What is meant
Breathing of the spirit is a moment of qualitative transition in consciousness and perception, preparing the being to enter into humanization This means that the spirit is not merely bodily life, but a transformation in the level of perception and consciousness
The atom’s structure in the atlas
- Type of argument: interpretive
- Movement of the argument: Breathing of the spirit expresses a qualitative transition in consciousness and perception.
- Central terms: breathing of the spirit, consciousness, perception, humanization.
- Degree of centrality: pivotal.
It takes the expression out of a purely sensory meaning into a meaning of cognitive and human transformation, making it a moment of passage to a higher level of consciousness and discrimination.
Links that help with reading
- Muhammad Shahrur, Qur’anic Stories, Vol. 1
- History, Evolution, and Patterns
- The tree as a symbol of the test of ownership
Basis
- Supporting text: “Breathing of the spirit: a moment of qualitative transition in consciousness and perception that qualifies the being for humanization.”
Degree of documentation
- Level: directly documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom rests on an explicit witness close to the wording of the claim.
- Limits of the reading: the formulation above is an analytical summary and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is transmitted word for word.
Its function in the book
Its function here is definitional; it establishes a meaning or conceptual distinction on which Shahrur relies in building the idea.
Related to
Editorial note
It needs to be linked to the Adam atom so that its function appears within the narrative.