God's Presence, reality, hot and cold
I made this journal a few weeks ago, but was waiting for something juicy to be the first post. I probably should have put a bit more thought into it, edited, etc., etc., but here is the relatively unpolished finished product. Hope the point comes across as clearly as possible. Here goes:
My friend Shimshon asked, in his inimitable blunt style, "What does it mean that G-d loves us?" The conversation wound up with the following question: If Hashem is infinite good and light and loves us, doesn't that mean that he hates us too? How could Hashem, who is infinite, who encompasses all of creation, be all one thing, love/good/whatever, and not the opposite, especially when the world comrpises all those things on both sides? The traditional response is along the lines that Hashem is all good/light/etc., and what we experience as the opposites are really a lack of G-d's presence, not real 'things' with an independent existence. But that doesn't answer the question really, more skirt's the issue than anything. The question still remains, how can Hashem be one and not the other, and the above phenomenological explanation of 'how it is' doesn't help.
I've been thinking lately about the common idea that nothing exists without it's opposite. I'm not sure that's real. Perhaps it's just our applying of our perceptual experiences to metaphysical reality. For instance, we all learn that hot and cold are opposites and that we can't experience one without the other. But 'hot' and 'cold' are not objective realities. They are perceptual designations which change depending on what we were most recently exposed to, how much body fat we have, how sensitive we are, etc. We are really describing motion versus a lack of motion in experiential terms. Try putting one hand in a bowl of hot water (not TOO hot, ouch!) and the other hand in a bowl of cold water, then put them both in a bowl of lukewarm/room-temp water. Is the water in the middle bowl hot or cold?
A more cliche example (probably cliche because it's more obviously true than most) would be light and darkness. Light is a thing which exists. Darkness is not a thing with an independent existence like light, but rather how we experience the lack of light. In the same sense we experience darkness as a 'thing' with a presence, with existential reality, even though it is not, so too we experience badness/evil/hatred in G-d's world. If we hold by the assertion that not only is G-d good, but that G-d is definitionally good, then we must assert that, at least on the level in which Hashem interacts with us He has certain qualities without their opposite, such as goodnes, love for his creations, etc.
But then one has to ask, why add such obfuscation to the mix? Hashem could have made our senses capable of perceiving reality directly. Hashem could have made us aware of the nature of evil. The traditional answer again seems to fail me: that if G-d's light was revealed free will would cease to exist, and we would not be able to 'earn our bread' so to speak, by following Hashem's will, but would rather have no 'real' choice but to follow what is obviously true. But in the age of prophecy and miracles people still went off the derech (off the [true/right/holy] path). Am Yisrael sinned with the golden calf under a mountain which was alit with the flame of G-d's presence! They obviously retained their free will despite clear revelations of G-d in the world. No, we must rather say that the degree of seperation we experience is somehow IDEAL in G-d's creation, and that He chooses to relate to us this way, from this distance, for some reason which we may not be able to understand precisely. Any comments as to why this state of distance, of removal, of perceptual confusion is ideal for our relationship to Hashem (or any other comments on this post, of course), please feel free to comment.
Chag sameach l'kolchem! May we rejoice in G-d's presence during this zman simchatenu (time of our joy), as G-d himself watches over and protects us with the wings of his divine presence in our little shacks!
My friend Shimshon asked, in his inimitable blunt style, "What does it mean that G-d loves us?" The conversation wound up with the following question: If Hashem is infinite good and light and loves us, doesn't that mean that he hates us too? How could Hashem, who is infinite, who encompasses all of creation, be all one thing, love/good/whatever, and not the opposite, especially when the world comrpises all those things on both sides? The traditional response is along the lines that Hashem is all good/light/etc., and what we experience as the opposites are really a lack of G-d's presence, not real 'things' with an independent existence. But that doesn't answer the question really, more skirt's the issue than anything. The question still remains, how can Hashem be one and not the other, and the above phenomenological explanation of 'how it is' doesn't help.
I've been thinking lately about the common idea that nothing exists without it's opposite. I'm not sure that's real. Perhaps it's just our applying of our perceptual experiences to metaphysical reality. For instance, we all learn that hot and cold are opposites and that we can't experience one without the other. But 'hot' and 'cold' are not objective realities. They are perceptual designations which change depending on what we were most recently exposed to, how much body fat we have, how sensitive we are, etc. We are really describing motion versus a lack of motion in experiential terms. Try putting one hand in a bowl of hot water (not TOO hot, ouch!) and the other hand in a bowl of cold water, then put them both in a bowl of lukewarm/room-temp water. Is the water in the middle bowl hot or cold?
A more cliche example (probably cliche because it's more obviously true than most) would be light and darkness. Light is a thing which exists. Darkness is not a thing with an independent existence like light, but rather how we experience the lack of light. In the same sense we experience darkness as a 'thing' with a presence, with existential reality, even though it is not, so too we experience badness/evil/hatred in G-d's world. If we hold by the assertion that not only is G-d good, but that G-d is definitionally good, then we must assert that, at least on the level in which Hashem interacts with us He has certain qualities without their opposite, such as goodnes, love for his creations, etc.
But then one has to ask, why add such obfuscation to the mix? Hashem could have made our senses capable of perceiving reality directly. Hashem could have made us aware of the nature of evil. The traditional answer again seems to fail me: that if G-d's light was revealed free will would cease to exist, and we would not be able to 'earn our bread' so to speak, by following Hashem's will, but would rather have no 'real' choice but to follow what is obviously true. But in the age of prophecy and miracles people still went off the derech (off the [true/right/holy] path). Am Yisrael sinned with the golden calf under a mountain which was alit with the flame of G-d's presence! They obviously retained their free will despite clear revelations of G-d in the world. No, we must rather say that the degree of seperation we experience is somehow IDEAL in G-d's creation, and that He chooses to relate to us this way, from this distance, for some reason which we may not be able to understand precisely. Any comments as to why this state of distance, of removal, of perceptual confusion is ideal for our relationship to Hashem (or any other comments on this post, of course), please feel free to comment.
Chag sameach l'kolchem! May we rejoice in G-d's presence during this zman simchatenu (time of our joy), as G-d himself watches over and protects us with the wings of his divine presence in our little shacks!
posted by Eitan at 09:03
2 Comments:
Good stuff!! I'm famous! It's an honor to provoke such lofty meditations in such a lofty mind (guess that's why i asked you specifically) I'm listening to AC/DC right now, so I didn't digest all that you said, but I'll go for a second helping soon enough.
Chag Sameach!
Stu: Thanks! Looking forward to reading your further thoughts. Moadim l'simchah. Chagim u'zmanim l'sasson!
Daniella: You may have a point about the emotions of hate/love/apathy, although I would divide them up somewhat differently. It seems to me that hate and love are both active opposites, meaning that they push in opposite directions actively. They are similar in that they both expend energy, whereas apathy does not. But the directions in which their energy goes is different. Like a refrigerator and an oven: they both use electricity to change the temperature, but they push the lead in opposite directions.
You bring up a point that I like, about G!d also hating. Like how a father hate's it when his child fails/gets hurt/does something wrong. He still loves the child, but hates what happened. Thanks for pulling me a little out of my Aristotelian box with that.
However, I was also discussing good/evil etc., which may not connect to the question of love/hate if you're correct, but still begs the question. We can quibble about the definitions of emotions, but good and evil are opposites by definition. The real question, more simply put, is how can G!d be both Good and Evil? And I think if you reread my post with that as the question it should make more sense to you. But let me know if it doesn't. :-)
Moadim l'simcha. Chagim u'zmanim l'sasson!
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