Why do I need to come to know God?
Maimonides in eight chapters says this: “And he shall always set before his humble one goal, and that is the attainment of God, blessed be he, according to his ability to know it.” And he also speaks further about how all actions are supposed to be directed toward knowing God. My question is, why would I set this as my goal if I already believe in God and the Torah of Moses? Isn’t the goal supposed to be to worship Him?
Maimonides understood that the essence of his work is his knowledge. What’s the problem with that? It’s obviously not necessary, but I don’t see a difficulty.
It is possible, according to the Rambam, that if you have not come to know God, then you are not worshipping God, but rather a concept of God that is not the true God but an image that exists in your consciousness, and it turns out that you are worshipping yourself. In addition, it is also possible, according to him, that only through this can one merge with the active intellect.
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