Avicenna & The Floating Man

There is a famous hadith : The one who knows himself well, knows his Lord as well too. There is a similar saying of Imam Ali a.s also that in order to understand God one must consider the characteristics of his spirit instead of his bodily characteristics. Keeping therse sayings in mind, this topic is meant to bring people one step closer to understanding themselves. This is a thought provoking question, and everyone is welcome to express his or her views.

Imagine, a man floating in a room with zero sensory input, no sound, no sight, no gravity, no sensation of any kind, floating in complete darkness, no sensation even of his own body because no part of his body touches any other part — say the man was created this way, would he be capable of thought? Can the human mind have thoughts without any external sensory input? If so, what would this man be thinking? Would the floating man have awareness of anything?

Its actually a thought process Avicenna came up with in order to realize the reality of our own existence and true realization of the inner self. And if we think carefully this concept is not so much alien to us, because we experience it every time when we are sound asleep. 

Although we can hear, feel, taste and smell during our sleep as the electronic signals are continuously transmitted by our sense organs to our brain, as during deep sleep the brain is unconscious and no longer converts the data into information... therefore in that state we are indifferent to any sensory input. In that state, we see without eyes, hear without ears, taste without tongue, feel without body and enjoy fragrances without a nose... 

 Imam Ali a.s has said, If you want to understand the attributes of Allah, then you should ponder over the attributes of soul and overlook the attributes of the body. Allah is He Who Sees everything without eyes, Hears everything without any organ, He is everywhere but His Presence is not physical!