisfy its desires as friendly and the others as hostile is a person who is completely soul-focused. This person, who is egocentric, self-interested, who does everything for his interests and who sees himself in the center of the world, wants his desires to be met.
Abstract and Concrete Aspects of the Soul
The soul has both abstract and concrete aspects. Its concrete aspects are inclinations toward eating, drinking and sexuality; its abstract aspects are inclinations like the desire for fame, the instinct to control everything, putting himself in the center of the universe and being wealthy. These desires generally increase as the level of development brought about by education increases.
Id, Ego, Superego
In psychological definition, the soul has different descriptions and layers ranging from the abstract to the concrete consisting of id ego and superego, defined differently.
Id represents the desires and it is an ego that thinks of only its own interests and whose focal point is itself. This is a level of ego that feels sufficient with its own part without seeing the whole; it is distinct in children. These properties of the soul need to be controlled and even trained. In the place where man lives, there are limits for the soul imposed by the environment; the human soul wants to steal the apple in the garden of the neighbor; if that person obeys his soul, he realizes this desire. Moreover, if nobody objects, he continues to do it. However, if there is an authority that intervenes, he starts to question himself and the soul is trained in this way.
In our brain, there are some skills that postpone the desires and motives and that resist against them. These life skills are taught to the brain socially beginning from the childhood. Man learns the boundaries of his personality just like he learns his own areas and boundaries; he also activates his inner and outer control mechanisms in order to learn the social boundaries. The development level of man becomes apparent at this point.
The relationship between man’s vision and level of intelligence is important. For instance, the aim of a person whose IQ is 120 and a person whose IQ is 100 is not the same. Man’s value is determined not only by the job he does but also by the vision of that job and the purpose he exerts efforts for. If a person lives only for himself, his value is as much as himself. What kind of a person can be the ideal person? Man himself has the freedom do decide regarding the issue. He will either live for himself and regard meeting his primitive needs as the aim of his life or he will define himself as a being with responsibilities in the universe and act accordingly. At this point, the necessity for the soul to be trained occurs.
The way to train the soul is determined by the purpose of man, religion and philosophy. If people are given correct purposes, both inner peace and social peace will be realized. The soul learns what it is taught regarding the issue. The training of the soul is an area where the difference between individual interests and being beneficial becomes apparent. The mind is the faculty that helps us differentiate between the good and the bad at this point.
The mind that makes conclusions by making comparisons between the positive and the negative makes this differentiation through a different system of reasoning. One of these reasoning methods is deduction. This method observes everything and reaches a conclusion. The second one is the method of induction, in which the whole is reached from small things. The third method is comparison, which finds its own truths by comparing things. A person directs events in accordance with his own purpose by using these methods. However, a person who acts under the influence of the soul is directed by external events. Such a person can easily be enslaved by a sexual trap. If a person’s ego ideal is to satisfy his pleasures, he can readily waive his position for his interests and abandon his social aims.
The mind is the ability to establish a balance between the desires of the soul and the personal interests and the expectations of the community from that person. If we liken it to driving a car, the desires and instincts drag man to the left and the aims and purposes to the right. At this point, the mind functions as a steering wheel and determines which direction to go by maintaining the balance. At this point, conscience, one of the greatest assistants of the mind steps in. Conscience, which we can define as “inner responsibility”, is a mechanism that confirms the correctness of what we do and the accuracy of our decisions like a court of appeal; it determines man’s bodily, emotional and spiritual needs among them and makes the mind make a decision and enables it to act based on that decision. They are all processed in the brain as the mediating organ of our personality structure.
The spirit software in the human brain is a program drawn with our genes unchangeably and recorded in DNA; the changeable software in the brain looks as if it has been written with electromagnetic energy. Our spirit software is activated by this magnetic energy in the universe. Even if we do not see the connection we establish with the spiritual reality, we know that it exists through methods of reasoning.
5-)
TIME
TIME
What we call time is the movement between two points because yesterday and tomorrow are dead. Even if we are living this moment, one hour later and even three minutes later is dead.
