[Avodah] More Philosophy, If Anyone's Up to It

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, Sep 08, 2008 at 05:45:32PM -0500, Ira Tick wrote:
: I like what you said about unity being able to refer to the "interlocking"
: parts of the soul, that rotate and reconfigure but remain interconnected.

Also inter-operating. I called it a process. There is only one soul
because the soul is the interaction of the parts; not merely a puzzle
of multiple pieces.

Just as there is only one car engine, even though I can distinguish
spark plug, cylinder and piston. Or just as there is only one computer,
and a CPU without memory or a bus controller or .... isn't a functioning
anything.

    The various components of the tzaddiq are all inter-connected, nefesh
    with ruach and ruach with neshamah; and the neshamah is connected
    with the Holy One (blessed by He) so that [even] the nefesh is bound
    up bitzror hachaim.
				    - Zohar, Acharei Mos

: As to G-d's Oneness, I would have thought that the unity of the soul would
: be the only real available precedent, if G-d has the attributes ascribed to
: Him....

But who said He does?

: end, we believe in G-d and paint Him as an actor in our lives with abilities
: and actions and faculties analogous in some way to our own.  As I said,
: despite their frustrations and caveats, the Rishonim seem to say this
: clearly, especially R Saadia Gaon in Emunos V'Deos...

Actually, RSG speaks of three kinds of attributes WRT A-lmighty:
1- negative attibutes (what He isn't)
2- attributes of His relationship to us, rather than of He Himself
3- descriptions of how His actions make Him appear to us.

(The Rambam seems to fold the latter two categories together.)

Hashem reveals Himself to us in a manner that teaches of what to
emulate. It doesn't imply that the revelation is His Essence, or that
which we are to emulate is anything but an approximation of Hashem
Himself to the best of our comprehension.


    We are commanded to go in these middle ways, which are the good
    and upright ways, as is says "and you shall go in His Ways"
    (Devarim 28:9).
    So was taught as an explanation of this mitzvah, that just as He is
    called Chanun, you too should be chanun; just as He is called Rachum,
    so to you should be rachum; just as He is called Qadosh, so to you
    should be qadosh. Along these lines the nevi'im called G-d by these
    kinuyim, "Erekh Apayim veRav Chessed", "Tzadiq", "Yashar", "Tamim",
    "Gibor" and the like. To let you know that these are the good and
    straight ways, and a person must conduct himself according to them,
    and resemble them according to his ability.
					- Hilkhos Dei'os 1:11

See also halakhah 13, a/k/a end of 7. "Since these NAMES are what the
Creator are called by, they are the Derekh Beinonis which we are
obligated to walk by. This path is called "Derekh Hashem".

I want to point out two things.

Relevent to this discussion, not that the Rambam writes "mah hu NIQRA
'Rachum', af atah HEIYEIH rachum". Hashem is *called* by some middah
which we actually act according to. The Rambam actively avoids saying
that Hashem /is/ Rachum.

Second, relevent to past conversations on Avodah, the Rambam identifies
"hatov vehayashar" with "vehalakhta dirakhav" by saying that all we know
of His derakhim are the examples of tov and yashar for us to follow.



: I like very much your last point about the emotions themselves being enough
: reality [for a person to be motivated by (?) ]...

That wasn't exactly what I was trying to say. Rather, I'm identifying the
higher metaphysical entities with emotion. You asked (roughly) whether
qedushah is a metaphysical state or an emotion. I'm answering with the
suggestion that they are the same thing. Human emotions are metaphysical
entities; the state called qedushah is a real and ontological entity.
It's also the feeling of qedushah.

This is how the tradition of the Gra and developed by the baalei mussar
asserts that repairing one's soul is the same thing as repairing one's
middos and desires.

Also, note that numerous rishonim on both sides of the scholastic-qabbalah
divide explicitly identify these higher entities with sichliim nivdalim.


Also, REED (MmE vol I pp 304-312) identifies the higher olamos with more
noble ways of perceiving reality. (I wrote about this at more length at
<http://www.aishdas.org/mesukim/5764/beshalach.pdf>.) Not quite the same
thing, but IMHO part of the same larger picture. The idea that these
metaphysical realities and psychological ones aren't quite distinct.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where
micha at aishdas.org        you are,  or what you are doing,  that makes you
http://www.aishdas.org   happy or unhappy. It's what you think about.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                        - Dale Carnegie