Q&A: The Intellect in Everything.
The Intellect in Everything.
Question
Hello to the light of the exile, may he live long. In his well-known reply to Hodiya regarding God’s concealment from our world, the Rabbi says that if one wants to encounter God, one can study His Torah or contemplate the laws of nature.
This approach—that one can learn the divine will from nature—appears in the writings of Maimonides and Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (where he presents it as a complete teaching and argues that one can learn even from contemplating a lion’s tail), and it also appears in the Talmud: modesty from a cat, diligence from an ant, and so on.
However, based on what I know of the Rabbi’s style, in my humble opinion it was surprising to me that he agrees with this approach.
I would be glad if the Rabbi would explain what he meant by encountering the Holy One, blessed be He, in the laws of nature.
Answer
If you know me, then you know that I do not judge things by who says them, but by their actual content. And as is well known, even a stopped clock shows the correct time twice a day 🙂
As for the point itself, clearly one can learn from the laws of nature about Him Himself. They are an expression of His will. But one should note that I do not mean to say that from the laws of nature I can necessarily derive something about His modes of conduct or His character. I can only conclude that the laws of nature are indeed His will and the form in which He wanted the world to function. That is what I learn from them about the Holy One, blessed be He. Somewhat tautological, but it is still genuinely learning about Him.