Question

Hello Rabbi, I only recently became familiar with your site and your books, so it’s possible you’ve already addressed this and I’m not aware of it. What do you think about objective postmodernism? What is objective? Objective is a shared perception of reality, whether we accept materialism, dualism, or idealism. We only need to assume that there is another person, and that there is a more or less identical perception. When several subjective observers look at one object, they can perceive it in all sorts of ways. From that standpoint, I can claim that there is sunrise and sunset (from the point of view of someone standing on the earth), and I can claim that there is no sunrise and sunset (from the point of view of someone outside the earth), and both of these are matters of factual truth. Believers argue that there is an objective scale of values—the intention is that the Holy One, blessed be He, also has, כביכול, a narrative, and humanity needs to align itself with His narrative. If we explain Rabbi Shagar’s words this way, or the other seemingly vague statements, does that sound acceptable to you?