Divine Spiritual Soul (Illumination Five) “The Essence of the Spirit”
This book contains a precious collection of teachings of divine philosopher Ostad Seyyed Ali Mousavi in 2001-2002 explaining some issues raised in volume eight of Mulla Sadra’s book, Asfar, that focuses on discussing the essence of the spirit.
Ostad Mousavi has researched about the essence of the spirit in this volume of the series of the books, Divine Spiritual Soul. By asking the question of “What truly is the soul and how does it flow through the body?” he researches about the essence of the spirit according to the views of Junayd of Baghdad, Bāyazīd Bisṭāmī, Ibn Ata, Abū Sa‘īd al-Kharrāz, Abū Sa‘īd Ghorashi and some interpreters. In the following researches, he not only mentions the view of Sharia, but also that of western philosophers such as Russell (who was a denier of the spirit), Alexis Carrel, and Nicolas Malebranche. Carrel proved the spirit through the following three ways: 1. The particles of light, 2. Images of the radiations of stars, and 3. The manifestation of brain. He said when the light is turned off, the compressed phantoms are not destroyed and he used this subject for the immortality of the spirit. Some artists such as Michelangelo, Tolstoy, Victor Hugo, Rumi, Saadi, etc. explored the spirit in different ways. But, divine philosopher Ostad Seyyed Ali Mousavi says about this subject, “Illumination of the spirit came to surrender the lover to the beloved”.
In a part of this book, different types of hearts according to a Hadith of the holy Prophet (PBUH) which was narrated by Ḥudhayfa b. al-Yamān are discussed. Other subjects which are raised in this book include researching the reason of specificity of the spirit of each person and also research about the question of whether or not the weight of the body decreases when the spirit leaves the body. In the following sections, some subjects are discussed such as different kinds of spirits, the equal illumination of the spirit to parts of the body, attention of the spirits of the dead to their relatives, exchanging news by spirits, influence of the spirit in eliminating anxieties, and also some views about immortality of the spirit after death according to René Descartes and Plato, tripartite division of the spirit according to Galenus, the relationship between supreme and animal spirits and emerging of the divine spiritual soul from these two spirits according to the view of divine philosopher Ostad Seyyed Ali Mousavi.
This book has been printed by Ostad Mousavi publications.
