The Resources of the Human Spirit - Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi Society

The Resources of the Human Spirit31the human body. He says: “The heart is the place for the spirit”; 31and, “The vegetal heart is only useful as this secret location …therefore, the vegetal heart is the castle of the spirit”. 32III. The relation between the bodyand the spiritIbn ¡Arabi insists that the human spirit does not exist independently.Image and spirit are inseparable and consequently, if thespirit were separated from the body, its original power, as givenby the divine breath, would be manifest and it would become themost arrogant being. In order to defeat it and to stop it callingitself god or master, God, glory to His transcendence, imposedHis own image upon it. 33Therefore, the spirit is forced to lead the body in this wretchedworld. 34 When the spirit leaves the body and arrives in the worldof the barzakh (isthmus), even for a brief period during sleep, orfor a long period waiting for the resurrection, God, glory to Histranscendence, imposes upon it an image which is corporeal(jasad), not carnal (jism), in order to avoid its complete separationfrom substance during awakening, sleep or death. 35Ibn ¡Arabi distinguishes between carnal and corporeal components:the carnal component is composed of already formedelements, while the corporeal one is a subtle image of the carnal.With regard to the material bodies where spirits rest duringsleep, Ibn ¡Arabi says: “Know that God has an angel responsiblefor the vision called the spirit … which possesses the images ofthe corporeal bodies that the sleeper perceives, both of himselfand others.” 36 He says of the corporeal bodies into which spiritsgo after the death of the carnal body in the barzakh: “Know thatwhen God, glory to His transcendence, takes the spirits from the31. Fut. II.122.32. Tadb¨råt, p. 132.33. Fut. I.275.34. Fut. I.143.35. Fut. I.275.36. Fut. II.377.