Presented by Zia H Shah MD

Consciousness – our immediate, irreducible experience of being – resists explanation by ordinary physics or chemistry. How can raw, inert matter (like diamonds, water, or coal) become conscious? As one commentator observes, “we simply cannot understand how inorganic atoms, molecules, and compounds yield the fantastic inner experience of thoughts, emotions, dreams, consciousness, and more.”thequran.love. In other words, the familiar elements of geology or chemistry seem “inanimate”, yet within living brains they somehow give rise to awareness. This Hard Problem of consciousness has led many thinkers to question whether a purely material universe can ever generate real minds.

In recent years, some philosophers have embraced panpsychism – the view that mind or experience is fundamental and ubiquitous in nature – as a way to avoid the “mystery” of mind arising from non-mindthemuslimtimes.infothemuslimtimes.info. But even proponents acknowledge that panpsychism may only redefine rather than solve the problem. Critics point out that it is essentially a speculative stratagem: “the real problem with panpsychism … is that it explains nothing and does not generate testable predictions,” as neuroscientist Anil Seth bluntly remarksthemuslimtimes.info. In practice, adopting panpsychism often appears more like a metaphysical Hail Mary than a genuine explanationthemuslimtimes.infothequran.love. This has prompted many to look for an alternative: perhaps consciousness did not arise from inert matter at all, but rather was “implanted” by a prior consciousness. In this view, our own mind points backward to an eternal Mind – what theistic traditions call God.

Figure: The universe brims with lifeless matter at vast scale, yet somehow life and consciousness emerge on rare worlds (e.g. Earth). Explaining this leap from the purely physical to the mental is the central challenge.

The Panpsychist Move and Its Limits

In response to the Hard Problem, panpsychism posits that consciousness is built in from the bottom up, so that matter was never truly “dead” to begin with. As one account explains, “Panpsychism is the philosophical view that mentality is a fundamental and ubiquitous feature of reality.”themuslimtimes.info In other words, every basic particle carries a tiny “proto-mind,” and complex brains simply aggregate countless micro-experiencesthemuslimtimes.info. This avoids the puzzle of mind suddenly appearing at a certain level of complexity.

Panpsychism contrasts with materialism (where mind somehow emerges from brain complexity) and with dualism (where mind is an independent substance). Its appeal is that it posits a single unified substance that has both physical and experiential aspectsthemuslimtimes.infothemuslimtimes.info. Contemporary panpsychists like Galen Strawson or Philip Goff argue that taking consciousness seriously as fundamental allows a consistent naturalistic worldview without invoking miraclesthemuslimtimes.info. If every electron has some primitive awareness, then there is no “source” gap to explain – consciousness was there all along at the heart of realitythemuslimtimes.info.

However, panpsychism faces deep challenges. Its critics note that it “lacks empirical support and is not falsifiable, making it speculative”thequran.love. By attributing consciousness everywhere, it becomes impossible to test – no experiment can confirm whether an electron “feels” anythingthequran.love. Moreover, panpsychism merely shifts the problem: it must explain how countless micro-conscious fragments combine into the unified mind of a human. This notorious combination problem asks how trillions of tiny proto-qualia merge into the singular stream of our experience. As one source notes, it “remains unclear how individual conscious experiences integrate into a unified, higher-level consciousness”thequran.love. In practice, panpsychism offers no concrete account of this mechanism; critics call the notion “unfounded philosophical speculation” that complicates rather than clarifies the mind–matter relationshipthequran.love.

In sum, even die-hard panpsychists admit that their view is largely a placeholder. It’s essentially a way of “baking consciousness into the fabric of the universe” so one never has to explain its originthemuslimtimes.info. But without clear empirical support, this move is seen by many as a kind of philosophical concession. As one commentator concedes, panpsychism may prove ingenious – or it may turn out to be a desperate last resort for those unwilling to invoke anything beyond matterthemuslimtimes.infothemuslimtimes.info. In the end, panpsychism neither illuminates the mechanism of consciousness nor yields testable predictions. It simply asserts that even atoms have proto-minds (with no evidence) and hopes this assumption dissolves the mysterythemuslimtimes.infothequran.love.