When the movement and vibration in the universe stop, time will stop, too. If quantum energy is disabled for a moment, everything will remain as they are. In fact, the existence of a superior power has the authority to stop this energy suddenly. We feel to be free but this freedom is freedom within frequency codes given to us. When we go out of this area, we can pay a price. Therefore, people are free but as it is expressed by the religion of Islam, they are “Abdullah”, that is, “slaves of Allah”. When movement stops in the universe, time stops, too.
Matter, movement and time are interrelated in the universe. When light falls on running water at night, we see continuous gleams. However, the gleam a minute ago is not the same as the gleam a minute later. They are not gleams that consist of the same materials. Time period is like that, too. We are living in the current period of time but the “we” an hour ago is not the same as “we” an hour later; there is continuous movement and change. Therefore, the universe is the flow of information among data.
The moment between the previous knowledge and the next knowledge can be defined as existence. Therefore, life means to live the moment, even the second. A similar case is film frames. When film frames move one after another very fast, they seem fast; however when we stop it, we see what is in one single frame. The universe is also in motion like film frames. Everything, including atoms, electrons and protons in atoms, the world, the solar system and the universe, is in motion.
Time exists because there is motion. Time is relative and the knowledge experienced now exists in the past as history and memory. The future will be added to our own personal background based on our will and different plans that we make by the steps we take here. At this point, we can say that matter is the flow of knowledge among the crests of waves. The representation of knowledge in space is time.
The knowledge limits of man changes with centuries. We know that in the Roman period numbers were counted up to ten and that more than ten was regarded as infinite. Some tribes in Africa know the numbers up to three; and beyond three is regarded as infinite. The concept of eternity changes based on our level of knowledge. What determines what is infinite and what is not is the transformations between the abstract and the concrete. The price of a work of art or a pen used by Shakespeare will increase due to being antique. A concrete thing increases in value as abstract. Although man is made up of concrete, inorganic materials, he becomes very valuable because meaning is added to him by being addressed by the Creator. However, it is a question of vision. He will increase in value if he is added value. If we consider man as a being that eats, drinks and reproduces by breaking his connection with the universe, man will remain at the level of cats, dogs and other animals.
According to physicists, light is turning on and off between 0 and 1; likewise, according to those who deal with quantum, the universe is an existence that consists of infinite probabilities. According to philosophers, the universe expresses the existence that produces concepts regarding the issues like good and bad, beautiful and ugly.
When thought is considered as an energy band in the universal flow, this band has to move. If a factory does not operate it consists of a heap of iron only; however, if there is production there, we can mention the existence of that factory. The universe is also made up of matter but if it has no energy, it means it does not exist. Therefore, the being that created the universe continuously feeds it with energy and makes it exist. To know Him to be sovereign with this energy is a belief of oneness.
The theses that say the universe is a whole cannot answer the following question: “Why do evil and bad things exist if the universe is perfect?” Those who do not accept infinity as a time period will not understand the existence of evil and bad things. In such a system, the bad and the good struggle and cause the good to be pure. We can liken the situation to the following example: In a gold mine, there are gold particles in the soil; in order to extract, say, ten grams of gold from the soil weighing a ton, it is necessary to burn the soil or to scan the soil with cyanide. The same thing is valid in the diamond mines where diamond is dug out in a mixed state with carbon when diamond is separated from carbon. Similarly, bad deeds come to the universe and then good deeds appear. For instance, when a peacock broods twenty eggs, only two of them are hatched and the other eighteen eggs decay. Those two eggs are more valuable than the other eighteen eggs because they continue the generation.
When we look at the universe, we may meet some beings that do not recognize the existence of the universe, that rebel or have evil attitudes. Since they become means for the development of the good, they are more valuable in terms of creation and existence than the majority that are harmful and do bad deeds. This is like the answer diamond to be given to the following question: “Are ten grams of diamond or ten tons of coal in a coal mine more valuable?” Likewise, quality and qualification are in the foreground in the universe, too. The existence of the diamond is more important than the weight of the coal. The state of being valuable that includes the existence in the universe can be interpreted like that.
6-)
STUDY OF RELIGIOUS AWARENESS IN FAMILY AND EDUCATION ENVIRONMENT
(It is supposed to be filled by the parents or the educator separately)
It has been developed by Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan as the study of awareness for Turkish culture.
