Finding the Common Ground Between Science and Spirituality Survival is related to (a) the control of the life-sustaining body processes that run around the clock, such as breathing, the beating of the heart, etc., and (b) dealing with the monkey mind jumping uncontrollably from object to object In addition, survival means satisfying the external needs of food, housing, etc Human Beings Human beings are also cosmic beings The structure of their being is similarly composed as that of the cosmos with the exception that humans are made in the image of God They have much more mystery and much less concreteness than that cosmos as a whole In human beings, Nafs comprises three faculties referred to as souls: Vegetative soul is characterized by a lack of mobility, a faculty with the ability of perception and reflexive autonomic response only The vegetative faculty is also called the creaturely soul Animal soul is characterized by mobility, a faculty capable of sense perception and active response to it Rational soul is the capability of animals and humans of accumulating sense experience to form a logic for running worldly life The rational soul generates a response consciously, considering this logic to optimize survival issues and maximize the fulfillment of individual appetites Aql means intellect beyond the rational, wisdom Humans are equipped with this faculty while other life forms are not Human beings are made in the image of God They are the only life form blessed with Aql, a manifestation of Al-Nur 113