[Avodah] Rambam on Prophecy

[Micha Berger]

In v5n7 David Finch <dfinch847 at aol.com> wrote:
: I agree. Rambam was a rationalist who, according to one commentator,
: viewed prophecy as a projection of the human intellect. Yehudah ha-Levi
: and others saw prophecy as a supernatural gift. By Rambam, the prophet
: is a prescient intellectual who would know when to invoke G-d's command
: and when to invoke the lesser province of reason and argument. By
: ha-Levi, the prophet may be a charismatic tzaddik who speaks for HaShem
: automatically.

Not at all!

Using the same distinction I made above, and adding to it subtypes:

The Rihal holds that a navi is someone who made himself capable of receiving
messages from Hashem. Whether he gets nevu'ah depends most heavily on whether
Hashem chooses to send him any.

The Rambam holds that a navi is someone who lifted his consciousness to the
point of being able to see what's going on in higher planes. Note that this is
even *more* mystical than the other position; rather than speaking about
Hashem creating dreamlike images, the Rambam (again, as understood by the
Abarbanel) invokes the idea of being aware of the processes shamayim and
(except for Moshe Rabbeinu) his mind forcing incomprehensible experience into
familiar sights and sounds. And in fact, the Rambam believes that when a
prophet tries for prophecy and doesn't get nevu'ah, it's because Hashem
chooses to withhold it.

Tir'u baTov!
-mi

-- 
Micha Berger             Spirituality is like a bird: if you tighten
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