Üsküdar University Risale-i Nur Research Platform (RİNAP) discussed "Concepts of Soul-Mind-Heart in Risale-i Nur" at the "RİNAP Monthly Talk" program. The guest of the program, held via Zoom, was Üsküdar University Board of Trustees Member Prof. Dr. Yunus Çengel. The program was moderated by Prof. Dr. İbrahim Özdemir, Head of the Philosophy Department, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Prof. Dr. Özdemir: “New English translations of Risale-i Nur are much more fluent and simple”
Head of the Philosophy Department, Prof. Dr. İbrahim Özdemir, first noted that the new English translations of Risale-i Nur are written fluently and simply, making them understandable to everyone: “Colin Turner has started re-translating the Risale-i Nur. For now, ‘Küçük Sözler’, ‘Ramazan’, and ‘Hastalar Risalesi’ have been translated. They have been placed as PDF files on the website of Üsküdar University Risale-i Nur Research Platform. Everyone can download them for free. They were prepared in a simpler, more fluent English that high school students and everyone can understand. The project had been worked on for a long time. Our Founding Rector Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan was closely involved with this situation.”
Prof. Dr. Yunus Çengel: “I write my articles and books for myself”
Mechanical Engineer Prof. Dr. Yunus Çengel said: “When I write books and articles, I don’t write them for anyone else. I write them only for myself. The reason is that I try to understand myself. My method of understanding is writing. In academia, they say: ‘If you truly want to learn about a subject, teach a course on it. This way, you are forced to learn it. If you really want to deeply understand a subject, write a book on it. At least write an article.’ I know very well what matter and energy are and what they are not. If you know the opposite concept of something, you can understand its counterpart very well. The best magicians also know miracles. The first believers in Prophet Moses were magicians. When Prophet Moses’ staff turned into a snake and devoured the other snakes, the magicians said, ‘We believe in the God of Prophet Moses.’ They didn’t say, ‘What Prophet Moses did is not magic.’ Because it appears the same to the eye. Magicians know very well that this is not magic. When we look at the criteria of philosophy, being logical and consistent with observations is important. It must be reasonable. Matter is a form of energy. Our field is entirely the physical realm. The interesting part is that our deductions are also non-physical. Physics itself is not physical. It is entirely mental. The laws of physics are not physical things. They are entirely conceptual, mental, and inferential. It is conceptual and inferential, also mental.”
“The universe is the domain of natural sciences”
Prof. Dr. Yunus Çengel stated that what is called matter is not the types of matter we know, adding: “Despite all criticisms, we are still objective. Despite some of our prejudices and conservative sides. If we change gravity, the entire order collapses. Then only one possibility remains: this attraction is applied by matter. What we call matter is not the electron or proton we know. We say there is an attraction. Because we can see the attraction. In the past, the universe was thought to be static. In the 1920s, it was discovered that it was expanding. If it is expanding, it is understood that it originated from a single point. The universe is not just expanding, it is expanding at an accelerating rate. If something is expanding at an accelerating rate, then there is an energy we do not know. All visible matter is only 5% of the energy. There is no sign of the remaining 95%, it is only evident from its effect. Dark matter and dark energy, which we do not know or understand at all, make up 95%. Humans have knowledge, beliefs, and prejudices. The field of activity for natural sciences is this visible universe.”