The Answers (except some special questions) are supposed to be in the form of
A- YES/FREQUENTLY
B- SOMETIMES
C- NO/RARELY/NEVER.
Age:
Sex:
Education:
Nationality:
Marital Status: Married… Widow/Widower… Bachelor…
I am the mother:… I am the father:… I am a foundation:..
( ) Do you think religious education is necessary? If it is necessary, at what age should it be started?
( ) Should religious education be given by parents or religion teachers?
( ) Do you agree with the thought “Education by doing and serving as examples is more effective than education through preaching and giving advice”?
( ) Can you say, “I can serve as a good example to children and young people through my attitudes and acts?
( ) Do you say, “I can wear sports clothes if it is necessary in a style that will not contradict average clothing style of the community”?
( ) I do not think that I should try to change my accent.
( ) It is important to have general culture.
( ) I try to abide by the manners of sitting, standing, talking and eating.
( ) Can you say “I act upon the thought that education is a deep understanding, warming compassion, relieving care and leading guidance”?
( ) I give priority to educating myself while studying or reading books.
( ) I accept that appreciation, praise, giving good news and endearing are essential and that criticism and punishment are exceptional.
( ) I pay attention to timing, planned working and keeping my promise.
( ) My children and the young people in the cram school go back to their rooms when they see me.
( ) I play games almost every day with my children and the young people in the cram school, chat with them and try to be their friends.
( ) I often experience difficulty of controlling and disciplining children and young people.
( ) I often try to teach something about vital issues while having dinner.
( ) Even if I notice that my preaching and advice bore my children or young people, I go on giving advice.
( ) I try to find ways of making my preaching softer and more likeable.
( ) I try to perform prayers in congregation with my child.
( ) Everybody in my home tries to worship.
( ) We generally get up for the morning prayer in our home.
( ) We definitely read books altogether as a family at least two or three times a month.
( ) I am known as a generally angry person at home or at cram school.
( ) I do not generally laugh or smile at home or at cram school.
( ) Children and the young people in the cram school avoid asking me questions.
( ) The tone of voice is usually loud in my home or at cram school.
( ) It has become a habit for us to pray after eating.
( ) I try to learn the psychology of children and young people and generally try to act accordingly.
( ) I buy and read books on educational psychology.
( ) I try to teach by making things easy and likeable.
( ) I try to teach good things through commands, advice and authority.
( ) If you say that you do not apply pressure on your children and young people, ask yourself whether you do the following or not:
– I do not approve of shouting and scolding; I rarely resort to them.
– I sometimes become so insistent as to make the person opposite me shout.
– I always control my child so that he will be very successful and a good religious person. I check him so that he will not make mistakes.
– I always praise him.
– I always tell my child about good ethical properties so that he will be a religious person. I go on doing it even if I notice that he is bored.
( ) In order to protect my child from evil,
– I put the TV set away,
– I restrict his friends,
– I talk to him for a long time about the right and wrong acts.
– If he does not accept,
– I will beat him,
– shout at him,
– scold him,
– quarrel with him,
– increase my inspection,
– increase my advice
–make him feel that I am sad
–I let him decide
–I stop giving him pocket allowance
–Other…
( ) About using a computer and the Internet,
–there is a computer in his room,
–there is Internet access in his room,
–he watches violent flms,
–he watches romantic soap operas,
–he watches sports programs,
–he listens to music a lot,
–The rate of my studying or playing with him together…..
( ) I use the phrases, “keep silent, do not talk, you do not know about it, stop grinning” a lot.
( ) I think my child and young people should be obedient and disciplined.
( ) I try to learn the expectations of children or young people and what they want to be changed.
( ) I pay attention to the complaints of children or young people about me and the family and listen to them.
( ) People often resort to telling lies in my home.
( ) We often experience hostile feelings in our home.
( ) What kind of music does he listen to?
– Popular
–Religious music
–Various
–I do not know
( ) He watches television about ….. hours a day.
( ) Mark as +3,+2,+1 and 0 what you use for discipline methods based on their level.
