Values and meaning.

שו”ת › Category: faith › Values and meaning.

asked 6 years ago

While searching for questions that were bothering me, I came across your site and remembered that a thinker like you probably had answers to my questions.

As a general rule, are there any questions that should not be asked?

For example, I believe with complete faith (from childhood) in the 13 principles of Maimonides (and I hope, in a time of trial, I will even give my life for it). But intellectually, I really lack knowledge, beyond the simple logic that someone created the world (the innovation). What is the proof that He (the Creator) still exists? That He is not limited? That He has no shortcomings? Who says that we are supposed to know why He created the world at all? After all, our perception is really limited in relation to Him (as is evident from His great wisdom)?

I also fail to understand how it is possible for someone present to see/know with certainty (the situation at Mount Sinai) that he exists, that he is unique, infinite, etc.?

Do I really need to know all this for my life to have meaning?

Another thing that bothers me is that I am a very skeptical person and almost always come away with the feeling that maybe it is true and obvious – but there must be someone who can explain and prove otherwise and even the opposite. How can I know when I can trust my feelings and when it is my instinct trying to confuse me? (Especially since I am not familiar with the rules of philosophy/logic/reason and everything in between).

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מיכי Staff answered 6 years ago

Hello D. It is clear that there are no questions that are forbidden to ask. A prohibition on asking questions is absurd. Perhaps even idolaters are forbidden to ask questions, and so one will remain in the perceptions into which he was born? A person needs to formulate his position and this cannot be done without asking. At most, someone can be forbidden to examine certain subjects simply for the sake of it, but if he needs it to clarify his own position, there is certainly no possibility of forbidding him from doing so. From another angle: As long as I have not clarified my position, I do not know that there is a God and that I am bound by His commandments, so I will not listen to the prohibition on examining my faith either. I’m not sure I accept Maimonides’ thirteen principles. It’s worth knowing that at least some of them are controversial (and certainly their status as principles), and no one has any authority over facts (for several reasons). Maimonides also inserts parts of Aristotelian philosophy and physics into the 11th Yesodei HaTorah, even though it’s clear that this is a collection of nonsense that Aristotle invented from his fevered mind. This is not the accusation. Maimonides did what he understood, but just as each of us should do what we ourselves understand. Regarding the attributes of the Creator, no one can know anything, except what has been handed down to us in tradition (and it is not clear what in these matters has really been handed down and what has been renewed throughout the ages). The fact that He is not limited/infinite and that He has no flaw, I am not sure that there is a source for this. This is an accepted belief and nothing more (“Wonderful that there is a thing” can be interpreted in different ways). As for the fact that He still exists – it is written. Is He unique, it is a question of definition (what is called unique. For example, the human body is composed of many cells, so a person is something unique or not). In general, there is and cannot be certainty about anything. A person is condemned to live in uncertainty, and the same applies to faith. There is nothing wrong with that, and anyone who says he has no doubt about something is either a liar or a fool (or a prophet). Certainly, certainty is not necessary for life to have meaning. Life has meaning from the very fact that the Creator gave us the Torah and thus our lives gained meaning. I am not certain about that, but that is what I think and it is very reasonable in my opinion and as far as I am concerned, that is enough. The question of how to treat those with different opinions is not a simple one. But you need to know two things: 1. There is never certainty about anything. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t form my own positions on things. This is what I have and I act with it. I also can’t be an expert in all fields and learn everything, so there is no escape from making decisions under conditions of uncertainty. God Almighty does not come complaining with His creatures, and if a person did the best he could, no one can blame him even if he was wrong. 2. If I have my own position, the mere existence of other positions should not cause me to change it (but at most to re-examine it). It is precisely this point that I am going to address in my next post on the site. In general, if you search the site, I think you will find references to many of the questions you raised here. I just warn you that this is not necessarily a conventional reference that would be acceptable in the regions you are familiar with. 🙂

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מיכי Staff replied 6 years ago

Here D' replied again:

