After defining both spiritual knowledge and acquired worldly knowledge, it becomes clear that there is no true and authentic way to understand the soul except through divinely presented knowledge. The soul cannot be recognized through acquired and worldly knowledge alone. When a person attempts to understand the soul only through worldly reasoning, he becomes lost in arguments, philosophy, speculation, and confusion. Everyone then forms personal theories. Some say man originated from animals, some from celestial bodies, and others from biological coincidence. When the reality of the soul is unknown, material life becomes the ultimate purpose of existence. Such a person never reaches certainty.
However, one who tries to understand the soul through divinely presented knowledge finds his doubts removed and his mind illuminated. It becomes his firm belief that the body of flesh and blood is only a temporary structure, while the true and living reality is the soul. When the connection of the soul with the body breaks, movement and life cease.
Who am I and who are you? What truly is man? How do we recognize him and what is his real existence? The human body is a structure of bones, muscles, veins, and skin. But this body cannot move on its own. There is another reality that gives life and movement, and that is the soul. Just as a clay lion covered in dust is still recognized as a lion, the physical body is only a covering, while the real identity is the soul.
Tores of the Soul
When a person dies, all strength and life leave the body. Death means that the soul has removed the garment of the body. This separation removes all attraction between soul and body. This concept of spiritual garment is not limited to the physical world only. Wherever the soul goes, it adopts a form suitable to that realm and expresses life through that form. The soul not only expresses movement through this dress, it also guards it and nurtures it.
In some places this dress is made of physical matter. In other realms, it is woven from light. When the soul enters a material body, it becomes bound by the limitations of time and space. The true reality of this dress of flesh and blood becomes completely clear only after death.
Search and Quest of the Soul
It is necessary for a person to reach a state in life that resembles death. Sleep is the closest human experience to death. The elders say that the sleeping person and the dead person are alike, except that during sleep the connection between soul and body remains, while in death it completely separates. Sleep reveals the qualities of the soul. We live in two states. In one state the eyes are open, awareness is active, we walk, speak, hear, feel, and move. This is awakening.
Swoon, Dream, and Life
In the second state, sleep, we see, hear, feel, move, and experience events while the physical body remains still. This proves that the soul is not bound by the body of flesh and blood. The soul is capable of movement without the physical body, and this movement is called a dream.
Many theories exist about dreams. Some call them imagination. Some say they are reflections of unfulfilled desires. Others see them as psychological or spiritual processes. But no one can deny that the soul remains active beyond physical consciousness. The effect of dreams often remains after waking. Sometimes fear remains. Sometimes joy remains. Sometimes the body reacts physically based on actions experienced in a dream. This proves that dreams are evidence of the independent activity of the soul.