– Beating
– Scolding
– Being cross with
– Using forgiving in education
– Informing
– Instead of using the pronoun “I”, talking without using a pronoun
– Serving as an example
– Using implications
– Discipline containing compassion
– Instead of using “I”, using “you”.
– Following
– Criticizing the behavior, not the person
– Being good-humored but determined
– Praising the behavior, not the person
– Using persuasion and convincing
– Trying to understand him first
– Discrimination between big mistakes and small mistakes
– Searching the best method that will be suitable for his nature
– Correcting the wrong deeds immediately
– Praising and appreciating right acts.
( ) If you make plans for your child or a young person to learn religious and ethical values separately, mark as +3,+2,+1, 0, -1, -2, -3 for the values that you serve as an example to grade them.
– Mercy
– Bashfulness
– Loving people
– Loving animals and the environment
– Showing respect to the elderly
– Adherence to truths
– Keeping promise
– Not being conceited
– Not despising others
– Being modest
– Being charitable
– Enjoying doing a favor
– Having the responsibility of preventing bad deeds
– Being patient
– Being tender-minded
– Being generous
– Being thrifty
( ) When I teach them to worship and pray, I try to make them loveable.
( ) When he does not worship and pray as it is necessary or when he acts contrarily to religious values, I tell him about the concepts of the soul and devil and mention him about the benefits of struggling against them.
( ) I believe that it is more effective to give my children and young people some ideas than giving them orders and approaching them bossily.
( ) I believe that it is right to give my children and young people some choices and let them decide.
( ) I can show respect to my children or young people regarding the issues that they think differently from me.
( ) I give them the right to make mistakes so that their talents will develop.
( ) I know that criticism demotivates people; therefore, I try to resort to it rarely but I cannot manage to do it.
( ) Everybody thinks of themselves in our home.
( ) When somebody is sad at home, everybody knows the reason.
( ) When somebody is in trouble at home, the others take care of him and try to solve the problem.
( ) We support each other in case of trouble and distress immediately.
( ) Everyone listens to what they like in our home.
( ) Everyone reminds the others of their duty in our home but they neglect what they should do.
( ) I do not think that there is fair and equal distribution in our home.
( ) Everyone is their own master in our home.
( ) Most of the people in our home suppress their feelings.
( ) We do not show our love toward one another in our family.
( ) Everybody interferes in one another’s business in our family.
( ) Everybody solves their own problems in our home because we do not have time to care for the others.
( ) We treat one another tolerantly.
( ) Our home is not a place where there are rules.
( ) It is not easy at all to solve problems in our home.
( ) In our home, older people give us duties without asking for our opinion.
( ) I generally feel happy on the way home.
( ) Everybody tries to make sacrifices in our home.
( ) Compassion and tolerance have priority in our home.
( ) Solutions to problems are found by talking over them in our home.
( ) Solutions to problems are always postponed in our home.
( ) I try to form opportunities in order to develop the self-confidence of the children and young people and to make them experience the feeling of achievement but I cannot manage to do it.
7-)
STUDIES IN THE FIELD OF PSYCHIATRY AND RELIGION
The branch of science that examines what happens in the brains of the people who experience mystical awakening during prayer and meditation is called “neurotheology”. It is seen that the experts who search the basis of the use of feelings, mind or language in the brain give importance to searching the neural basis in the religious experiences, too.
The research by Curlin and colleagues done on 2 thousand American psychiatrists and published in December 2007 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry is one of the examples related to it. According to the article that had a high percentage of participation, that dealt with psychiatry and that evaluated the results of the research, it is stated that there is a distinct moderation in the relationship between psychiatry and religion in which adverseness was prevalent for a long time. In fact, this change of attitude means a convergence between religion and spirituality in psychiatric treatment. All of the psychiatrists that took part in the research confirm that they approve the effects of religion and spirituality on health.
A great percentage of psychiatry experts, 90%, confirm that religion and spirituality should be dealt with free-heartedly. The number of the psychiatrists that approved of the patient sharing his religious beliefs and experiences with his doctor though doctors do not take part in worship activities together with their patients was in majority.
