Imaginal Body and Its Role in Explaining Body-Soul Relationship in the Teachings of Sadr al-DīnShīrāzī

Abstract

Apart from the fact that the ‘corporeal body’ is a natural container for the origination and progression of the soul, Sadr al-DīnSīrāzī(1569-1640) distinguishes another ontological level of body, i.e.  the ‘imaginal body’,predicated upon the existence of an ontological state of being known as the ‘imaginal’ (mithālī) that mediates between an intelligible and the sensible realms.The ‘imaginal body’ or ‘body of the resurrection’is ‘perceiving’ (mudrik) and ‘living’ (hayy) and contrary to the ‘corporeal body’, is inseparable from the soul and it is through the intermediary function of this ‘imaginal body’ that the human ‘rational soul’ (al-nafs al-nātiqa)presides over the ‘corporeal body’. In fact, Sadr al-Dīn explains the relation between the ‘rational soul’ and the ‘corporeal body’ through two intermediaries, first the‘imaginal body’ and second, the ‘steam/animal spirit’. The ‘steam spirit’ is ontologically closer to the ‘corporeal body’ and the ‘imaginal body’ is ontologically closer to the ‘rational soul’. In other words, the ‘imaginal body’ presides over the ‘corporeal body’ through an intermediate link,i.e. a kind of ‘subtle mass’ known in the Peripatetic philosophy as the ‘steam spirit’