Question

Hello Rabbi Michael,
 
I wanted to ask about Maimonides’ teachings (the Guide for the Perplexed and parts of the Mishneh Torah), and perhaps more generally about the status of the opinions and personal understandings of the medieval authorities (Rishonim) and those before them—how binding are their words as “the words of the living God”?
In other words, I read Maimonides’ view about the persistence of the soul, the active intellect, and other ideas from various areas of spirituality, and these things seem puzzling and very far from what I learned in ethics books, the Talmud, the Mishnah, and so on.
And likewise the words of the kabbalists, the Zohar, some of the aggadic sayings of the Sages—many things just don’t make sense to me. And on the other hand, those books have a strong believing audience that sees them as literally “the words of the living God”!!! So I’m confused—who am I supposed to listen to?
How binding is this? Are these ultimately just personal opinions and interpretations? (After all, Maimonides was not a prophet.) How much room to maneuver do I have regarding what to believe and what not to believe according to the rules of our Torah?