This research, which was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, brought about two important results in the relationship between religion and psychiatry: The first one is the fact that the element of belief is used and encouraged more in the psychiatric treatment than it is known. The second one is that religion and spirituality, which have remedial effects, are not used sufficiently in the treatment. The researches that were done show that the use of religious elements that are included in the treatment bring about positive results on patients even if they are used by therapists who are not religious. Therapists agreed on the following view: “I made use of religious elements in cognitive therapy by keeping the patient away from the thoughts of guiltiness and punishment, and by getting support from them in order to lead patients to nice thoughts like grace and forgiveness.”
In this research done in the USA, the importance of using religious and spiritual awareness in terms of results is emphasized. It is even suggested that those who receive psychotherapy education should know the concepts like prayer, sin, mercy, forgiveness, atonement, jihad and meditation well. The issue that is discussed now is whether knowing the notions of religion and spirituality well will make any difference in treatment. Another question related to the issue is if it is necessary in terms of medicine to demand a therapist that has similar beliefs. The effect of religious awareness on the patient beginning from the emergence of the symptoms of the illness to his/her social adaptation during the treatment process has become a scientific field of interest.
The research of Curlin and colleagues has attributed a positive value to religion and spirituality. This research is like another way of expressing the following word of Freud’s friend, Fenichel, “The magical power of belief should not be despised.”
Mystical Extensions of Electrical Ignition
The form of psychomotor epilepsy was first defined by Norman Geschwind, a neuroscientist at Boston Veterans Administration hospital in 1975. In this form, the seizures originated from the disorder of electrical ignition in the temporal side. Those who were exposed to such an epileptic seizure generally had intense religious experiences. Later, Geschwind and David Bear assumed that the obsessive attitudes related to religious and ethical issues were connected with the electrical storms in the temporal lobe of the brain. These talks were the first studies that based the relationship between religious experience and the brain on concrete foundations.
Vilayanur Ramachandran, a neuroscientist at San Diego University, California, tried to see the emotional reactions by measuring the resistance of the skin through the method of “biofeedback” in temporal lobe epileptic patients. In his book called Phantoms in the Brain in 1998, he found that the brains of temporal lobe epileptic patients had an extraordinary reaction to religious words.
Michael Persinger of Laurentian University, Canada stimulated the temporal region by using an electromagnetic helmet. After the brain was stimulated by weak currents using an electromagnetic helmet, the feeling of the existence of another spirit in the room triggered the deep cosmic happiness experience. After a stimulation of three minutes, test subjects narrated their godly perceptions through their own cultural and religious languages. Thus, the discussion whether the phenomenon of God originates from a part of the brain that establishes connections with God or can it be a mystical experience of the brain started.
After this research, Andrew Newberg and Eugene d’Aquili of Pennsylvania University did a new research. In this research published in 2001, various data of 256 electrode brain QEEG records and SPECT radioisotope records were evaluated related to the issue of “observing the neural mechanism during religious practices”. According to the result of the research, when the person felt that he became integrated with the universe during the meditative act, that the boundaries of personality disappeared and that he did not regard himself as a separate individual, the activities in the parietal lobe which is the orientation region related to place, decreased. Davidson, a neuroscientist at Wisconsin Madison University, did the same research with Functional MR in 2002.
Meanwhile, studies related to neurological foundations of different religious practices continued. Beaurepard conducted the experiment of “recalling and animating a living experience with God” on fifteen nuns and recorded it through MR screening. As a result, he saw that similar regions became active during the mystical experience.
It is known that the caudate nucleus in the brain plays a role on learning, falling in love and memory. The insula region in the outer folds of the brain is related to social emotions. Neural sparks activate the inner feeling of pleasure that appear with divine connection in both regions.
Although the neural connections and circles of the brain discovered scientifically do not prove whether God exists or not, they give man more reasons to believe in the Creator thanks to science. The feeling of peace and serenity that is felt originates from the emotion of being aware of the fact that God is together with them in this world rather than the idea of God. The current aim of science is to make not only mystic people but also normal people to feel their spiritual and religious experiences thanks to a device that causes electromagnetic stimulation by using light and sounds. Neuroscientist Sara Lazar of Harvard University and colleagues stated as a result of a research they did in 2005 that the right front brain and right front insula of the old people who meditated thickened.
