Book Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 3

Book Review - Essay Example Humanity is not only made with the capacity of free will, but also have a soul that brings humanity closer to attaining the perfection and intellectual design. This is not a new approach, but adds further scientific backing for the belief in God, but also introduces the notion of faith being driven by the science and genetics of mankind: â€Å"The power of myth lies beneath its literal interpretations, in the ability of its universal symbols and themes to connect us with the most essential parts of ourselves in ways that logic and reason alone cannot" This argument is that the reality of God is driven from human emotions and the biological make-up of the brain. However this does not mean that religion and God is in the mind of the believer; rather this view of religion is the extension of these subjective human emotions, i.e. they point to the reality of God in the individual’s mind but do not come from God. â€Å"Any idea might trigger a myth if it can unify logic and intuition, and lead to a state of left-brain / right-brain agreement. In this state of whole-brain harmony, neurological uncertainties are powerfully alleviated as existential opposites are reconciled and the problem of cause is resolved†. This scientific approach of Newberg gives a rational explanation of the long traditional of mystical thought, which has been scorned for its subjectivity. Rumi is an Islamic example of a mystic who supports the mystical union of the believer and God. This mystic approach was in response to the over rationalizing of mainstream Islamic thinker’s on the nature of God and enforcing rules on human’s (Rumi, 1996). Rumi’s approach is a personal approach to God and as Von Schlegell argues is â€Å"to correct the view of Sufism as "counter." [to legalistic] "culture." At the same time, as the work under review shows, efforts to de-mystify Sufism, and to portray it at work as but one among many social forces in Islamic history would be going too far in