Critiques of Panpsychism: Among the most common objections are:

• No Empirical Evidence: Consciousness is subjective and hidden. There is no evidence that electrons or rocks have experiences, and no way to checkthequran.lovethequran.love.
• Combination Problem: How do mini-experiences “add up” to our unified mind? The theory offers no solution, making the problem arguably worsethequran.love.
• Speculative Nature: Panpsychism can seem like “a kind of sweeping metaphysical assertion” rather than an explanationthemuslimtimes.infothequran.love. Critics warn it may be “useless speculation” that adds nothing scientificallythequran.love.

Because of these issues, many philosophers (even self-described atheists) hesitate. The debate continues: is panpsychism a stroke of insight or merely a metaphysical sleight of handthemuslimtimes.infothequran.love?

A Fictional Chain of Creation: Aliens of Aliens

To illustrate the impasse, consider a thought experiment. Suppose human life on Earth was not the product of unguided evolution, but instead of intelligent design by an alien civilization. In this scenario, advanced extraterrestrials came to Earth and engineered our biology. This explains how life emerged here not from sterile rock but from prior life (alien life).

But then a question arises: Who created those aliens? Perhaps they too were designed by an even more advanced species in a distant galaxy. Each level of intelligence creates the next. We can imagine this chain continuing: humans ← aliens1 ← aliens2 ← aliens3 ← … and so on for 4–5 generations.

This alien-on-alien regression might seem to defer the problem, but it really pushes it back. If ultimate explanation demands an unbroken causal chain of creators, we face an infinite regress. Philosophers note that allowing creation by creators ad infinitum is akin to the classic metaphor of “turtles all the way down”en.wikipedia.org – an endless stack with no first turtle. We avoid incoherence by positing a first cause. Similarly, our alien chain must have an originator who was not themselves created by a higher being.

In this fictional model, that ultimate origin would be a transcendent conscious entity – an eternally existent Intelligence outside of time and matter. In theological terms, this is precisely God. Thus, even entertaining a chain of creators among extraterrestrials leads naturally to a terminus: a being whose consciousness is uncaused and infinite. It is not aliens all the way down; rather, once we push creation back through enough levels, consciousness itself must be fundamental.

Conceiving ourselves as creations of created beings illustrates the futility of a purely material explanation. In each generation of creators, consciousness is simply relocated, not originated. Ultimately, the only coherent ending is a Creator who is eternal mind. Just as causal chains in physics require a first uncaused cause, a chain of conscious designers requires a first Consciousness. In effect, our mental existence demands an origin beyond the physical cosmos, reaching up to an infinite Mind.

Consciousness Itself Points to the Divine

Philosophers and theologians have long argued that consciousness is evidence of a transcendent source. Richard Swinburne, for example, formulates an “argument from consciousness” suggesting that our mental life is better explained by a divine mind than by blind physicsthequran.love. He notes that the correlations between physical brain states and subjective experiences are hard to explain scientifically. Instead, a personal explanation – God’s intentional design – fits more naturally. As Swinburne writes, “the presence of conscious experiences in humans is more plausibly explained by the existence of a divine being than by naturalistic processes alone.”thequran.love. In his view, each mental event is like a signpost to a higher Consciousness.

Similarly, the Christian philosopher J.P. Moreland and others emphasize that qualia (the raw feel of experience) cannot emerge from nothing. Moreland argues that since matter is insentient, the reality of our conscious experience suggests a spiritual dimensionthequran.lovethequran.love. In essence, if our mind is not a cosmic fluke, then perhaps the cosmos itself has mind. But pantheistic ideas (universe=God) lead to other problems. A balanced view is that human consciousness shares a fragment with the divine Mind.

In practical terms, advocates of theism contend that features of human thought – our rationality, creativity, intentionality – imply a Mind behind it all. Zia H. Shah notes that “the experience of consciousness and rational deliberation is often cited as evidence for libertarian free will,” which in turn points to Godthemuslimtimes.info. He explains: “These immaterial aspects of human existence are best explained by the presence of a divine creator.”themuslimtimes.info A purely material account, he argues, “fails to account for the emergence of consciousness and rationality,” whereas these qualities reflect “the image of a rational and conscious God” in usthemuslimtimes.info.