In recent periods, studies showing that religious belief contains worldly rewards along with otherworldly rewards, that it makes people experience the feeling of satisfaction, that it makes people give others happiness by leading them to charity have increased. These researches indicate that the human brain mediates for many experiences of man from breathing in and out to “thinking of the existence of the Creator”.
Spiritual Aspect of the Brain
In the universe, everything is interconnected and interlocked. Man is not alone because he is a part of a whole.
Although all of the cells in human body divide, the neuron cell, which has a special structure, does not divide. However, with the reproduction of new neurons, it becomes possible for neurons to join strong neuron networks. When neuron networks are ignited, new connections are established. Wherever a neuron is triggered, the strong neuron networks related to that region start to establish connections. The duty of forming the relationship of intersection among neuron networks belongs to chemicals.
Neuropeptics like serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline trigger neuron networks that carry our various feelings like rage, lust, love or hatred with sparks.
We can liken the network structure of human brain and strong neural network to the traffic of a city. If investments are made in a part of the city, people’s demand for that region will increase and the roads in that region will develop. The thoughts produced in human brain are formed based on our area of interest. Based on his knowledge richness, it is thought that a person produces about 50 thousand to 100 thousand thoughts a day. Thus, the neuron networks and knowledge network of that person develops and neural circuits form. In an obsessive person, the same way is always used; alternative neural circuits are not produced. When the neurons cells are exposed to the bombardment of the same chemical continuously, more receptors are produced. This state is necessary to meet the need. Drug addiction is a good example of it. When a substance is not taken, there is always an expectation of the substance that is desired. Similarly, attitudes and emotional habits cause addictions. In order to catch the same excitement in his brain, a person acts differently. The use of narcotic drugs means to deceive the neuron cells through false satisfactions.
Psychon Brain
Psychon Brain is the name given by quantum physicists to the governing parallel brain that sits in the driver’s seat and that works chemically and electrophysiologically. I can also say that it would not be wrong to use the name psychon for the supraphoton particle here. Psychon is related to the attraction of mass beyond electromagnetic attraction. It is a name suggested for the intermediate substance called “ether” that enables masses to establish connections with one another. The statements that it is the particle that provides frequency and oscillation are still in the state of hypothesis.
Psychon brain expresses a mind that is not matter. Non-matter mental units consist of three dimensional frequency codes and can be defined holographically. In laser, photons act empathically and follow the same rhythm. Thus, individuality is lost but strength increases. Labeling is also used as a hologram vision recording. In fact, what is recorded is not vision but the frequency codes of the emblem. The advancement of scientific works makes people think that it will be possible to watch man’s three dimensional vision in the medium instead of the screen.
Or, is Everything a Dream?
Professor Martin Rees of Cambridge University puts forward that our universe can be a computer simulation created by a more intelligent civilization than us. Prof. Rees attributes the closeness of this assumption to the reality of the universe to our formation of tiny virtual worlds by using computer technology.
Mathematics professor John Barrow, who supports the views of English physicist Rees, says that biochemical laws can form conscious beings that can communicate with one another through simulations and that they can establish a world similar to ours. Barrow also says, “We, human beings, can watch the development of an apple maggot in the laboratory; similarly, the civilization that programmed the world can be watching our development in the universe. Maybe, this external power is God.” Thus, he tries to find the Creator in the light of physics.
It is still not known what caused the big explosion called Big Bang by physicists. When it is thought logically, the power that caused this explosion should be beyond time and space. The most reasonable explanation is what the religion of Islam explains as the order “Be”, and what came into being as a result of the wish of the Creator was the power that gave the energy necessary for the big explosion and time came into being like that.
Explanation of the Intuition
Many books about intuitional learning, intuitional healing, and even intuitional trade that were published in the USA in recent years enabled us to question the place of intuitions in our life. These studies brought to mind the question whether we will be subject to our inner voice or to reason when we make decisions. Thus, the operation in the human brain put forward by Freud as out of consciousness started to be understood better. John Bargh, a psychologist at Yale University, stated that automatic out of consciousness processes encompassed our life from each direction, that there were secret programs in the mind and that our life actually proceeded on automatic pilot while the consciousness acted on its own intentions and preferences.
