[Avodah] origins of AZ

[Micha Berger]

On Sat, February 23, 2008 5:47 pm, R Eli Turkel wrote:
: I based myself on Rambam who views idol worship as a substitute for a
: G-d they cannot see. In a recent trip to China I asked the local guides
: about Buddha. They also insisted that the idols represented some higher
: power.

Most Buddhists claim that their beliefs do not involve theology. FWIW,
to me the similarities to L acosmism (as RJJB calls it) seems too
self-evident to simply dismiss their higher reality that everything
shares as anything but a theological claim.

But back to the topic of the Rambam... The first halakhah in AZ
describes the origin of AZ as honoring to Hashem's "entourage" as a
way of honoring Him. They then later forgot the One behind the
servants. It's not exactly the same as "a substitute for a G-d they
cannot see", although that is a plausible explanation for why they
forgot Him.

My Hindu co workers speak of belief in a single Deity who is so
incomprehensible that man perceives it as millions of gods. This is
different in philosophy to the Rambam's description of AZ's
beginnings. But then, Hinduism is influenced by Benei Qeturah, and
thus probably isn't the most raw of AZ.

...
: However, Toby is right based on other sources that at times idol
: worship is not intellectual but is instead an excuse for
: licentiousness...

Desire motivates ignoring the source of morality.

People aren't so simple. Odds are it isn't a matter of different times
as much as falling for intellectual theories that one has an emotional
reason to prefer. Different people, based on how cerebral they are,
are more one way or the other. But probably both play a part in every
case.

There is a truism in Poor Mitchel's Almanac which goes:
    The mind is a wonderful organ
    for justifying conclusions
    the heart already reached.

SheTir'u baTov!
-micha ("Mitchel", belaaz)

-- 
Micha Berger             "Man wants to achieve greatness overnight,
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