Regarding questions that are forbidden to be asked, the answer is completely logical. I am interested in what the opponents answer. (Perhaps you know?)
You wrote in your answer: And no one has any authority regarding facts (for several reasons). Can you expand? I did not understand what you mean.
Regarding the Maimonides, from the perspective of a believer in God, is it not correct to assume, in retrospect, that the Holy One was watching over/overseeing who would be accepted by the people of Israel as the inheritor/transmitter of the Torah and the view? And the beliefs that would be established (over time) among His people? In the sense of "for you will not forget from the mouth of his seed"? Because other views, apparently, do not survive among our people over time?
You wrote: Regarding the fact that he still exists – it is written. I conclude from this that you believe in the truth of our Torah. If so, why is a person condemned to live in uncertainty, and the same applies to faith. There is nothing wrong with that, after all, faith is apparently explained in the Torah?
And to the point, as I wrote, unfortunately, for me the truth of the Torah and its providence is also not clear.
Do you know of any lectures/articles/a particular book that explains the subject clearly? (In lectures on values, I only received the information that the Creator is wise beyond our attainments and perhaps also that the prophecies have come true. But, why do I have to live according to His requirements, just so as not to get into trouble with the Almighty? (Fear of punishment?) Or the expectation of a reward - which I have no idea what - in the distant future?
And so is what you wrote: Certainly, there is no need for certainty for life to have meaning. There is meaning to life from the very fact that the Creator gave us Torah and thus our lives received meaning. I am not certain about this, but this is what I think and it is very reasonable in my opinion and for me that is enough. Maybe I do not know what meaning is (I thought the intention was; to live in a way that is 1. correct and 2. out of choice and pleasure - and not because of compulsion/threat) and as such, how can meaning be possible if I am not clear about what it is?

מיכי Staff replied 6 years ago

I don't think the opponents have an answer. In my understanding, there can be no answer.

On the issue of authority regarding facts, you can search the website. See a brief explanation here:
https://mikyab.net/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA/%D7%90%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%9B%D7%99-%D7%94

I used to think that there was supervision over positions and beliefs, but now I don't think so. I don't know of a source for things, and even if there was a reasonable source, I wouldn't accept it (unless it was clearly in the Sinai tradition). Beliefs are the result of human thinking and formation. If God plants them in us, what's the point of them? And how do people make mistakes or think incorrectly? Why didn't God plant this in them too? And what about the many issues that are in dispute and have several opinions on them? (The Maimonides, and also the Maimonides and some of his students (regarding the Giza) wrote that every controversial halakhah is probably not a tradition from Sinai). Until the Maimonides, the Blessed One planted other beliefs and then changed them? After all, the Maimonides innovated quite a few things. All of this is not reasonable to me.

I believe in the Torah, but not with certainty. There is no certainty in anything. The Torah can be pure truth, but I, as a flesh-and-blood person, cannot know this. After all, I form my belief in the Torah for myself, and why assume that I cannot be wrong? As stated, the hope for certainty is childish. A person must decide what he considers reasonable to act upon.

I do not accept the providence of the Blessed One, at least in our generations. I wrote about this, for example, in column 243 here on the site and in several replies and more. In my opinion, this is not reasonable and is not necessary within the framework of our faith.

I presented my view in the fifth notebook here on the site. You can try reading it (under the “Miscellaneous” tab).

Meaning means that this is the right thing to do. Like moral behavior that requires because it is what is right and not because of an external reason for it (it is first informed). Whether it is because of constraint or not, everyone will decide for themselves.

השואל replied 6 years ago

How does the Rabbi think that meaning is created?
For example, if we take Dolly the sheep as a dog, who has free will, even if you created her and put her in a whole world that you created for purpose X - that she eat two brown weeds once a week, the size of an olive, and drink red blood juice by the mouthful.
Still, that doesn't mean that *she* has meaning to do so.
Just because you want something and even created someone for it, doesn't mean that the other has meaning in it. Perhaps she has an obligation to do so according to the ontological law of gratitude that the Rabbi is trying to establish. But what is the difference between gratitude and *meaning*?
How can meaning be assigned?

השואל= שואל אחר replied 6 years ago

(The questioner, whose name is here above, is not the questioner who asked you in this entire discussion so far, and therefore we will add to my name here another questioner Q&A)

מיכי replied 6 years ago

You are mixing up two levels of meaning (two meanings for the term “meaning”): the philosophical and the psychological. The philosophical is always determined for you. The meaning of your existence is determined by the one who created you. On the psychological level, meaning is a feeling, and as such there are no rules about it. Those who feel it feel it and those who don't don't. But if there is meaning and you don't feel it, it is a kind of blindness (and it is not correct to say in such a case that you have no meaning).
I dedicated a column to this (search for: meaning, or Shimon Bozaglo).

מיכי replied 6 years ago

Shimon Azoulay, column 159.