[Avodah] reality

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, Nov 28, 2011 at 04:03:32PM -0500, David Riceman wrote:
>> Which the Maharal meant, IMHO, depends on is how events in higher  
>> olamos are connected to ones in ours.

> While there are hints of "higher olamos" much earlier than the Ari (cf.  
> Iyov 1:6-12), I don't think the concept was of much importance to the  
> Maharal (he was born before and died after the Ari, but I don't know of  
> any evidence that he read R. Hayyim Vital's works)...

The language proved a distraction, although REED (kedarko beqodesh)
does fuse Maharal with talk of olamos. (As I mentioned a couple of weeks
ago <http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol27/v27n204.shtml#12>. MmE I pp
304-312. Although admitedly REED's tendency to eliminate machloqesin in
aggadita is a bit extreme...

The Maharal does speak of three olamos: hatachtonim, mah shehu bein
ha'elyonim vetachtonim, veha'elyonim legamrei (Netzach Yisrael ch. 40,
cf Tif'eres Yisrael ch. 50). There is thus a basis for REED's notion
about olamos and where a person's perception is suspended in the source
he explains using this idea.

But in any case, here is where my head is...

Kayadua, at least among long-time members, possibly the first point of
departure (in logical, not historical, sequence) between Chassidim and
Misnagdim was the nature of tzimtzum. Chassidus asserted an illusory
tzimtzum, and thus emphasized Hashem's Immanence, which fits their
focus on acheiving deveiqus.

Another consequence of an illusory tzimtzum is that the connection
between forces in higher olamos and those in lower, all the way down to
physical ones, is innate. The Or Ein Sof of physics is fully connected
to the higher planes of metaphysics.

In contrast, R' Chaim Volozhiner asserts that there is only one thing
that spans multiple olamos, that is the union of all the kochos --
the human soul. See NhC 1:6
<http://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%A0%D7%A4%D7%A9_%D7%94%D7%97%D7%99%D7%99%D7%9D_%D7%A9%D7%A2%D7%A8_%D7%90_%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%A7_%D7%95>
(a/k/a <http://bit.ly/vfHFpS>). To RCV, the way physical actions,
eg mitzvos, influence higher worlds is via their effect on the soul.
I believe this is do to the belief that the Or Ein Sof was literally
metzumtzemes, leaving people as the sole connection.

In Chassidish thought, therefore, physics can influence metaphysics
directly. A person who eats treif unknowingly could still suffer timtum
haleiv. A mezuzah that is pasul doesn't have the same power to protect.
Etc...

The way I see it in NhC, physics influences souls which then interact
with metaphysics. This could then be subdivided: The mystical approach
would still allow a mezuzah that is unbeknownst to anyone pasul to have
a different interaction with the soul and thus provide less protection.

But (eg) Mussar takes a more rational approach in the relationship between
the world and the soul, the whole reason why Mussar sees sheilumus in such
psychological terms. I would think the more rationalist understanding
of the Litvisher position would require physics to have psychological
impact in order to have metaphysical impact. So if you don't know one
of the letters pealed off, that changes the metaphysics. And if you
can't know, or can't be held accountable for your ignorance, so that
the physics makes no personal demands that one might be ignoring, then
it should really make no difference one way or the other, metaphysically.

IOW, Chassidim would say that the physical world is logically prior to
the world as percieved, whereas in this latter approach, all of physics
is a consequence of Hashem creating souls that should percieve the world
in particular ways.

All of which was phrased in terms of the relationship between physics and
metaphysics, without noting for the latter 4 paragraphs that Chassidim,
mystical Misnagdim, and more rationalist Misnagdim all divide various
forces among higher and lower olamos.

> I explained the Maharal's view of what Hazal were talking about when  
> they discussed science in an earlier post.  Neither "real world" nor  
> "reality as we are able to experience it directly" are accurate  
> descriptions.

Now, with the notions I was trying to compare the Maharal to spelled
out, I wish to repeat that he could fit either worldview:

He parallels metaphysical forces with what?

A- With the physics of the reality, because the metaphysics causes the
physics? (What I called the "Chassidic approach".)

B- With the physics of the reality, because the physics touches the
souls that live in it? (What I called the "mystical Misnagdic approach".)

C- With the way a soul experiences the reality?

I do not think the Maharal's shitah necessarily excludes any of the
above. If one says "as above so below" (lehavdil), one has to define the
"below". One could say it's the topic science studies, one could say
it's more Existential.

> Consider the example (the source is in a previous post) of Hazal's list  
> of sins which induce solar eclipses.  The Maharal explains that Hazal  
> knew perfectly well that solar eclipses can be predicted, and are  
> explained by astronomical phenomena.  What they meant was that God  
> designed human nature and the stellar bodies in parallel: the ability to  
> have solar eclipses and the ability to commit those certain sins are  
> parallel capacities.  I can't imagine how to fit that example into  
> either of your descriptions.

A/B- The orbits of the earth and moon are caused by physical forces
that are due to the same metaphysical forces that cause cycles of human
behavior. Therefore, the eclipse will coincide with a spiritual nadir
(of a particular sort).

C- People go through an eclipse because of the same metaphysical
forces that cause behavioral changes. Therefore they coincide, and
that forces the orbits to be such that the appopriate reality is
experienced.

In the case of observed reality, both sides coincide.

> Incidentally, the Maharal cites the pasuk "v'chofrah halevanah ubosha  
> hahama" (Is. 24:23) to demonstrate that the same capacity can parallel  
> something entirely different in eschatalogical time.

Much like REED's take on the Ramban's shitah about time during maaseh
bereishis -- that the 7 days of creation and the 7 millenia of history
don't just correspond, but are actually identical??

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             When one truly looks at everyone's good side,
micha at aishdas.org        others come to love him very naturally, and
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Fax: (270) 514-1507                        - Rabbi AY Kook