a person is aided in discussing the divine attributes, and thereby in addressing the doubts that confront him. We have discussed this in various places.
People have differed concerning the human spirit: Is it a body composed either of indivisible atoms or of matter and form, or is it a substance that does not admit of ascent and descent, proximity and distance, and the like? Both views are erroneous, as has been explained elsewhere. (1)
Weaker still is the view of those who regard it as one of the body’s accidents, like life and knowledge.
Included under the first view are the positions of those who say that the human being is nothing but this visible composite whole, namely the body; those who say that the spirit is the air circulating through the body’s passages; those who say that it is the blood; those who say that it is the subtle vapor flowing through the channels of the blood, which physicians call the spirit; and those who hold other positions.
The second view is maintained by certain philosophers and by the speculative thinkers who agree with them.
A person may examine many books written on these matters and find numerous positions presented in them, yet fail to find the correct position among them.
Whoever becomes deeply versed in the branches of knowledge will recognize the essence and true reality of these matters: throughout them all, the truth is what was conveyed by the truthful one whose truthfulness is attested, who “does not speak from his own inclination. It is nothing but a revelation revealed.” Yet an extended discussion of this subject would not befit this