I will try to address the questions from my previous posts in a future blog post. For now, here is is an excerpt from The Wisdom of Maimonides pg 33 as quoted from Introduction to Perek Herek, Sanhedrin.
"If you contemplate these two forms of pleasure--physical and nonphysical--you will appreciate the baseness of the one and the supremacy of the other, even in this material world. This is obvious from the fact that most people--and perhaps even all--will spend prodigious psychological and physical effort in order to attain position and honor in the eyes others. This pleasure is not physical pleasure, such as eating and drinking.
Similarly, many people choose to seek revenge on their enemies rather than indulge themselves in physical pleasure. And we find that many people avoid the greatest of physical pleasures out of fear that this will bring them shame and embarrassment in the eyes of people, or because they desire to enhance their reputation.
If this is our situation in the material world, surely this applies in the spiritual world--the World to Come--where our souls will be able to experience the Creator. This pleasure cannot be parceled out or described, nor can an analogy be given to define it...
This is the ultimate good to which no good can be compared, nor can any pleasure be likened to it. For how can there be any comparison between that which is eternal and endless, and any temporal matter?"
The argument is interesting in that the realities of the material world point to the supremacy of the spiritual world. It seems to me that it is as if we are experiencing a taste of His eternal kingdom even though it is not fully here yet. And that there is some sort of unity between the physical and spiritual worlds as even this physical/material world is pointing to the supremacy of the World to Come when the physical and spiritual realites will be fully revealed and heaven and earth will be come one.
ya, that's really interesting. it reminds me of arguments that because pleasure exists and we recognize pleasure as better than pain then the Divine must exist. One who decides what is pleasurable and what is painful...
ReplyDeletethis take a different angle and amplifies it. Saying that we (most of humanity) would recognize the non-physical types of pleasure as better than physical ones, then comparing that to the greatest pleasure of all pleasure- experiencing the infinite. which isn't physical or non-physical in the sense that experiencing Gd isn't anything like being honored by your peers or seeking revenge. Seeing Him to whom and by whom all things were made is in a category all its own.
I can really see the difference here in starting with Gd as a given instead of having to prove His existence.
exciting!
I think that's the same book I read about the Rambam, or at least I remember reading that exact quote. I understand he's Jesus-less, but do you see why it was so rich to read while hiking and camping? Totally added to the grand canyon experience. :)
ReplyDelete