Page 811 - Atlas of Creation Volume 3

Harun Yahya

God shows the images He creates
as linked to particular causes and
effects. When an apple drops off a
tree, for instance, it always falls
to earth, it never goes upwards or
remains suspended in the air. The
study of these effects and laws
that God has created form the
fields of study in science. As a re-
sult, the fact that the whole uni-
verse is a totality of perceptions
does not invalidate or do away
with the need for sci-
entific research.

and permanent" as they believe themselves to be, so they cannot expect their loved ones to be real and
permanent. When one considers the matter, a person will understand that his own body is merely an

image that God shows to his soul.
When some people feel their bodies, feel pain when they cut their fingers, or meet some of their bod-
ies' physical needs, this may give them the feeling that their bodies have a true physical existence.
However, a person's own body is actually a perception, just like everything else, and nobody can ever

know whether his body has a physical counterpart outside his perception of it. For example, the pain
when one cuts one's finger is again a perception. So is the feeling of fullness one enjoys after eating some-
thing. Artificial signals from outside the human body can also produce the same feelings. However, no-
body can ever be sure of his own body's physical existence. It is the soul that God has given to man that

feels pains or understands the words on a page, for that reason, the individual himself is also a manifes-
tation of God. These people are not real and permanent, as they would believe.

Objection: "To conclude that the universe is a collection of perceptions means abandoning enquiry into
how the universe functions, in other words science."
Reply: This is a form of objection generally put forward by materialists, and is used to show this sub-

ject as opposed to science and intended to negate it. However, it is clearly false and invalid.
God shows us the images we experience within ourselves as united by a network of cause and effect
relationships, all linked together by laws. The images that form in our brains of night and day, for in-
stance. We perceive night and day as being linked to the Sun and the movement of the Earth. When the

image of the Sun in our minds is at its height, we know that it is noon, and when the Sun goes down, we
witness the fall of night. When creating perceptions belonging to the universe, God created them to-
gether with a cause and effect relationship. We never experience daytime after the Sun has gone down.
Thus science is the observation and study of this cause and effect relationship that God has created in our

minds.

Adnan Oktar 809