Page 164 - Allah is Known through Reason

Someone eating a fruit does not confront the actual fruit but its per-
ception in the brain. The object considered by the person a "fruit" actual-
ly consists of electrical impressions of the shape, taste, smell, and texture
of the fruit in the brain. If the sight nerves travelling to the brain were to
be severed suddenly, the image of the fruit would suddenly disappear. A
disconnection in the nerve travelling from the sensors in the nose to the
brain would completely interrupt the sense of smell. Put simply, the fruit
is nothing but the brain's interpretation of electrical signals.
Another point to be considered is the sense of distance. Distance, for
example the distance between you and this book, is only a feeling of space
formed in your brain. Objects that seem to be distant in one person's view
also exist in the brain. For instance, someone who watches the stars in the
sky assumes that they are millions of light-years away from him. Yet, what
he "sees" are really the stars inside himself, in his centre of vision. While
you read these lines, you are, in truth, not inside the room you assume
yourself to be in; on the contrary, the room is inside you. Your seeing your
body makes you think that you are inside it. However, you must remem-
ber that your body, too, is an image formed inside your brain.
The same applies to all your other perceptions. For instance, when you
think that you hear the sound of the television in the next room, you are

As a result of artificial stimuli, a physical world as
true and realistic as the real one can be formed in
our brain without the existence of physical world.
As a result of artificial stimuli, a person may
imaginethink that he is driving in his car, while he
is actually sitting at home.