Q&A: The Holy One, Blessed Be He, as a Constant Creator
The Holy One, Blessed Be He, as a Constant Creator
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Maimonides writes in the Mishneh Torah that the connection between the Creator and created beings is not only along the axis of causation, but is also synchronous / along an axis of emanation. “If it could enter the mind that He does not exist, nothing else could possibly exist.”
I wanted to ask: does this idea have a philosophical basis? After all, once the Holy One, Blessed Be He, created the world, He created an entity detached from Him and independent of Him. Didn’t He?
Answer
Not necessarily. If you mean my claim that He is not involved in what happens in the world, that does not mean that He does not emanate influence (see the second and third notebooks), only that He does not intervene in the way things run according to the laws of nature. But they can still operate by His power.
Take a look: Maimonides’ own view in several places is that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, is not involved in what happens in the world (everything, including miracles, was built into the world from creation).
Discussion on Answer
Thanks for the answer, but my question was about the philosophical aspect, not about God's intervention in the world…. Rather, why does Maimonides write that if God were to cease existing, the world would also cease? The world is not Him.
Moshe,
We are not pantheists….
The reality between the world and its Creator is completely separate (even if He intervenes in it, it is not Him, and not like the candle and the light).
So why did Maimonides hold this?
By the way, there is light without a candle (from the sun). The relationship is between light and fire, and even there it is symmetrical (there is no fire without light). The relationship between cause and effect is the opposite: the cause is a sufficient condition (and not necessarily a necessary one) for the effect.
Dudi, what’s the problem? This is not about identity but about conditionality. The Holy One, Blessed Be He, is a condition for the world’s existence, but is not identical with it and does not contain it.
There’s no problem; you can always add conditions.
My question is whether this condition has any basis. Is it really necessary?
That is, the moment the Holy One, Blessed Be He, would cease to exist, the world would also cease to exist at that same moment. So is there continuous creation / a continuous connection nonetheless?
For example, you could add other conditions, like:
The Torah is a condition for the world; were it not for the Torah, the world would cease to exist.
Michi is a condition for religion; if Michi were to cease existing, the religious people would disappear. 🙂
Or perhaps it really does have a philosophical basis.
Since He is a necessary existent, talk about a hypothetical situation in which He ceases to exist seems to me meaningless. This is not meant to describe a situation in which He ceases and the world vanishes, but rather the state of dependence.
What is the argument for this conception of dependence? I don’t know. Maybe the wording of the verse, “It is He who gives you the power to get wealth.” And also, “Forever, O Lord, Your word stands firm in the heavens,” and other verses.
He wrote that he means what Maimonides says in the Mishneh Torah: if, hypothetically, God were to cease existing, then the world would also cease existing, but not the other way around.
Like the relationship between a candle and light: it is possible for the candle not to give light, but if the candle is used up, there certainly will be no light.