Q&A: Mysticism and Religious Experiences
Mysticism and Religious Experiences
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Usually I’m very put off by all kinds of religious ecstasies, and in general I have a hard time with the idea that people base their lives on religious feeling and things like that.
I think things need to be grounded systematically, based on reason.
Still, sometimes I say to myself: what advantage does reason have over emotion? It’s hard for me to formulate why reason is the right medium.
After all, reason too is based on intuitions, which are the product of one’s environment and things like that.
Could the Rabbi explain what his view is on this?
Thank you
Answer
There is no superiority of reason over emotion. These are two different functions, and each one should fulfill its own role. Emotion is not supposed to determine what is true and false, so that must be done with reason. This is a functional question, not a question of priorities.
Intuition is a distinctly intellectual faculty. It has no connection to emotion. I’ve explained this in several places (for example in my book Truth and Unstable). Intuition yields claims about reality that are measured in terms of truth or falsehood. Emotion yields feelings and attitudes toward people. There is no truth or falsehood about it. I love so-and-so and you don’t—do we have a disagreement? Is one of us right or mistaken? But when I say that my intuition tells me there is a God, or that the solution to this equation is 8, then that is a factual claim, and with regard to it there is truth or falsehood.
Discussion on Answer
Those are semantic questions. Anything that has to do with right and wrong is not connected to emotion. If in your view questions of beauty involve truth and falsehood, then that too is not emotion.
There are claims that seem to fall somewhere in between, such as “this song is beautiful.” On the one hand, that’s an aesthetic claim about reality; on the other hand, it seems very subjective.
Is it correct to say that anything beautiful is just a matter of emotion, whatever it may be?
And even when it comes to a person, there are loves that are wrong or undesirable, and there can be arguments about whether it is justified to love that person or not, no?