[Avodah] baal tosif?

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 06:56:41PM -0400, Ken Bloom wrote:
: It would mess up the way in which the sefirot are represented by the
: plate. (But to say whether it's symbolism or whether it has an actual
: effect on the sefirot is way beyond me.)

Even those who hold that the models of Qabbalah are a system of symbology
(eg the Ramchal, RSRH), still say that hashgachah peratis means that
reality will differ depending on how the person involved changes. So,
symbols, if taken to heart, change reality.

And lehefech, even those who hold they are actual ontologies or
hypostacies, metaphysical things that exist, hold that much of metaphysics
is in the realm of ideas. Olam ha'emes in a very real sense. Mal'akhim as
tzuros beli chomer, the form (and thus inFORMation inherent in the form)
detatched from physical implementation, and the Seikhel haNivdal.

The difference between the two perspectives may be more in how they are
viewed, how the concepts are emphasized -- with nafqa minos lemaaseh --
than in what is actually being described.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Education is not the filling of a bucket,
micha at aishdas.org        but the lighting of a fire.
http://www.aishdas.org                - W.B. Yeats
Fax: (270) 514-1507