Indeed, Aquinas long ago taught that the human soul is immaterial and created by God. He wrote: “The essence of the soul is immaterial, [being] created by the supreme intellect” (God), meaning that our ability to think cannot arise from mere atomsthemuslimtimes.info. Descartes likewise asserted that the mind (res cogitans) is not a function of the body and must have a nonphysical originthemuslimtimes.info. These classic theistic insights align with the modern observation: mind does not seem to spring from matter.

Figure: If consciousness cannot emerge from inert matter (left) or from creation without origin (middle), the chain of explanation points to an eternal conscious Reality (right). This ultimate Consciousness is what theism calls God.

Even those skeptical of religion have recognized the puzzle. Philosopher Galen Strawson (himself an atheist) once conceded that trying to “derive” consciousness from physics is “incoherent… brute emergence.”themuslimtimes.info. He has argued that the only way to take consciousness seriously is to posit it as fundamental. But fundamental consciousness in matter is no less mysterious than consciousness itself, leading Strawson to accept the view that nature’s deep nature might be experientialthemuslimtimes.info. He effectively admits that if consciousness exists at all, it must come from consciousness at the ground level.

Zia Shah summarizes the stance succinctly: “You are reading these lines or watching the above videos and in my view that is proof enough that God exists… Consciousness will lead to God if we can expose the incoherence of all the alternative explanations.”thequran.love. In other words, our very awareness – something no dead universe would predict – points to an ultimate Source of Mind.

From Regress to the Eternal Mind

The alien-chain fiction and the critiques above converge on the same conclusion: consciousness does not have an adequate home in inert matter. Every attempt to ground mind in the physical or in multiple layers of finite designers hits a wall. If atoms and aliens alike fail to create consciousness, then consciousness must ultimately reside in an uncreated Origin.

This brings us to the concept of God as eternal consciousness. The regress of creators cannot continue forever (infinite regress leads to explanatory failure, much like the absurd “turtles all the way down” imageen.wikipedia.org). Instead, the regress stops at a being who is self-existent. In theological terms, this is God – Consciousness without beginning. Such a Being is “Al-Qayyum” (The Self-Subsisting) as the Qur’an says, beyond our direct grasp but clearly indicated by our inner awarenessthequran.love. As the Qur’an metaphorically says, God shows His signs “in the horizons and within themselves, until it becomes clear to them that He is the Truth” (Qur’an 41:53) – including the sign of consciousness within usthequran.love.

Philosopher Richard Swinburne encapsulates this line of thought: naturalistic explanations “fall short in elucidating the existence and nature of consciousness. Therefore, a personal explanation, involving a divine consciousness, is more appropriate…”thequran.love. In short, when we push the question “Why do we have minds?” to its end, the most coherent answer is that an eternal, infinite Mind intended it.

Conclusion

The quest to explain consciousness from the physical realm has led to increasingly strained theories (illusions, panpsychist matter, endless alien designers). Yet each materialist move only passes the buck. As the sources discussed make clear, invoking panpsychism or simulated aliens cannot remove the core mystery: inert matter is not self-awarethemuslimtimes.infothequran.love. Both science and philosophy suggest that true life and mind require a prior Mind. In the words of one critic, our consciousness is “more plausibly explained by the existence of a divine being than by naturalistic processes alone.”thequran.love.

Thus a thoughtful consideration of consciousness tends to lead beyond the cosmos to the transcendent. The infinite regress of creators resolves in an infinite Creator – an eternal consciousness we call God. Far from being turtles all the way down, the chain of consciousness finds its first link in the everlasting, all-aware Reality that undergirds everything.

The modern creation of AI by human consciousness creates another metaphor to understand why we need a prior consciousness to create any sort of intelligence.

Sources: As cited above, this account draws on philosophical analyses of consciousness and on articles by Zia H. Shah, highlighting the difficulties of materialist explanations and the arguments from consciousness for theism themuslimtimes.info thequran.love thequran.love themuslimtimes.info thequran.love thequran.love.