Similarly, Daniel Kahneman, the psychologist, mentioned “the mind with two systems” in his speech at 2002 Nobel Prize ceremony. According to him, the first system has a fast, automatic, effortless, associative, and out of consciousness structure with heavy emotional loads; it does not allow inner observation. The second system is a purposeful, sequential and rational mind. The operation of the second system necessitates a special effort while the first system operates automatically and has an associative characteristic. According to Kahneman, people manage to make instant and correct decisions by developing mental shortcuts.
Intuitions are the products of the first system that use learned relationships (associations). What we learn makes our background a storeroom of experience. For instance, when we resemble a stranger we meet for the first time to a person that has harmed us before, our previous experience steps in out of consciousnessly and make us act cautiously. Besides, six seconds is enough in order to have an opinion about the energy and warmth of a person. To make an evaluation as good or bad in a very short time is the product of the first mental system.
Intuitional powers harbor below threshold perception and out of consciousness memory functions along with automatic operations. For instance, it is known that women are superior to men in terms of noticing a person telling lies and understanding the feeling of a person faster. To make a decision through intuitions is a result of the automatic thoughts and stored knowledge.
Automatic Prejudices
Automatic Prejudices in man are related to automatic fears. Intuitional fears activate intuitional prejudices According to the national security reports of the USA, when the rates of death in commercial flights are compared to the rates of death in means of public transportation, it is seen that the rate was 37 times higher in means of public transportation during the period 2001-2003. It is seen in this report, which seems to be disproportionate with reality, fear of flying and prejudice decreases the rates of people travelling by plane.
The fears feeding automatic prejudices may have been transferred to us from our ancestors. However, there are other facts, too: people are afraid of things that they cannot control, unexpected events, and the most important of all, the threats that they can remember easily. For instance, the reason why plane crashes seem to be happening often is the fact they are remembered fast. Terrorist incidents are like that. Intuitional fears move ahead of the rational mind. In terrorist incidents, propagandists continue to keep prejudices alive by keeping fears alive.
8-)
INSPIRATION
INSPIRATION
Inspiration comes to man after long and unsuccessful quests. For instance, Newton discovered the law of gravity after staying in the library for two years. Similarly, Sinan, the Architect, formed his architecture style after seen all of the Roman works. In fact, these people reached the knowledge in quantum energy. Man who concentrates has the opportunity to reach the intuitional knowledge in the universe. What we call intuition and inspiration is obtaining knowledge from the general cosmic intelligence. Therefore, a sharp differentiation between mind and matter that will enable us to analyze by breaking into pieces cannot be made. For instance, when we break atom into pieces, a subatomic part is no longer “that atom” because breaking into pieces will change its meaning. The iron atom is no longer iron; it is transformed into quark.
Chemistry works in connection with quantum electrodynamics in this area. When the magnetic vibrations activate the ion ducts in the brain cells and when calcium ions become active, agitations start in the cells. When one stimulus is received by the cell, it does not become active in these chemical interactions but when a thousand stimuli are received, activation starts in the cell. Therefore, regarding the issues which are desired a lot and to which emotional concentration is attributed to, the motivation of the person is high; therefore, this motivation can activate itself. Regarding the issues which are not attached importance, it is more likely that the person will be lazy.
The view of classical physics and biology explains the physicochemicals of the brain as if it mentions something else. However, when the issue is dealt with by quantum electrodynamics, a system in which man is included is mentioned. It sounds as if the positive approach mentions things that are different from and outside us.
When the classical scientific view considers man as separate from the center, it cannot answer many questions that come to the mind. Therefore, the most important alternative for our consciousness is that it holds all of the choices at the same time. When consciousness makes a decision, it chooses one of the stimuli sent to him. Therefore, all knowledge is related to all parts of the brain. It is very difficult to make sharp distinctions as “this knowledge belongs to that region or it is stored in that region” in the brain.
In animal experiments, it was shown that consciousness could still be there though most of the brain was removed. However, consciousness closes between the state of sleep and wakefulness. Mass gravity of quantum physics, the universe being in this gravity and man being individual energy in the mass gravity of quantum explain the reality of consciousness.
